Mending Indo relations will help keep terror risk at bay

By Ross Taylor

Earlier this month Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop flew to Bali to sign a Code of Conduct between Indonesia and Australia that will bring to an end the strained relations between the two countries caused by Australia’s alleged spying on the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and his wife.

The agreement will also see the re-instatement of intelligence sharing, policing and anti-terrorism co-operation. It also comes at a time when Australia is preparing to commemorate the 12^th anniversary of the first of the Bali bombings in October.

Whilst most holidaying Australians would have given little thought to the significance of the signing of this agreement, the implications are significant for all travellers to Bali and the region amidst concerns of an increasing terrorist threat.

This year has seen the approval for the release of over 100 convicted Bali-bombing terrorists and their ‘helpers’ from Indonesian jails. But even more worrying, the recent events in Iraq and Syria have seen increasing numbers of young Indonesians answering the call to create what the emerging and extremely violent jihadist ‘army’ IS (Islamic State) call a Caliphate; a demand for all Muslims to help establish a Pan-Islamic State.

Bring these events together at a time where many young Australians are visiting Bali for the first time, and disturbingly, attitudes towards holidaying in our ‘paradise island’ have softened to a point whereby most Australians don’t even think about security issues any more. 

Within Indonesia, the Iraq-based IS followers have many political and religious leaders deeply concerned. Already our government has warned of the threat to mainland Australia from returning Australian passport holders who have been fighting in the Middle East. But the threat from Indonesians returning from Iraq and Syria as hardened terrorists is perhaps an even greater threat.

It is estimated that at least 100-150 Indonesian Muslim extremists are now actively engaged with IS in Iraq and Syria. Simultaneously, the radical Islamic cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, has sent a rallying call to his ‘true believers’ from a jail cell in Java (where he is serving a 17 year jail sentence for his involvement in both the Bali bombings) to join in the Caliphate in the Middle East; and the World.

The expansion of IS in the region, and Indonesia may falter due to the extent of the shocking murder and mutilation of thousands of Christians and Shai Muslims in the Middle East by IS followers. And the positive news for Australia is that the vast majority of Muslims in both Indonesia and Australia are vigorously opposed to IS and their use of Islam to inflict appalling crimes on innocent people of all religions.

Recently, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) decreed a ‘fatwa’ (a religious order) against IS, and over 3,000 followers of Abu Bakar Bashir’s Jamaah Ansharut Tauid (JAT) have quit the organisation over the actions of IS and their followers.

In Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has already moved to soften his government’s plan to amend race-hate laws in order to ‘clear the air’ with Muslim leaders whose support Abbott needs in stopping the spread and attraction of IS amongst young Australian Muslim men.

But to ensure Australians remain immune from another terrorist attack similar that which devastated the lives of so many Australians in Bali in 2002 and 2005, Australia and Indonesia will have to work together to address this potentially dangerous expansion of IS in our region.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Indonesian National Police (POLRI) have an outstanding joint record in dealing with terror-related activities. POLRI used the sophisticated skills of our AFP to bring to justice most of the Bali bombers. And ironically, Australia’s spying agencies probably have played a key role in providing the Indonesia authorities with information about terrorist activities.

The new Indonesian president, Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo, will be sworn in during October, and he has a good record of dealing with complex and sensitive matters including terrorist activities, having been the mayor of the central Java city of Solo; a ‘hot-bed’ for extremists. Jokowi knows that an extremist Sunni Muslim organisation such as IS, who has committed brutal acts against fellow-Shai Muslims, presents a potential threat to Indonesia’s stability. 

Jokowi also knows that the biggest ‘weapon’ Indonesia has in defeating the IS activities within Indonesia, is its successful democracy, economic growth and religious tolerance.. Notwithstanding this, he will still be keen to maintain and develop close anti-terrorist links between Jakarta and Canberra. 

Mutual co-operation in the early days of the Jokowi presidency over terrorism issues could also provide the catalyst for broader and closer business relationships between our two countries, despite the president predicted to be very domestically focused.

In the meantime, for Australians heading off to Bali, the good news is Bali is a far safer place than in 2002 when 88 Australians lost their lives in one terrible night. But the rise of IS, and the attraction of young Indonesian and Australian men to fight for the Caliphate, should be a  wake-up call for us all, whilst the need for closer relations between Australia and Indonesia’s new president will be even more critical.

Ross B. Taylor AM is the president of the Perth-based Indonesia Institute (Inc)

West Papua independence activists accuse Indonesia of using students as spies

By Hamish Fitzsimmons

West Papuan independence activists and their supporters in Australia have accused Jakarta of using students to spy on them.

Lateline has been told postgraduate students are providing information to Indonesian intelligence about Australian citizens and has obtained photos that are claimed to be of some of the student spies.
The pictures were taken in June when the self-proclaimed Federal Republic of West Papua (FRWP) opened an office in Melbourne, as the West Papuan community and its supporters celebrated what they saw as a landmark in their long-running campaign for independence from Indonesia.
The celebrations were interrupted when three men, who had never been seen at any independence movement events, were seen recording the proceedings on smartphones.

The "foreign minister" of the FRWP, Jacob Rumbiak, confronted one of the men and was told they were there to gather information for the Indonesian government.

"He's explained that he's studying a PHD at a Melbourne university and that also he works in the (Indonesian) department of foreign affairs. So he works in the government of Indonesia," Mr Rumbiak said.

He said the man explained he would be reporting back to Indonesian authorities.
"Another two also came and they took photos of this office. I think that the photos they took were sent to the Indonesian government by intelligence," Mr Rumbiak said.

 

The ABC has indentified and contacted one of the three Indonesian men who attended the opening of the office and asked for his version of events, but he has not responded.
The man is a post-graduate economics student at a university in Melbourne, and his Facebook page lists his employer as the Indonesian finance ministry.

The Indonesian embassy rejects the claims.

"The Indonesian Government does not assign its students studying in Australia, or anywhere, to collect/gather information from any sources," the embassy said in a statement.
"The possibility of Indonesian students' presence at open-to-public events, including Papua-related ones, might relate to their studies or personal interests."

Melbourne-based independence movement hacked and harassed

The West Papuan independence movement is strongest in Melbourne.
They said aside from low-level harassment, their office website has also been hacked twice. They claim they were able to trace the IP addresses of the computers threatening the website to addresses in Jakarta and Melbourne.

"We are faced with Jakarta. I do believe that's them and we also have a monitoring system so we can know from which county and the address," Mr Rumbiak said.


The Indonesian Embassy in Canberra denied the attack originated from its foreign affairs offices.
"We can confirm that the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not involved in that website hacking incident, as the ministry does not have a policy nor intentions to hack other institutions."
Anglican minister Peter Woods, who has long campaigned for an independent West Papua, said incidents like this are becoming more frequent and blatant.

"It seems to be very blatant. It's well known amongst the activist community that this does go on," he said.

"It seems overt and not very subtle."

Australian security services aware of student spies: academic

At a talk Reverend Woods gave in Melbourne last month describing his most recent trip to West Papua, he asked two men of Javanese and Timorese origin to leave before he started as he believed they were there as informants.

 

"I was about to speak and we noticed that there were two non-Papuans there and we spoke to them and realised that they were agents doing surveillance. We asked them not to be there," he said.
Lateline has spoken to several academics who all believe it is not uncommon for Indonesian post-graduate students to also provide intelligence to their country's consulates or embassy.
"A number of students have been found to have been reporting to the consulate in Melbourne over the years," said Damien Kingsbury from Deakin University. 

"As academics, we deal with these students and we know what they are doing. They often tell us what they're doing so we do know they report to their consulates. They do act as spies."

Mr Kingsbury was an adviser to the Free Aceh and Timorese independence movements, and said Australian agencies are aware of this sort of intelligence gathering, but overlooked it due to it proving a comparatively low threat to Australia's interests or security.

"The Australian security services see this as low level activity. They don't see this as more formal espionage and a lot of the information that's being picked up is open access anyway," he said.
However, he said he does believe boundaries are being crossed.

"They also report on private conversations, so that is of more concern," he said.
In the coming weeks a crucial meeting to garner support from Pacific nations for the West Papuan movement will be held in Vanuatu.

Indonesia's president-elect Joko Widodo has indicated he is not opposed to dialogue with the independence movement about their desire for more autonomy, but Jakarta remains firm that independence is off the table.

Hamish's article originally appeared  on ABC's Lateline.