9/11 Ambon: Another Horizontal Conflict in Indonesia

October 7, 2011 by

Not only the world commemorates the mourning of 9/11 tragedy, this year on September 11th Indonesia also mourns on a horizontal Ambon conflict between civilians in Ambon. Ambon is the capital city of Maluku. The conflict was a result of a simple misunderstanding of a traffic accident. It started when Darkin Saimen, a local people, rode his bike and crashed to a house on his way to Pos Benteng, a place in Ambon. He died. However, there was a rumor which said that Darkin was killed by the angry surrounding neighborhood because he caused damage to the house he crashed into. It is said that he was beaten to death by the people.

As a response, Darkin’s family and friends could not take the beating and they took revenge to the people where the accident took place. This expanded to a big chaos and fight. 4 people died as a result of this conflict.

The Head of PR Department of Indonesia Police Department stated that despite the autopsy report saying that there is no proof that Darkin was abused to death and that was pure single traffic accident, people lost their temper and created a big chaos in Ambon. He also said that the fight was between 2 infamous groups that often caused civilians conflicts.

“There were 2 groups throwing rocks to each other and vandalize several public facilities. However, police managed to control them. They were 2 well known groups, well… I don’t need to mention the name. Most importantly, now police has managed to stop the fight and control the situation. We are monitoring the situation and updates”, said Anton (kompas.com)

Ambon is one of the most beautiful cities in Indonesia. It has magnificent beach with superb corals and reefs. However, civilian conflicts often occurs there mostly are caused by tribal and religion issues. It is a classic problem to an area where a lot of transmigrates take place. To read about Ambon and its conflicts history read Ambon Conflict: A Closer Look to Indonesia

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Another Bombing Terror, Now It’s for Garuda Indonesia

October 7, 2011 by

An aircraft of Garuda Indonesia, flight number GA-601 from Manado to Jakarta was threaten with a bomb. Currently the plane is still quarantined by police at a remote area of Soekarno-Hatta International airport.

Garuda Indonesia’s spoke person Pujobroto acknowledges that he was informed of the bomb terror. The threat was in a form of faxed blackmail sent to one of national media right after the plane took off at 2 p.m. The letter also said that there is a C4 with a time detonator placed on the body of the plane. The bomb was planned to explode by 3.30 p.m. or 30 minutes before the plane landed. The flight was advised to conduct emergency landing and that the land crews should prepare for firearms. However, until theplane actually landed at Soekarno-Hatta there was no explosion or whatsoever as informed.

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Suspected to Involve in Garuda Indonesia Bombing Terror, 6 Arrested

October 7, 2011 by

Indonesia National Police Department arrests 6 people as suspects of Garuda bombing terror on Wednesday, October 10th. It was flight Garuda GA-601 from Manado to Jakarta terrorized with bomb. “Upon further interrogation to those suspects it is revealed that there was no bomb placed at the plane. It was just a threat. We have arrested the suspects, there are 6 of them. Initials? We cannot yet inform that,” stated Head of PR Division Indonesia Police Department, General Inspector Anton Bachrul Alam this Thursday.

Furthermore, Anton also stated police cannot yet reveal the motives behind this terror as further investigation is still ongoing. Thus, they will wait for the final investigation result then announce to public about that. At the same time, Head of PR Department of Garuda Indonesia, Pujobroto, said that the threat was received in form of faxed letter sent to one of national press’ office right after the plane took off. It was around 2 p.m. at noon. The letter said the plane that has just taken off carrying approximately 105 passengers is advised to do emergency landing back to Sam Ratulangi airport, Manado or to the nearest airport because there is a bomb inside.

Until the plane was landed at Soekarn-Hatta International airport, Jakarta, no explosion happened as informed in the blackmail. Even so, management team of Garuda Indonesia immediately anticipated that by isolating the aircraft. A team from police checked the craft but found no bomb.

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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Reviews on Cirebon and Solo Bombing

September 29, 2011 by

Thursday March 17, 6 months after the incident of a bomb package sent to his office located between Istana Merdeka and Istana Negara, President SBY made a statement, “Do not stop anticipating. Do not ever stop the intelligence activities which may increase the occurrence of such incident (the bomb package incident)”.

Above statement was a clear instruction for the chief of Intelligence Agency (BIN), police, military forces, especially commando territorial, to keep their hard work in fighting against terrorism and reveal the suspect of the bomb package at the same time.

He strictly highlighted that there is no other important thing than national safety and freedom from fear for civilians. Therefore, zero tolerance for any group who tries to disturb social peace in Indonesia. “Don’t give a chance even the slightest to anyone who plan to tear the peaceful and conducive living we’ve been trying to maintain this far. Do anything necessary to protect our people,” so he said.

4 days later, in a National celebration of Dharma Santi at the central military base Cilangkap, Jakarta, SBY stated that the dissemination of bombs has increased people’s anxiety. Even worse, it creates distrust among the people. SBY thinks that this is a form of terror to Indonesia.

Not long after, Friday April 15, at noon inside Adz-Zikro mosque, Cirebon-West Java, a suicide bombing happened. The bomber died with severe abdominal injuries. President condemned this action. Until April 15, Anti Terrorism Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88) arrested 13 people suspected to be actively involved and confiscated various type of weapons.

When stating his antipathy towards Solo bombing on September 25, President stated from brief investigation bomber is suspected to be part of Cirebon bombing mafia. In his press release, he called for internal investigation inside police itself, intelligences and even the military forces. This is to make sure that military has done its part as expected in regards war against terrorism.

There was his statement from the speech he gave regarding the bomb package in his office, “Each and every soul, regardless the religious faith, wants to live safe and free. Therefore, we should nurture peace in our hearts. Peace is inside our hearts not shouted from fiery speech or sweet political statements.”

Tags: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Terrorism, Indonesia, Bombing

Picture of Solo Bomber

Picture of Solo Bomber

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Comission 1 of Indonesia Parliament Calls for Bigger Budget for Intelligence Agency

September 28, 2011 by

Responding to the recent Solo Bombing, commission I of Indonesian parliament suggest increasing national defense budget particularly for the intelligence agency. Represented by Max Sopacua, the commission has sounded their aspiration about ways to counter terrorism in Indonesia.

Max Sopacua said that this suggestion is sounded in a meeting with Chief of Indonesia Intelligence Agency, BIN, Sutanto. This is considered important because BIN’s work is crucial and very complex, particularly in dealing with terrorism and communal conflict allover Indonesia.

“For 2012, intelligence budget is only 1.2 trillions Rupiahs. Thinking about how complex and the vast coverage of BIN’s work, I think it is just normal to increase its budget. We should increase it to 2.5 trillions Rupiahs which included in National Budget,” said Max.

With that additional fund, BIN is expected to expand its coverage, not only focusing on certain areas such as eastern of Indonesia. The raise is for the sake of all people in Indonesia. “BIN should be seriously supported if we want to declare war against terrorism. Government right now has played its part well. It’s not true that it fails protecting its people,” add Max.

The other member of commission I, Tjahjo Kumolo, questioned regarding the Solo Bombing; whether or not information from BIN had been spread to all elements of government. “We would like to question the intelligence agency, BIN, regarding the Solo tragedy. We don’t want to speculate on whether Solo incident is a result of ignorance on intelligence information or not,” said Tjahjo.

Tags: Terrorism, Indonesia, Intelligence Agency, Bombing

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Dealing with Solo Bombing People Should Stay Calm

September 25, 2011 by

Just this morning another suicide bombing took place in Indonesia. The bomb exploded in Solo, Central Java at a local church called Bethel Injil Sepenuh. “We deeply regret about this tragedy. A church is a worshipping place. This is an insult towards God and Pancasila. Indonesia as a country where many religions are acknowledge should be able to take care of worshipping places, people that uses any means to destroy these places don’t deserve to live with us here in Indonesia. This hurts us as a nation,” stated Romo Benny at the main office of Anshor Youth Movement, Jakarta, on Sunday noon. At the same time Romo Benny also said that it is time for SBY to take concrete steps to prevent this from happening again and thank Anshor Youth Movement for their readiness in keeping the situation conducive after the bombing.
Chief of Anshor Youth Movement, Nusron Wahid, instructs to his people in Solo to be alarmed and actively involved in keeping all worshipping places safe. This order was released right after the bombing happened. Nusron believes that this bombing is a series of radicalization in the name of religion. “This must be a series of bombings. I don’t believe that this is a single incident.,” said Nusron. He also warns the government to take this incident seriously and to declare war against all forms of terrorism.
The bombing hurt at least 7 people this morning. Bombed was launched at 10.53 a.m. by a man around 30 years old, with a white shirt, a pair of black trousers and sneakers. The identity of the martyr has not yet been identified.

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