Skip to main content

Indonesia arrests E Timor rebels


Thousands gathered in Dili's streets to greet Mr Ramos-Horta on Thursday Indonesia has said it has arrested three men suspected of involvement in the shooting of East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, in February. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the suspects were all former Timorese soldiers who had crossed the border between the two countries illegally. Mr Yudhoyono said the states had worked together to find the men, but expressed surprise that it had been made public.

Mr Ramos-Horta flew home on Thursday after receiving treatment in Australia. Thousands of supporters greeted him in the capital, Dili. Despite the attack, Mr Ramos-Horta said he was determined not to change his style and would continue to mix with ordinary people. 'Indonesian elements' Speaking to reporters in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, Mr Yudhoyono said police had arrested and detained three former members of the Timorese military on Friday morning "on arrest warrants issued by East Timor's government". I was a bit surprised to hear President Ramos-Horta' s statement yesterday, because it is my understanding that the telephone conversation on 10 April was not public knowledge Susilo Bambang YudhoyonoIndonesian President "For the time being, I cannot give more details. Indonesian police will give details after they have completed the operation and investigation, " he said.

Mr Yudhoyono said the men were being questioned by police while his country waited for an extradition request from Dili. He added that East Timor had specifically asked for help in arresting the men, and that he himself had spoken to his Timorese counterpart about the operation. But he expressed surprise that Mr Ramos-Horta had made the co-operation public when police had been told to keep it secret. "I was a bit surprised to hear President Ramos-Horta' s statement yesterday, because it is my understanding that the telephone conversation on 10 April was not public knowledge yet," he said. "I had instructed my ministers and police chiefs not to disclose that information to the public in order to give an opportunity to the Indonesian police to find these suspects," he added.

Mr Ramos-Horta told journalists on Thursday that "Indonesian elements" were thought to be involved in his shooting. But Mr Yudhoyono said that those elements were not only in Indonesia but in Australia and other countries. And he said any statement which led people to think the Indonesian state itself was involved would disrupt bilateral relations. Mr Ramos-Horta has so far been careful to not to insinuate that. Two rebel soldiers were shot dead during the assassination attempt in February. The rebels have been on the run since 2006 - when the sacking of 600 soldiers sparked huge unrest. Dozens of people were killed and 150,000 displaced as factional violence and looting engulfed the country. Some 2,500 foreign troops were called in to restore order.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Debate Islam in Indonesia

http://www.thejakar taglobe.com/ opinion/interloc utors-of- indonesian- islam/560447 Interlocutors of Indonesian Islam Ahmad Najib Burhani | December 08, 2012 A few months ago, the Japanese anthropologist Mitsuo Nakamura told me that studying Nahdlatul Ulama as an organization was beyond the imagination of any American scholar from the 1950s to the ’70s. But he is not the only academic to have noticed this. George McT. Kahin of Cornell University stated the same thing. Even NU-expert Martin van Bruinessen was not expecting to study NU as his primary focus when he came to Indonesia for the first time in the 1980s.   During the early decades of Indonesian independence, NU was relatively unorganized and its management was largely based on the authority of religious teachers ( kyai ). Of course there were a number of scholars who studied NU-affiliated religious schools ( pesantren ) and its kyai, but not NU as an organization.   Even though NU was one of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Greenpeace boycott Palm oil products Duta Palma

Environmental organization Greenpeace India has demanded that all Indian palm oil importers and corporate consumers immediately stop palm oil sourcing from Indonesian companies like Duta Palma who make palm oil by destroying forests and tiger habitat in Indonesia. An investigative report issued by Greenpeace Indonesia released on Thursday links India's growing palm oil imports and corporate apathy to Duta Palma's destruction of hundreds of acres of Indonesian rainforests and tiger habitat in complete disregard of Indonesian government&# 39;s moratorium on such activities in the rainforest. Big Indian corporates like Ruchi Soya, Adani -Wilmar, Godrej Industries, Parle, Britannia are among many who use Indonesian palm oil in their products on a large scale.  "Duta Palma's dirty oil could well be entering into their supply chains. Yet, so far, no Indian company has taken any visible steps to clean up their supply chain, to delink their brands from the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blasphemy in the name of religion

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring the attention of the Human Rights Council (HRC) to violations of the right to the freedom of expression and opinion that are being engendered through the use of Indonesia’s legal provisions prohibiting blasphemy. Religious blasphemy is prohibited in Indonesia under Law No. 1/PNPS/1965, with such provisions also being later adopted within the Penal Code (KUHP) under Article 156a. Paragraph (a) of this article uses vague language, which opens the door to abusive uses of this provision, to prohibit any acts and expression of views considered to be blasphemous, and carries a maximum punishment of five years imprisonment. A similar maximum punishment is also carried by paragraph (b) of the article, which prohibits any acts and expression of views calling for others to embrace atheism. Alexander Aan is an atheist currently undergoing a trial at the Muaro Sijunjung District Court, West Sumatra. According to his lawyers from ...
Post a Comment
Read more