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BENARNEWS- Up to 100,000 people converged on Indonesia's national mosque Saturday for mass prayers ahead of gubernatorial polls set for next week, with Islamic leaders calling on congregants to elect a Muslim over a Chinese-Christian incumbent as Jakarta's next governor.
The worshipers streamed into the Istiqlal Mosque in central Jakarta from as far away as Sumatra island in the west of predominantly Muslim Indonesia, despite heavy rain and a large presence by police and military personnel who were deployed to keep the event orderly.
"The people have to vote for Muslim leaders," Rosyid Abdullah of the Forum Umat Islam (FUI), a conservative religious group that initiated the mass prayers, told the crowd, referring to polls coming up Wednesday in Jakarta and other municipalities and provinces nationwide.
"Islam has to really revive, we must win the battleground," Rosyid  said.
The event was broadcast live on iNews TV, a private Indonesian channel, and featured sermons and appearances by Muslim clerics and politicians.
"On Feb. 15, we are happy to vote for a Muslim leader," another speaker, Maulana Kamal Yusuf said in his speech, according to Reuters.
"Jakarta will be led by a Muslim leader who submits to the will of Allah," he added. "Jakarta will be a religious city."
Fellow cleric Muhammad Ma'shum who leads the Al Ishlah Islamic boarding school in East Java, issued a warning.
"We will fight until the last drop of our blood" if a court acquits Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian and member of Indonesia's small ethnic Chinese minority, of blasphemy charges, Ma'shum said in remarks broadcast on iNews TV.
Muslims are peaceful but they will not stay calm if irked, he added.
Ahok went on trial during his electoral campaign for allegedly insulting Islam when he quoted a passage from the Quran at a public event in September, in a way that was seen as defamatory to the religion. He is still standing trial, although he resumed his duties as Jakarta governor later on Saturday after spending a few months on the campaign trail. He is seeking election to his first full term in office, and became governor of Indonesia's largest city in 2014.
'We love pluralism': FPI leader
The prayers in the seven-story mosque, which can accommodate 200,000 people, began before dawn, and went into the afternoon on the last official day of campaigning by the three candidates running for Wednesday's gubernatorial polls in Jakarta.
According to electoral rules, candidates are required to observe a three-day "quiet period" during which they must stop campaigning.
The Jakarta race is one of 101 gubernatorial, mayoral and other polls that will take place across Indonesia on Feb. 15, but it has gotten the most attention because of the controversy surrounding Ahok.
Before Saturday's mass prayers, Muslim groups led by the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) staged three huge rallies in Jakarta in recent months, at which protestors demanded that Ahok be prosecuted for his alleged anti-Muslim comments.
The leader of the FPI, cleric Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, himself is under suspicion by police of having committed blasphemy by allegedly denigrating Indonesia's founding philosophy of Pancasila. It rests on five pillars, including the principal of national unity.
The firebrand leader is facing criminal complaints that he and his group committed several cases of hate speech.
On Saturday, Rizieq addressed the gathering inside the mosque. He called on the government not to interpret the event as treason or going against the fabric of the nation's religious and ethnic diversity, as framed by Pancasila.
"We love pluralism, we love diversity, we are not an enemy of the state," Rizieq said in his sermon.
Before he arrived, the two men challenging Ahok, who are both Muslim, took part in morning prayers and then left. Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Anies Rasyid Baswedan came with their respective running mates, Sylviana Murni and Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno.
Ahok's running mate, Djarot Syaiful Hidayat, who is a Muslim, did not attend the prayers.
Tens of thousands
According to Senior Commissioner Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono, a spokesman for Jakarta police, as many as 100,000 people gathered for Saturday's services at the Istiqlal Mosque.
"The crowd was dispersed by 5 p.m. and the situation around the mosque is back to normal," Raden told BenarNews.
Compared with one of the previous anti-Ahok events that ended in riots on the night of Nov. 4, Saturday's mass prayer was largely peaceful.
But reports said that a group in the huge crowd had intimidated two journalists working for Metro TV and Global TV, and a crew from Kompas TV was barred from the mosque. This prompted a complaint from the Indonesian Television Journalist Association.
The Istiqlal Mosque is located just across Banteng Barat Jalan (Street) from the Jakarta Cathedral. On Saturday others in the huge crowd of the Muslim faithful were seen escorting a Catholic bride and groom, who were trying to make their way past the throng and into the church.
A video clip showing Muslims assisting the couple and shouting out well wishes to the soon-to-be newlyweds went viral after being posted online.


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BENARNEWS- A runoff election between Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" TjahajaPurnama and challenger Anies Baswedan is expected to be held in April after exit polls from Wednesday voting showed neither candidate had topped the 50 percent threshold to win outright.
Ahok and Deputy Jakarta Gov. Djarot Saiful Hidayat, who were polling at about 43 percent of votes cast, led Anies and his running mate, Sandiaga Uno, by about three points, according to exit polls. The Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni ticket finished a distant third with about 17 percent of the vote, and was facing elimination.
The elections in Jakarta were among 101 polls in gubernatorial, mayoral and other contests held across predominantly Muslim Indonesia on Wednesday. The vote in the Indonesian capital was being closely followed race because the incumbent governor, Ahok, is a Christian member of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese minority who is simultaneously standing trial on blasphemy charges for alleged anti-Islam comments.
A runoff vote is expected to be scheduled for April 19 but could be delayed, according to election officials.
"Usually in the second round, because it is head-to-head, the political tension is higher than the first round, so extra security is needed to ensure the elections would go safely and peacefully," Sumarno, chairman of the Jakarta Election Commission, told BenarNews.
In the Indonesian capital turnout was high, with about 80 percent of the 7.1 million eligible voters – going to the polls.
After casting his ballot at the Gambir polling station in Central Jakarta, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo called on Indonesians to stay united.
"Don't let political differences divide us or divide our unity," he told reporters.
On Wednesday there were no reports of violence at polling stations in Jakarta and others parts of the country.
At least 29,000 police and military personnel were on duty during voting hours in Jakarta. No incidents or disruptions were reported, according to local police.
Second round
Analysts expect a runoff election to be fierce.
Ahok has been the target of a series of protests that have drawn tens of thousands of people since he made a public comment about a verse in the Quran in September 2016 that upset conservative Muslims.
"The second round will get dirty. The primordial, religion and race issues will get noisier. A certain candidate will become the target of a black campaign and hoax," Tobias Basuki, a political analyst with Jakarta-based think-tank Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), told BenarNews.
He predicted that many of those voters who went for Agus-Sylvi would support Anies-Sandiaga because of the anti-Muslim allegations against Ahok. Anies is a former education minister in Jokowi's cabinet.
"We will see later whether the negative sentiment toward Ahok will be stronger than people's objectivity in viewing Ahok's performance," Syamsuddin Haris, a political observer with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, told BenarNews.
Still counting
Even as pollsters predicted a second vote in April, Sumarno said it was too early to call the race as official counting had not finished.
If no one reaches the 50 percent threshold after the votes are counted and there are no appeals to the Constitutional Court (MK), the second round will be held on April 19, Sumarno said. If a lawsuit is filed, the election commission would adjust its schedule.
"Usually it takes a maximum of 45 days. So if there is a lawsuit, the second round could be in June," he said.
Candidates ready
Ahok thanked his supporters on Wednesday.
"The fight has not finished, our spirit never dies. People believe in social justice for all of Jakarta's citizens. It turns out we still are trusted the most," he said.
Anies said Jakarta citizens must determine who will lead the capital city over the next five years.
"We are grateful the campaign process went well and God willing, we believe the citizens of Jakarta will choose the best for them," he said.
Across Indonesia
Along with Jakarta, voters went to the polls to elect leaders in the provinces of Aceh, Bangka Belitung, Banten, Gorontalo, West Sulawesi and West Papua, involving 76 districts and 18 cities.National Police spokesman Martinus Sitompul reported no security incidents during the voting period, according to the Jakarta Globe.
"In Aceh, there have been no incidents. Everything is safe and will hopefully remain that way," Martinus said, referring to the province in far western Indonesia that had been prone to conflict.


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BENARNEWS- An Indonesian man deported from Japan for immigration violations and suspected links to the Islamic State was in police custody in Lombok, officials said Friday.
Immigration offficials stopped the 44-year-old man, identified by his initials AM, at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali on Wednesday and handed him over to counterterrorism police for questioning, Agung Sampurno, a spokesman for Indonesian immigration, told BenarNews.
AM was sent home to  Lombok, the island immediately east of Bali, the following day because Balinese police had completed their questioning, according to Hengky Widjaja, a spokesman for Bali Regional Police.
"At the moment he's still being processed in Central Lombok," he told BenarNews on Friday, adding that local police would want to enter his information into a database.
AM was deported because he had violated terms of his work permit and used false documents, and also because of indications he had joined the Islamic State (IS) group in Japan, Hengky said.
"He was a close friend of MAS who earlier was deported because his social media accounts were radical and supported IS," he said, without clarifying further.
A West Nusa Tenggara man named Masdar was deported from South Korea in July 2016 for suspected links to IS, BeritaSatu reported at that time.
False permit
AM, a native of Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, went to Japan in 1997 and worked as a construction worker there, according to Agung  Sampurno, the immigration spokesman. Mataram is on Lombok.
He was detained after his wife, also an Indonesian national, was involved in a car accident in mid-2016. While investigating the case, Japanese police learned that her husband was living illegally in Japan and using a false residency permit, Agung said.
"According to his testimony, he was arrested by Japanese police and deported on Feb. 14, 2017, buying his own ticket," Agung said.
Suhardi Alius, head of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), recently commented after Indonesians were deported from Turkey that no nation is immune from the threat of terrorism.
"Indonesians are deported not only from Turkey, but there are some from South Korea, some from Japan," he said.
On Jan. 25, former Finance Ministry employee Triyono Utomo, his wife and three children were sent back to Indonesia from Turkey where they had been arrested after allegedly attempting to enter Syria to join IS.
They were detained on arrival in Indonesian but eventually released because of a lack of evidence needed to press terrorism-related charges against them, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rikwanto told BenarNews.
Since 2015, as many as 283 Indonesians have been deported from Turkey for allegedly intending to go to Syria, according to figures from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As of August 2016, according to BNPT, 237 adults and 46 children from Indonesia were in Syria.


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BENARNEWS- Three leaders of an Indonesian spiritual movement known as Gerakan Fajar Nusantara – or the Gafatar community – are standing trial in East Jakarta on charges of blasphemy and treason.
Leader Ahmad Musadeq, his son Andry Cahya, and Mahful Muis Tumanurung appeared in court most recently on Monday, the 24th session in their ongoing trial. Prosecutors are seeking 12-year prison sentences for Musadeq and Tumanurung and a 10-year sentence for Cahya.
The longer terms are sought for two of the defendants because they were convicted of blasphemy in 2006 for establishing the Al-Qiyadah al-Islamiyah movement. Musadeq claimed to be a prophet in the movement that combined tenets of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
The Indonesian Ulema Council previously described Gafatar as a reincarnation of Al-Qiyadah al-Islamiyah.
Investigators have gathered all the required pieces of evidence to constitute the blasphemy and treason allegations against the defendants, prosecutor Abdul Rauf said.
Through testimony from 50 witnesses throughout the court sessions, prosecutors found evidence that Gafatar had established a state-like structure which consisted of president, vice president or governor, he said. Prosecutors presented an organizational chart for Gafatar where Cahya was listed as president, Tumanurung as vice president and Musadeq as spiritual leader.
"They all had been sworn in so that constitutes treason, while Gafatar's synchronization of three religions constitutes blasphemy," Rauf said.
Gafatar was founded in 2011 but never received the necessary permit from Indonesia's Home Ministry to register as a formal organization.
Its mission was to "strengthen solidarity, and unity" among elements of Indonesian society and to "foster mutual understanding and cooperation among those concerned with peace and prosperity in the world," according to one of the few documents produced by the group that was viewable online in January 2016.
'We love this country'
The trio challenged Rauf's claim that they were blasphemers, taking turns presenting their plea, titled "Millah Abraham's consistency as the true path of God almighty."
"It was clear that The Prophet Muhammad was the inheritor and upholder of Millah Abraham's verses, which lead to the righteous path of God almighty," Cahya told the court on Feb. 16.
Musadeq denied allegations that their actions were treasonous. He said the swearing-in of committee members was not an effort to overthrow President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's government.
"In fact, we love this country. We recognize the existing administration and we want to take part in developing this country by assuring food security, which is part of President Widodo's Nawacita," he said, referring to the president's nine goals for his administration.
Mahfud questioned why the government had not prosecuted groups who attacked Gafatar's members.
About 1,000 Gafatar followers were evicted from their compound in Mempawah district in West Kalimantan province after a mob attacked and burned their settlement in January 2016.
The resistance against Gafatar movement started when a woman and her child were reported missing in Yogyakarta on Dec. 31, 2015, and resurfaced 11 days later, alleging they had gone to live with former Gafatar members.
"Why is it that none of the people who evicted us by force, committed arson and looted our assets have been prosecuted?" Mahfud said. "It was very clear that those who evicted us and burned our houses down have been organized."
About 100 Gafatar members clad in white shirts showed up for a recent court session to show their support for the defendants.
"This is to show our resistance," Gafatar member Yudi told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police shot dead a suspected militant believed to have links to the Islamic State (IS) after allegedly he blew up a bomb in a park in the West Java city of Bandung on Monday.
Yayat Cahyadi, 42, was killed during a shootout in a government office where he tried to escape after detonating a pressure cooker bomb at the nearby public park, police said.
National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian linked Yayat to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian militant organization that has pledged support to IS.
"[We see] an alleged link to JAD because the perpetrator said the bomb was for his friends who were arrested by Densus 88 to be released," Tito told Tribunnews, referring to the national police's elite counter-terrorist squad.
National Police spokesman Martinus Sitompul did not elaborate on the JAD link.
"So far, what we know is he acted by himself," Martinus told BenarNews, responding to a question about Yayat's statement about his friends.
"That was the information from the community. He threatened the people, said he had business with the Densus 88 and not with the people there," Martinus said.
Two suspects?
No one was injured but many were startled when Yayat's pressure cooker bomb exploded in Pandawa Park, the police spokesman said. He tried to escape from a crowd chasing him by running into the nearby village office.
Yayat, who had another bomb in his backpack, did not take any hostages, although police said a second suspect escaped from the building. Martinus gave no details about this other person.
"We are still investigating," Martinus said. "Based on witnesses' information, there are two persons, but only one perpetrator is known."
According to West Java Police spokesman Yusri Yunus, officers tried to persuade Yayat to surrender, but he set fire to the second floor of the building and threw the pressure cooker-bomb at police.
"That bomb almost hit the Bandung police chief," Yusri told BenarNews. "If he had surrendered, he would be alive."
Jailed previously
Martinus said Yayat was familiar to investigators of terror networks in Indonesia. He was jailed from 2012 to 2015 for connections to military-style training in Aceh in 2010.
His death adds to the list of JAD sympathizers killed over alleged ties to terrorism.
In October 2016, Sultan Azianzah, a JAD sympathizer stabbed three police officers with a knife in a station in Tangerang, Banten, a city about 88 km (55 miles) from Jakarta. Sultan, who was killed by police, brought two pipe bombs that did not explode.
Ridlwan Habib, a terrorism analyst at the University of Indonesia, said he suspected that Yayat tried to strike fear in the community ahead of a nine-day visit by Saudi King Salman beginning Wednesday.
"In an effort to cancel the visit, the atmosphere of fear was created," Ridlwan told BenarNews.
Muradi, an analyst at West Java's Padjajaran University, agreed. IS is known for disliking Saudi Arabia under the administration of King Salman, Muradi said.
"So, terror is created, this could be to warn King Salman not to come," Muradi said.
Police denied any possible links to the royal visit, and government officials said plans around the king's stay in Indonesia have not changed.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia is moving to protect children from what officials describe as a growing threat of being exposed to radicalism by adults around them.
In late December, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) recommended special measures be taken to shield children from such a threat, and in mid-February, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) pledged to cooperate on the effort.
"We agreed that children should be protected and shielded from terrorism, given the fact that the number of terrorism cases involving children continues to grow," BNPT chief Suhardi Alius said when signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with KPAI Chairman Asrorun Ni'am on Feb. 13.
Asrorun said the MoU was necessary considering research findings that children were prone to be exposed to terrorism, based on a KPAI survey. The survey has not been made public.
"An example of this is the case in Medan. The perpetrator was only 16 years old and was exposed [to terrorism] on social media. Therefore, KPAI and BNPT felt it necessary to forge cooperation to shield children from terrorism, which they mainly get from digital media," he said.
Details on how the two agencies would work together on this effort were not released.
Abandoned
Incidents of what KPAI defines as child endangerment in the area of religion and culture rose 42 percent in 2016 from the year before, according to the commission's year-end report.
It said 256 cases falling under this category were referred to it in 2016, compared with 180 in 2015.
The cases included children who were victims of culture-based violence; children who didn't get religious education in school that matched their faith; and children who were victims of terrorism attacks and thus deprived of a parental upbringing, education and a sense of security.
They also included two teenagers who received five-year prison sentences after being convicted of terrorism offenses, and 34 children deported with their parents from Turkey after their parents attempted to enter Syria to join the so-called Islamic State.
Those children are in government custody at the Bambu Apus social center in East Jakarta to undergo rehabilitation from the social ministry.
Some Indonesian children are in orphanages in Turkey after being abandoned by parents who went to Syria, according to the BNPT, which is verifying the number of individuals involved. Under Turkish law, they can leave the orphanage only when their parents retrieve them or they reach age 18.
Victims or perpetrators?
Child-rights activists also assert that minors convicted of terrorism offenses should be protected. They should be considered victims, not perpetrators.
Andika Bagus Setiawan was 17 when he was convicted of plotting a terrorist act and sentenced to five years in prison. He reportedly had been in contact with Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian militant in Syria who masterminded the group's gun and bomb attack in Jakarta in January 2016 that killed eight.
Andika should have been given half the seven-year sentence demanded by prosecutors because he was a juvenile at the time, Supriyadi Widodo Eddyono, executive director of Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, told BenarNews.
"The norm in child protection practice is that all juvenile offenders are in principle assumed as victims who needs rehabilitation," he said.
Ivan Armadi Hasugian, 16, failed to detonate a bomb outside the St. Yoseph Catholic Church in Medan, North Sumatra in August 2016. He was sentenced to five years in prison in October 2016 by judges of the East Jakarta District Court.
Because of his age, "he should have been sent to rehabilitation instead of serving a prison sentence," said Ahmad Taufan Damanik, the Indonesian commissioner for child rights in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Childrenfrom 2010 to 2016.
Each terrorism case involving children should be thoroughly investigated to determine whether the offenders were exploited to carry out the attack, took the initiative on their own or were just exposed to radicalism, he told BenarNews.
Lawmakers working to amend Indonesia's counterterrorism law are deliberating how to prosecute minors. A draft of the revision states that minors should receive half the maximum sentence stipulated by law when convicted of terrorism offenses.


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BENARNEWS- Covered from head to toe in a black veil and robe, the widow of one of Indonesia's top militants entered a North Jakarta District courtroom Monday for the latest hearing in her own trial on terrorism-related charges.
Jumiatun Muslimayatun (alias Umi Delima), 23, is facing charges stemming from her arrest in Central Sulawesi province in July 2016, soon after her fugitive husband was gunned down in a firefight with security forces in Poso, a local regency.
Santoso (alias Abu Wardah), led the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), which had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) before he was killed on July 18, 2016. Up until his death, he was the most wanted militant in Indonesia. The number of members left in MIT has dwindled to nine since then, officials said.
Before Jumiatun's arrest five days later, police alleged that she had joined her husband as a militant, and had undergone military training organized by MIT as well as carried an M-16 rifle. She was with her husband during the fatal shootout but escaped.
"(She) is often irritable. We understand that their thinking is not like us," an officer with Densus 88, Indonesia's elite counter-terrorist police squad, who was guarding the defendant at Monday's hearing, told BenarNews.
Another Densus 88 member warned against taking pictures as Jumiatun entered the courtroom.
A prosecutor asked that BenarNews not quote the names of judges, prosecutors, and the Densus 88 officer who escorted her.
"As you know yourselves, they (MIT) still have their members. Please help keep our privacy," the prosecutor told BenarNews.
Jumiatun, who hails from West Nusa Tenggara province, joined MIT in mid-2014, after her first husband, an MIT member was killed by security officers. She became Santoso's second wife and joined MIT to seek revenge for her dead husband, prosecutors allege.
Testimony
Surya Pranowo, an officer with the central forensic laboratory of South Sulawesi Province who is an expert in ammunition and explosives, testified Monday that laboratory results showed there were traces of residual sugar in a flash powder explosive used by Santoso's group.
"Brown sugar is found in the mixture of explosives to cause the flame, as it contains sucrose and serves as a fuel," he said. "If you want to burn a building, for example, you can add brown sugar in the mixture of explosives."
Surya discussed chemicals used by MIT to make the flash powder, such as potassium chlorate and sulfur. "These materials can be purchased at stores that sell chemicals," Surya said.
The flash powder made by Santoso's group was considered low-explosive.
"(Its scope) was below 300 meters per second or below the speed of sound. But of course, the concentrations of explosives determine the size of the explosion," Surya said on the witness stand.
Evidence
Prosecutors presented an M-16 rifle with five rounds as evidence.
"Based on results of a physical examination, this weapon has been used to shoot," ballistics expert Supriadi, another witness for the prosecution, testified. He described the M-16 itself as a standard military weapon.
"This long-barreled M-16 cannot be owned by individuals. Even police do not have this kind of weapon," testified Supriadi who had been asked to examine antitank weapons made in the United States and a revolver once owned by MIT.
"This group possessed many weapons. We don't know how they got them," the chief judge said while observing testimony.
Meanwhile Jumiatun's lawyer, Kamsi, insisted that his client is innocent and only served Santoso as a wife.
"She followed her husband into the forest because of her obligations as a wife. She had nothing to do with the group's activities," he told BenarNews after the hearing.
The next court date is March 13. If convicted, Jumiatun could face up to 20 years in prison.


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BENARNEWS- A court in East Jakarta convicted and sentenced three leaders of a banned Indonesian spiritual movement on blasphemy charges Tuesday, handing them prison terms ranging from three to five years.
A three-judge panel acquitted the three defendants of treason charges, but found the leaders of the movement known as Gerakan Fajar Nusantara (Gafatar) – which some religious leaders in predominantly Muslim Indonesia have branded as "heretical" – guilty of promoting practices that deviate from Islam.
The panel at the East Jakarta District Court sentenced Gafatar's founder and spiritual leader, Ahmad Musadeq, 71, to a five-year term along with the group's vice president, Mahful Muis Tumanurung, 41. Defendant Andry Cahya, 48, who is Gafatar's president and the son of Musadeq, was sentenced to three years.
"The teachings given by the defendant have proven to offend and tarnish the greatness of Islam," Chief Judge Muhammad Sirad said in handing down the verdict to Musadeq.
Sirad was referring to one of Gafatar's teachings that does not require followers to perform salat, prayers Muslims are obliged to perform five times a day, according to the Quran.
"Thus, the charge of intentionally doing blasphemy in public is proven," Sirad said.
The three Gafatar men had been charged with treason for allegedly promoting the overthrow of Indonesia's government among their followers, but the chief judge cleared them of this charge, saying that witness testimony had not sustained this accusation.
Prosecutors had asked for the judges to sentence both Musadeq and Mahful to 12 years in prison for blasphemy, and had requested a 10-year sentence for Andry for the same offense.
Judge Sirad noted that the sentence for Andry was shorter than the other two because, compared with Musadeq and Mahful, he had not previously been convicted.
The two other defendants had been jailed in 2008 on blasphemy charges for establishing the Al-Qiyadah Al-Islamiyah movement, which eventually became Gafatar. Musadeq claimed at the time to be a prophet of the movement that blends tenets of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
Some Muslim leaders in Indonesia have deemed Gafatar as deviant, and the government banned the group in 2012.
Mahful and Andry did not say a word as they left the courtroom, but they smiled and waved at journalists.
Musadeq told reporters he was weighing an appeal.
"I am thinking about it," he said.
However, Pratiwi Febry, a lawyer representing the three men, described Tuesday's ruling and sentencing as unjust and said her clients would appeal.
"This is a killing field for those who are minorities and oppressed," Pratiwi said.


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BENARNEWS- Saudi Arabia's puritanical brand of Islam – Salafism – has come under scrutiny in Indonesia as the ruler of the oil rich kingdom made a state visit to Jakarta last week.
Religious and rights groups have questioned whether Salafism has fueled violence and intolerance in Indonesia, a sprawling and diverse country where Islam took root in cultures shaped by Hinduism, Buddhism and animism.
Salafism is a Sunni Muslim movement that embraces a literal interpretation of the Quran and a return to the traditions of the era of the Prophet Muhammad.
The movement's belief is "dangerous" and being exported into Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, through educational aid by Saudi Arabia, said Ali Munhanif, a senior researcher at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.
"The movement emulates life in the early Muslim era and leads to anti-modernism, and opposition to the development of society. Anything else is considered un-Islamic. That kind of idea is dangerous," Ali told BenarNews.
Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries "have been providing scholarships for Indonesians to study there with the hope that they will bring these concepts home," he said.
Public relations
The official "Wahhabi" religion of Saudi Arabia is based on certain segments of Salafism, and reports have claimed that Wahhabism has fueled global extremism and contributed to terrorism.
The visit by King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud to Indonesia may be an attempt by Saudi Arabia to allay these fears, some reports suggested.
"Now that Wahhabism has been linked with radicalism and even terrorism, the Saudi government has stepped up its campaign to counter that perception and the state visit of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Indonesia, where religious conservatism has gained ground alongside frequent terrorist attacks, was part of the public relations campaign," the Jakarta Post daily said in a report at the end of the state visit on Friday.
The King, who is holidaying in Bali, called for a united front to deal with what he termed "a clash of civilizations" and terrorism in a speech to Indonesian lawmakers last week.
"The challenges that the Muslim community and the world in general faces, like terrorism and the clash of civilizations and the lack of respect for a country's sovereignty, require us to unite in dealing with these challenges," the monarch said, according to the Jakarta Post.
King Salman also met with leaders of Indonesia's major Islamic organizations and promoted a tolerant version of Islam as the key in the fight against terrorism and radicalism, the paper said.
Secular Indonesia has grown increasingly concerned about security after suffering a series of terrorist attacks in the past 15 years, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Last year, a terror raid in Jakarta claimed by the Islamic State left four attackers and four civilians dead.
Azyumardi Azra, Muslim scholar and former rector of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta, said some examples of Salafi or Wahhabi influence in Indonesia include Jemaah Islamiyah, the group that mounted the Bali bomb attacks, and Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid, the group led by jailed cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.
He also said that one goal of Salafism propagated by Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia is to offset the spread of Shia Islam. Shia Muslims are in the majority in Saudi Arabia's arch rival Iran, as well as Iraq, among other countries.
Human rights groups have expressed concern over the calls by some conservative clerics in Indonesia for the persecution of minority Shias and Ahmadiyah members.
Tuition-free
Since 1980, Saudi Arabia has devoted millions of dollars to exporting Salafism to Indonesia, according to a recent report in The Atlantic Monthly, an American magazine.
It has built more than 150 mosques, as well as several Arabic language institutes and a free university in Jakarta, and sent a steady supply of preachers, teachers and textbooks to more than 100 boarding schools, the report said.
There were 900 Indonesian students in 10 universities across the kingdom as of 2016, according to the Association of Indonesian Scholars in Saudi Arabia.
Many more Indonesians get scholarships to study in Australia, the United States and European countries, according to Abdul Mukti, Secretary of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim organization in Indonesia.
"Graduates of Saudi state universities don't necessarily become the followers of Salafism. It's usually the graduates of non-formal or private education institutions that do," Abdul told BenarNews.
One bastion of Saudi influence in Indonesia is the tuition-free Institute for the Study of Islam and Arabic (LIPIA), a branch of a Saudi university that opened in South Jakarta in 1980. The curriculum is entirely in Arabic; male and female students are segregated.
Alumni of the school include Habib Rizieq, head of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which has been at the forefront of attempts to oust the ethnic Chinese governor of Jakarta on allegations he blasphemed against Islam.
Another is Laskar Jihad founder Jafar Umar Thalib. Disbanded in 2002, Laskar Jihad recruited Muslims to fight Christians in Ambon, where some 5,000 people were killed and more than 700,000 displaced in communal violence between 1999 and 2002.
In check?
Despite the concerns over Salafism, Saudi Arabia is expected to forge ahead with its campaign to spread its version of Islam as it plans to open new campuses of LIPIA in Makassar, Surabaya and Medan, the Jakarta Post reported.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's moderate Muslims are hoping the country's mainstream Islamic organizations can keep a check on Salafism.
"The movement is not so compatible with Indonesia's multicultural society," said Ali, the researcher.
"The role of Nahdlatul Ulama in supporting the nation's independence was so strong, and Muhammadiyah too, in modernizing Islam," he said, referring to the two biggest groups that collectively claim tens of millions of members.
Scholar Azyumardi agreed, adding that it was important for the government to encourage both organizations' role to be in line with the government's goal of developing a multicultural society and maintaining religious tolerance.
"They are too big to fail. I don't see the worst scenario [of the rising influence of Salafism]," he said. "but it calls for vigilance and consolidation among moderate organizations."
But Indonesia has a new mass religious organization, Wahdah Islamiyah, which follows Salafi practices and has branches in every province and more than 174 schools.
It was founded in 1988 by students in Makassar who severed links with Muhammadiyah because of its adoption of Pancasila as a founding principle, according to Chris Chapin, a researcher with the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies. Pancasila, Indonesia's state philosophy, emphasizes national unity and pluralism.


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BENARNEWS- Under a scorching sun on Friday, two ethnic Chinese men became the first Buddhists in Indonesia's Aceh province to be whipped for violating its strict Islamic code.
The two men, identified only by their initials, A.S. and A.A., received nine and seven lashes, respectively, as punishment for gambling through cockfighting.
But their punishment was considerably lighter than canings meted out in Aceh to three other people on Friday, including an 18-year-old woman. The three received between 94 and 112 lashes of the executioner's rattan cane for sexual misconduct. A sixth person was also caned on gambling charges.
A.S., a 57-year-old Buddhist man, was whipped nine times on a public stage outside the al-Munawarrah mosque in Jantho, a town in Aceh Besar district.
He glanced a few times at his punisher, a man cloaked in a hood. As soon as the flogging ended, A.S. was taken off the stage to a nearby ambulance to receive medical attention. Later, his fellow Buddhist and co-defendant, A.A., received seven lashes.
As non-Muslims, the two ethnic Chinese said they chose to receive their sentences under Sharia law, and not under Indonesia's criminal code that could have resulted in incarceration. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that enforces the Islamic code.
The two were caned following their convictions for betting on cockfighting, or gambling, which is an offense under Sharia law. Previously, the law did not stipulate that non-Muslims convicts could be subjected to public caning.
That changed in 2015 when Aceh amended its criminal code to include corporal punishment for non-Muslims under certain circumstances. Any non-Muslims who commit acts considered as crimes under Sharia law in the presence of Muslims could be prosecuted and punished by an Islamic court, particularly if Indonesia's criminal code did not cover the crime in question, according to the amendments.
A 35-year-old Muslim man identified as M.A. received seven lashes for his conviction on similar gambling charges. He braced himself to be whipped as the executioner aimed the rattan cane to his back.
Sharia Council judges in Jantho had sentenced the three men to 10 lashes, but their sentences were mitigated because they had spent time in police detention since their arrest on Jan. 1. For each month in jail, they received one less lashing.
'Just watching'
Following their punishments, the men joked with the paramedics who were treating them.
"We just happened to be watching (the cockfight). Those who were really gambling managed to flee when the police arrived," A.S. told BenarNews.
"There were only the three of us who didn't run away and remained there, so the police arrested us."
A Jantho prosecutor challenged their statement, saying investigators found evidence that the men took part in the betting.
"When they were arrested, the police seized 400,000 rupiah (U.S. $30) of betting money," prosecutor Rivandi Aziz told journalists.
Asked why non-Muslims were subjected to caning, Aziz said they were given the option to be subjected to Sharia law or the criminal code, and they had opted for Sharia law.
"We live in Aceh, so we have to obey the law that prevails in our region," A.S. said, adding that he made the decision without bowing to any pressure.
Public caning of non-Muslims is rare in Aceh. Most often, Muslims who violate Sharia law are subject to the punishment. Previously, a Christian woman was lashed 28 times in Takengon, Aceh Tengah, on April 12, 2016, after she was convicted of selling alcoholic beverages.
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An executioner canes a woman in Jantho, Aceh Besar, March 10, 2017. [Nurdin Hasan/BenarNews]
Adultery and sexual harassment
Two men and a woman were punished as well before dozens of spectators, including women and children, despite the law forbidding those younger than 18 from witnessing a public caning.
A 41-year-old man identified as D.B.A. received 112 lashes. He was to receive 120 lashes the number was reduced to reflect the eight months he spent in jail.
The executioner took a break after 80 lashes. A team of doctors examined D.B.A.'s condition before the final 32 lashes were administered.
For each 10 lashes, a prosecutor asked D.B.A. if he could endure the punishment. D.B.A. nodded to confirm that he could.
Prosecutor Aziz said police arrested D.B.A. in Sukamakmur sub-district on July 27, 2016, after they received reports about sexual harassment involving three boys, aged 15 and 16.
"The harassment happened at three different times and in different places, so he was tried with three different charges," he said, adding that the panel of judges called for 40 lashes for each case.
Sharia stipulates that a sexual offender could face up to 40 lashes while sexual harassment to children is punishable by a maximum of 90 lashes.
Also punished before the spectators were a man and woman charged with fornication. They were sentenced to 100 lashes each.
The 25-year-old man identified as R.A. was lashed 94 times while his partner, an 18-year-old woman identified as C.N. was lashed 99 times.


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BENARNEWS- Authorities in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province killed a suspected militant and arrested eight others in separate raids Friday, including six men who were allegedly planning to bomb a local police station, police said.
During one of the raids elite police counter-terrorist squad Densus 88 fatally shot a suspect identified by authorities only by his initials, L.S, as he was resisting arrest in Parigi Moutong regency, sources said. Officers seized evidence including a motorcycle.
Two alleged associates, identified as L.N. and I.R., were captured nearby at around 11 a.m. on the Trans-Sulawesi Highway connecting North and South Sulawesi provinces, a police source told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.
The arrest came shortly after Densus 88 arrested six other suspected militants, in a house in Tolitoli, a regency about 428 km (266 miles) north of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, at 8:30 a.m.
"They are allegedly part of the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT)," a local police officer said, referring to an armed militant group based in Poso, Central Sulawesi that had pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State (IS).
The six allegedly planned to join the others in bombing the Parigi Moutong police office.
"In addition, they also planned to attack police officers who were guarding banks in the district," another police source said.
Police seized bomb-making materials including fertilizer, sulfur, charcoal, nails and denatured alcohol.
Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Hari Suprapto confirmed the arrests to BenarNews.
"True, there were arrests; six in Tolitoli and three in Parigi Moutong," Hari said. He did not verify reports about potential links to MIT or that one of the suspects had been killed.
"We will not be able to comment right now on the linkage to MIT, including about the seized evidence in the arrest," he said, "When we have all the data, we will inform you."
Operation Tinombala Task Force, a joint police and military operation involving about 2,000 personnel, has been hunting for remaining MIT members in Poso, the hotbed of the militant group, since the killing of MIT leader Santoso (alias Abu Wardah) on July 18, 2016.
"In Poso there are still nine members (of MIT) on the police wanted list, including Ali Kalora. They still continue to be pursued," Hari said, referring to the alleged current MIT leader.
M-16 rifle
Central Sulawesi Police Chief Brig. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi, confirmed that Operation Tinombala had resulted in the discovery in a river in Poso of an M-16 rifle thought to be owned by Basri (alias Bagong), one of the top MIT members who was arrested in September.
"The weapon was found on Saturday, March 4, at about 5:10 p.m. at the bottom of Puna river, Gantinadi hamlet, Tangkura village, in Poso Pesisir," he said, adding the weapon was in a good condition and police also found 20 bullets.
He said locals had spotted the weapon but left it in the river because they were afraid to touch it.


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BENARNEWS- Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines will launch joint patrols in the Sulu Sea as soon as next month to safeguard ships' crews from piracy and kidnappings, officials from the three countries said.
Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein confirmed the planned launch on Monday following similar statements last week from an Indonesian defense ministry spokesman and Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
"This launch follows the agreement reached during a meeting between the three defense ministers – myself, Ryamizard Ryacudu and Lorenzana during the fourth three-corner meeting on Nov. 17, 2016, after the 10th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defense Ministers Meeting," Hishammuddin told BenarNews.
"The Sulu Sea initiative involves joint training operations, coordinated maritime patrol and air patrol on maritime waters and coastline near the east coast of Malaysia including the standard operating procedures for 'hot pursuit' into Philippine waters," he said.
New Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte last year gave Malaysia and Indonesia the green light to pursue militant boats into Philippine waters to capture kidnappers and free their hostages.
The Indonesian spokesman said a soft launch of "trilateral maritime security cooperation" was slated for April 11 from Sandakan Port in Malaysia. "The three defense ministers will attend the event," the spokesman said.
31 hostages
Defense and foreign officials from the three countries began talks last year about the need for joint patrols in the region that has been marred by piracy and kidnappings linked to the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), a southern Philippines-based militant group aligned with the Islamic State (IS).
In May 2016, foreign ministers agreed to launch joint patrols to protect ships and their crews. A month later, defense ministers held more discussions on the plan, including focusing on coordinating air-sea patrols.
By November, an Indonesian spokesman said a series of obstacles had slowed efforts to launch the patrols.
"I really hope we can do it in the near future," Indonesian Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Wuryanto told BenarNews. "We feel a bit disgraced now [because] the kidnappings keep going on and on."
In December, Malaysian security personnel killed three gunmen and captured two others during a shootout off eastern Malaysia's Sabah state. The shootout occurred after seven suspected Filipino gunmen in a boat attacked three ships in the area around Semporna, a town on Sabah's east coast close to the southern Philippines.
Last week, Lorenzana said ASG is holding 31 hostages including six Vietnamese seamen attacked on their cargo ship off the southern Philippines last month, according to Agence France-Presse.
The 31 includes five Malaysians and two Indonesian sailors. Pirates kidnapped 27 Indonesians and 10 Malaysians in 2016, most of whom have since been released.
In 2016, ASG collected at least 354.1 million Philippines pesos (U.S. $7.3 million) from ransom paid for hostages, Philippine-based news website Rappler.com reported.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's government is trying to verify reports that an Indonesian commander of Islamic State (IS) based in Syria was killed in a suicide bombing this week, officials said Wednesday.
The IS-affiliated Amaq News Agency reported that Bahrumsyah, one of the founders of a Malay-speaking combat unit of IS made up exclusively of Southeast Asian fighters, died Monday while carrying out a suicide mission in Palmyra, Syria.
Bahrumsyah was killed when his explosives-rigged car blew up before reaching his intended target, a Syrian Army unit, sparing its members from any injuries, the Singapore-based Strait Times reported.
"We are still waiting for clarification," National Police Spokesman Inspector Gen. Boy Rafli Amar told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday. "We do not dare say 'yes,' however we have information about it."
Indonesia's National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) also could not confirm Bahrumsyah's death.
If the reports of his death prove accurate, two of three top Indonesian figures with IS in the Middle East are now dead.
The process to verify such reports was slow because Indonesians who travel to Syria or Iraq do so to join IS without reporting to the nearest embassy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said.
"We have difficulties in confirming such news, because they went to Syria illegally," he told reporters.
Bahrumsyah (whose aliases include Bachrumsyah Mennor Usman, Abu Muhammad al Indonesi, and Abu Ibrahim al Indonesi), recently was classified by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Also on that list was imprisoned Muslim cleric Aman Abdurrahman, the leader of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) extremist group.
Network
Bahrumsyah is part of a network of IS-aligned Indonesian militants including Aman, Bahrun Naim and Abu Jandal, who was reported killed in Mosul, Iraq, in November 2016.
Indonesian authorities took notice of Bahrumsyah in 2014 when he appeared in a YouTube video calling on Muslim youths in Indonesia and Malaysia to join IS. The video's release led to a government ban on IS.
A second video, posted in 2015 and accessible online in January 2016, showed a clean-shaven Bahrumsyah (pictured) speaking to the camera and giving orders to dozens taking part in military training at a Syrian camp.
Last month, police reported that his wife, Nia Kurniati, was among 75 people housed in a government shelter in Jakarta for rehabilitation after being deported from Turkey in January after she allegedly tried to travel to Syria.
Differing opinions
Ridlwan Habib, a terrorism expert at the University of Indonesia, said he was sure that a new video and photos released by Amaq, showed Bahrumsyah just moments before his death. A message posted on Twitter by Terrormonitor.org with a screen grab from the video identified the bearded man sitting in a vehicle as "Suicide Bomber Abu Mohammed."
Ridlwan said it was rare for IS to give the same alias to more than one person, especially Indonesians.
"For example, (the name of) Abu Muhammad, if it is already taken, then others should not use the same name, although the last name is the same as al Indonesi," he told BenarNews.
Yet a terrorism analyst from the Community of Islamic Ideological Analyst (CIIA), Abu Harith Ulya, questioned the identity of the alleged bomber seen in the images.
"Abu Muhammad who was killed was not Bahrumsyah. For sure, he was not Bahrumsyah," Harith told BenarNews.
Trial for five
Meanwhile, five members of Katibah Gonggong Rebus (KGR), an IS-linked group accused of planning a rocket attack on Singapore from the nearby Indonesian island of Batam in August, on faced trial in an East Jakarta courtroom on Wednesday.
The five pleaded not guilty on Jan. 24 to charges in connection with the alleged terror plot, harboring militants and funding terror activities, according to the Straits Times.
Gigih Rahmat Dewa, 31, the alleged leader, and his four accomplices, Hadi Gusti Yanda, 20, Tarmizi, 21, Eka Saputra, 35, and Trio Syafrido, 46, were back in court for the trial that began Feb. 1.
Accused of being an IS sympathizer with links to Bahrun Naim, Gigih denied having any part in the foiled attack. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian counter-terrorist police shot and killed a suspected Islamic State-linked militant on Thursday and arrested seven others in provinces bordering Jakarta, officials said.
Nanang Kosim died during a shootout with members of the Densus 88 squad when he and three other suspects who were traveling in two cars tried to escape an ambush in Cilegon, a city in Banten province, police said.
National Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said police knew of Nanang because he aided in hiding a terrorist tied to an attack in Jakarta that killed eight people in January 2016 – the first terror act claimed by Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia.
Nanang also helped a militant who tossed a Molotov cocktail that killed a toddler and injured three children in front of a church in East Kalimantan province in November 2016, according to Boy.
"He allegedly was linked to JAD Network," said Boy, referring to the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) extremist group which pledged to IS. JAD's leader is imprisoned Muslim cleric Aman Abdurrahman who is classified by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The other suspects in Thursday's shootout in Banten, identified as Achmad Supriyanto, Icuk Pamulang and Abdul Majid, who was shot in the leg, are in custody.
"Achmad and Icuk surrendered without resistance when arrested," National Police spokesman Boy told BenarNews.
Nanang and Abdul, who were traveling in a different car, struck a police vehicle. The two ignored a warning shot, forcing officers to open fire on them, Boy said.
Officers found and secured a gun in one of the cars.
The Cilegon ambush occurred several hours after four other alleged militants were taken into custody in West Java province.
Arrests began around 5 a.m. in Tanjung Baru, a village in West Java, when officers captured Abu Ridho (alias Suryadi Mas'ud).
Three hours later, another suspected militant, Mulyadi, was arrested in Pandeglang, Banten.
At 1 p.m., Densus 88 officers arrested suspected militant Adi Jihadi in the same area. At the same time, suspected militant Bambang Eko Prasetyo Aria was arrested in Ciputat, South Tangerang, Banten.
"So, in total there are eight. One of them died," Boy said.
Nanang's past
Boy said Nanang also served as an instructor of a military training camp organized by JAD in Malang, East Java, in November  2015.
Police said he planned an upcoming training camp in Halmahera, in North Maluku province, in preparation to replace the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) militant group in Central Sulawesi province weakened by the killing of its leader, Santoso, in July 2016.
Boy also linked suspects Suryadi and Bambang to JAD, adding that Suryadi knew of last year's Jakarta attack and purchased firearms that ended up in the hands of JAD members.
"Two of the firearms were used for the Thamrin terror act," said Boy, referring to the Jakarta attack.
Bambang, according to the police spokesman, was involved in a military training camp in the southern Philippines. Boy did not have additional information about Bambang or the other suspects.
Thursday's actions added to the list of suspected terrorists arrested by Densus 88. In the first two months of 2017, officers arrested at least five alleged terrorists. Since December, police have shot and killed at least six people while attempting to arrest them.
National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said at least 160 people with alleged ties to IS were arrested in Indonesia in 2016.


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BENARNEWS-  Turkey has deported 149 Indonesians since the start of the year on suspicion of trying to cross into Syria to join Islamic State, according to Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The figure includes 12 citizens who were sent home by Turkish authorities last week. As many as 221 Indonesians were expelled from Turkey over similar allegations during 2015 and 2016.
This year's expulsions have taken place as IS strongholds in Syria and Iraq have come under siege by military offensives mounted by the local governments and anti-IS coalition forces.
"The total number of Indonesian citizens deported since 2015 until March 26, 2017 was 370 people, including 149 citizens who were deported since Jan. 1," Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, who directs the ministry's Department for the Protection of Citizens and Legal Entities, told BenarNews.
'Children still need their mothers'
Last week, Indonesian police released 12 newly arrived deportees – four women and eight children aged between 2 and 6 years old – and handed them over to a shelter in East Jakarta run by the Social Ministry.
"It is still under police investigation regarding their motives and the illegal route they tried to take to Syria. This case is handled by BNPT," Directorate General of Immigration spokesman Agung Sampurno told BenarNews on Friday, referring to Indonesia's counter-terrorism agency.
"Because BNPT does not have a facility for children, they were sent to the Social Ministry while the investigation is under way. The children still need their mothers and they cannot be separated," he said.
The women are to receive guidance on the country's ideology of Pancasila, Indonesia's state philosophy emphasizing national unity and pluralism, and how to integrate themselves back into their communities.
"The social ministry will conduct a trauma healing and trauma counseling process, especially for the children, before they go back to their respective regions," Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said in a statement issued Friday. The rehabilitation process is scheduled to last a month.
According to records from the social ministry, the shelter received 75 deportees from Turkey in February, including one identified as the wife of Bahrumsyah (alias Bachrumsyah Mennor Usman) an Indonesian citizen believed to be a founder of an IS combat unit made up exclusively of fighters from Southeast Asia. On March 13, Amaq, the IS-affiliated news agency, reported that Bahrumsyah died in a suicide bombing in Syria, but the Indonesian government has not confirmed his death.
Some well-educated Indonesians are among those who have been deported from Turkey this year. Among those expelled in mid-January was a former economist from the Ministry of Finance, who received his college education in Australia and left for the Middle East with his wife and three children.
The ex-economist and Bahrumsyah's wife were also sent to the Social Ministry's Bambu Apus facility in East Jakarta to receive guidance and training on Pancasila, after they were released over a lack of evidence needed to press terror-related charges against them, officials said.
Under Indonesian current anti-terror laws, it is not a crime for citizens to travel abroad to join extremist groups such as IS.
Reasons for going
Several things inspire people to abandon their lives in Indonesia in their quest to travel to and build new lives in IS-controlled territories in Syria and Iraq, according to Al Chaidar, a terrorism expert at Malikussaleh University in Lhokseumawe, Aceh.
They are inspired by theology as well as political, economic and social reasons, even though IS appears to be cornered in the two neighboring Middle Eastern countries, he said.
"Many of them are jobless in Indonesia. They want to try their luck by doing business while living under Islamic law. Don't be surprised, products of Indonesia are very salable there," Chaider told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- The United States on Thursday declared Indonesian Bahrun Naim and Malaysian Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi, suspected Islamic State fighters based in Iraq and Syria who are wanted for IS-linked attacks, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
The two men provide financial and operational support for IS recruitment and for attack plots in Indonesia, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the U.S. Treasury Department stated. The designation targets IS recruitment and financial support of terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia and sustains the department's efforts against IS operations across the globe, treasury officials said.
In announcing the designation, the department said "all property and interests in property of these individuals subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked."
It also declared that American citizens are generally prohibited from conducting financial transactions with the two men.
"Designating Muhammad Bahrun Naim Anggih Tamtomo and Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi sends a powerful signal to individuals that provide support to ISIS and demonstrates the U.S. government's resolve to combat terrorism and terrorism financing in the region," John E. Smith, the treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control director, said in a statement in which he used another acronym for IS.
'A lesson for everyone'
Bahrun declared his allegiance to IS in August 2014 and had recruited more than 100 of his countrymen by January 2016, according to the declaration.
The U.S. alleges he organized and funded a terrorist attack that killed four civilians and four extremists in central Jakarta on Jan. 14, 2016, transferring nearly U.S. $72,000 to an Indonesian associate. The attack was the first terrorist act claimed by IS in Indonesia.
More recently, Bahrun allegedly began an effort to recruit women as suicide bombers, "because they are less likely to attract suspicion," according to a report by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict. Among those recruited was Dian Yulia Novi, who failed to detonate a rice-cooker bomb during a changing-of-the-guard ceremony outside the presidential palace in Jakarta in December.
Wanndy, a Syria- and Iraq-based Malaysian IS operative, coordinates planning for attacks and facilitates travel for recruits to Syria to join IS, treasury officials said.
In a Facebook post, Wanndy declared responsibility for a grenade attack that injured eight people at a nightclub in the Kuala Lumpur area in June 2016 – the first attack claimed by IS on Malaysian soil. Malaysian police have accused Wanndy of orchestrating the attack.
On Wednesday, two men, Wahyudin Karjono and Jonius Indie (alias Jahali), were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for tossing the grenade at the crowd at the Movida nightclub in Puchong.
Wanndy, who conducted a Facebook interview with BenarNews in September 2015, then expressed no regrets about leaving home to join Islamic State.
"I must say that I do harbor the hope of returning to Malaysia, but it is not my priority as my focus now is to stay here and fight, to achieve my dream of defending the IS," he told BenarNews.
He allegedly had participated in the beheading of a Syrian man that was videotaped and posted to Facebook in February 2015.
"The video version of this punishment is for those who betrayed Islam. It's a lesson for everyone," he allegedly said in the video.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police Friday announced the arrests of five people, including the leader of the hardline Muslim People's Forum (FUI), for suspected treason ahead of a rally hosted by the group calling for the removal of Jakarta's ethnic Chinese Christian governor.
Friday's rally in the Indonesian capital drew far smaller crowds than ones staged in recent months when protesters demanded Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama be removed and arrested because of alleged anti-Muslim comments that led to a blasphemy charge against him. Ahok, a member of Muslim-dominated Indonesia's tiny ethnic Chinese minority, is competing in a run-off vote in the gubernatorial election on April 19.
Jakarta Police spokesman Argo Yuwono identified FUI Secretary General Muhammad al-Khaththath, who was picked up in a Jakarta hotel, as one of the five suspects arrested on Thursday night.
"Yes, last night we arrested five people in different locations. We arrested them based on a report from people, and because there are elements of conspiracy to commit treason," Argo told BenarNews.
Also arrested were activists identified as Zainudin Arsyad, Irwansyah, Dikho Nugraha and Andry. Police seized mobile phones and documents as evidence, according to Argo.
"They were all sent to Mako Brimob," said Argo, referring to a Police Mobile Brigade Command detention center in Kelapa Dua, Depok, near Jakarta.
The police spokesman told TVOne that the five were arrested based on "several findings, including a plan to occupy the Indonesian parliament."
Earlier on Thursday, al-Khaththath held a press conference at the Baiturrachman Mosque in South Jakarta to discuss Friday's rally, dubbed 313-Action, referring to March 31.
Small crowd
While organizers had predicted that 100,000 people would turn out to demand the arrest and removal of Ahok for alleged anti-Islam blasphemy, only a few thousand people gathered at the Horse Statue, a Central Jakarta landmark, Argo said.
"We purposely confined them there," Argo said. "This is to avoid a demonstration too close to the Presidential Palace."
Ahok has been standing trial for allegedly insulting Islam when he quoted a passage from the Quran at a public event in September, in a way that was seen as defamatory to the religion.
The former deputy governor to now-Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, faces a run-off election to retain his office on April 19 against a Muslim candidate, former education minister Anies Baswedan. Ahok was the leading vote-getter in the first round of the election in February, but did not get more than 50 percent of ballots cast, forcing the run-off against the second-place candidate.
Previous rallies by conservative Islamic groups demanding Ahok's arrest drew much larger crowds.
A rally on Nov. 4, 2016 organized by Muslim conservative groups claimed to draw more than 100,000 protesters. The rally started peacefully but turned violent in the evening as dozens of police and protesters were injured. On Dec. 2, 2016, another rally drew thousands of protesters who remained peaceful.
Government minister meeting
The 313-Action protest began at 2 p.m. at the Horse Statue after protesters finished Friday prayers at Jakarta's Istiqlal National Mosque. The rally featured about three hours of speeches.
Afterward, 15 protest organizers met with Wiranto, Indonesia's coordinating minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, in his office.
"The president assigned me to receive the representatives of the demonstration," said Wiranto,  emphasizing that Jokowi's absence did not mean he neglected Muslims.
Wiranto pointed out that many demonstrations are held around the Presidential Palace, but not all demonstrators get to meet with the nation's leader.
"Because we considered this demonstration as important, we received you," Wiranto said.
Regarding protesters demands against Ahok, Wiranto said the government was not siding with any party and would not interfere with the ongoing trial or upcoming election.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian counter-terror squad Densus 88 on Friday arrested three suspected militants who were plotting to attack a police station in East Java province, police alleged.
Police tied the three to seven suspected members of an Islamic State-linked local militant group, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), who were arrested in West Java and Banten provinces on March 23. An eighth suspect was killed during the police operation last month.
The newest suspects in custody are all from Lamongan regency in East Java and were planning to target a local stationhouse, a spokesman for National Police told BenarNews.
Densus 88 arrested suspects Zainal Anshori and Adi Bramadinata from their motorcycle at 9:30 a.m. Friday and Zainal Hasan at his house about 30 minutes later, police spokesman Martinus Sitompul said.
JAD is led by imprisoned Indonesian Muslim cleric Aman Abdurrahman, whom the United States has branded as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
According to Martinus, suspect Zainal Hasan purchased firearms in the southern Philippines with Suryadi Mas'ud, one of the seven suspects arrested on March 23. Two of the weapons were used in a terrorist attack in Jakarta on Jan. 14, 2016, that left four civilians and four assailants dead. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Police are searching for three other guns," Martinus told Benar.
Links to terror leaders
The three men who were arrested Friday have links to Aman and Iwan Darmawan (alias Rois), who are imprisoned at Nusakambangan, a penal island in Central Java.
Aman is serving nine years for his involvement in a training camp in Aceh province run by extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah in 2010. The U.S. government, in issuing the terrorist designation, stated that Aman authorized the 2016 Jakarta attack while in prison and issued a fatwa encouraging Indonesians to join IS.
Rois is on death row for his involvement in a car-bomb attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed nine people in 2004, and has been linked to the Jakarta attack.
Martunis said Rois has been able to plan terror attacks from prison, including the one in Lamongan foiled by Friday's arrests.
Martunis played down a report published this week by Channel News Asia out of Kuala Lumpur that said Indonesian police had foiled a "Mumbai-style terror attack in the heart of Jakarta," referring to the November 2008 terrorist assault in several locations in India's financial capital that killed 166 people.
The report quoted an unnamed counter-terrorist official saying that Rois had hatched the large-scale plot from his prison cell and was able to communicate with militants outside prison. According to the report, Rois directed a man identified by the initials "S.M." to procure weapons from the southern Philippines.
"SM paid U.S. $30,000 for the 18 guns. Police are still investigating where the funds came from," the source told Channel News Asia. "The 18 guns have not entered Indonesia and are still on Basilan island, Philippines."
S.M. was among the JAD suspects arrested in raids in West Java on March 23, the report said.
"There is no information about that yet," Martinus, the national police spokesman, told BenarNews, when asked about the report.
Brig. Gen. Hamidin, who directs Indonesia's National Counterterrorism Agency, said he could not identify a potential attack of that magnitude in Jakarta.
"However, each plan can almost always be foiled by police," he told BenarNews.
Terrorism expert Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), said that even though IS was losing ground in Syria and Iraq, its followers were carrying on with their efforts in Indonesia.
The movement of militants was concentrated in Java but their networks have spread to other places in Indonesia, she said.
"There will be continued efforts to conduct attacks," she told a seminar in Jakarta on Thursday.
Friday's arrests add to the list of suspected terrorists arrested by Densus 88 in 2017. Officials said it arrested at least five suspects in the first two months of the year and at least 16 in two incidents in March. In addition, at least six suspects have been killed since December.
In 2016, at least 160 people with alleged ties to IS were arrested in Indonesia, according to National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian


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BENARNEWS-  Indonesia police and military officers shot and killed six suspected militants and arrested one after the group fled into the woods following a traffic stop Saturday in Tuban regency, East Java province, officials told BenarNews.
East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said the shootout occurred  around 4:10 p.m. after the joint force surrounded the suspected militants who were hiding in the woods near a cornfield. Hours earlier, the suspects fired four shots at officers who approached their car at a traffic stop.
"None of the police and military joint force members, nor residents were injured. We are grateful to the community for obeying the officers for not watching the shootout," Barung said.
"The identity of those who were killed and captured cannot be released in detail. Those killed will be identified by a forensic laboratory team," Barung told BenarNews, adding he believes they are suspected terrorists.
East Java Police Chief Machfud Arifin said the suspects are linked to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).  The shootout occurred a day after police arrested three suspected militants linked to JAD who allegedly planned an attack of an East Java police station.
Traffic stop
Officials said as two traffic police officers approached a car stopped near their post, passengers fired four shots.
"The shots missed the two police," a police source who requested anonymity told BenarNews, adding the shooting occurred about 10 a.m.
Tuban police deployed personnel assisted by military members to pursue the gunmen who left the car and fled into the woods.
Barung said about 400 police, Densus 88 elite counter terrorist squad members and military officers pursued the suspects.
Tuban Police Chief Fadli Samad told BenarNews police found evidence in the suspects' car including a passport, four cell phones, a two-way radio, a box of  bullets and two backpacks loaded with bullets.
"All evidence is secured by police," Fadli said.
Prior to Saturday's shootout, Densus 88 and police had killed at least six suspects since December 2016. Additionally, at least two dozen suspected terrorists have been arrested in 2017.


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BENARNEWS- While Indonesia's recently concluded tax amnesty program fell short of goals for previously uncollected revenue, analysts said it could help improve future collections and eventually increase the tax ratio to the country's gross domestic product.
Responding to the government's effort to stimulate the economy through the one-time nine-month program that ended in March, Indonesian citizens declared 4,881 trillion rupiah (U.S. $368 billion) in previously unreported assets.
Those filers paid 135 trillion rupiah ($10 billion) in penalties, assessed at from 2 percent to 5 percent, depending on when they signed up.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said money collected through the program would be used to boost and develop the economy.
"Infrastructure, schools, hospitals, assist small medium enterprises, eradicate poverty in villages and border areas," she said on the last day of the amnesty, which expired March 31.
Others expressed similar support.
"Tax amnesty doesn't only help to generate some revenues but also to introduce broader reforms on tax collection," Winfried Wicklein, the Asian Development Bank's country director for Indonesia, told reporters earlier this month.
Some marks missed
The amnesty program fell short in some of the key components sought by the government when it was rolled out in July 2016 after lawmakers approved it one month earlier. For one, only about 972,000 Indonesians participated – less than half of the expected 2 million.
In addition, regarding the previously unreported assets, claimants promised to repatriate 147 trillion rupiah ($11 billion) into Indonesian accounts, of which, only 121.3 trillion rupiah ($9.1 billion) were returned as of the end of March. The program required those funds be kept in Indonesian banks or invested in bonds for three years.
"We consider it a failure, given that 147 trillion rupiah is very low compared to the potential funds for repatriation or the government target," Eko Listiyanto, a researcher at Jakarta-based think tank Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), told BenarNews.
The government had targeted repatriations to total 1,000 trillion rupiah ($75 billion) of an estimated 11,000 trillion rupiah ($829 billion) potentially available to be returned to the nation of 255 million people.
As part of reforming taxes, the government needs to establish regulations on penalties for those found to be stashing their wealth abroad, said Ahmad Heri Firdaus, a fellow economics researcher at Indef.
Such regulations are necessary because Indonesia next year plans to join the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI) at the intergovernmental Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD). The exchange requires Indonesia's tax office to have automatic access to taxpayers' information at local financial markets so it can share data on foreign taxpayers with their countries of origin.
"But it may not be so easy to find the data since Indonesia and other jurisdictions should have an agreement first to exchange the information on reciprocal basis," Ahmad told BenarNews.
About 100 countries have already committed to AEoI and Indonesia is one of nearly 50 more committed to joining the exchange in 2018, according to the OECD.
Ratios
At 11 percent, Indonesia has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in Southeast Asia and emerging economies, according to data from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
By comparison, Malaysia is at 15 percent, Thailand is about 17 percent and OECD countries average 30 percent to 35 percent, according data from the Indonesia Economic Quarterly Report released in March.
"We aim to increase our tax ratio to 14 percent or 15 percent by 2020," Hestu Yoga Saksama, a spokesman for the Directorate General of Taxation at the Finance Ministry, told BenarNews.
Issues
One area of concern is the number of registered taxpayers compared with the number who file taxes. Indonesia, which has a workforce of more than 125 million people, has 36 million registered taxpayers. About 22 million are obligated to file tax returns by April 21, an extension from the previous March 31 deadline.
The government seeks to generate 1,498 trillion rupiah ($113 billion) from taxes of the 1,750 trillion rupiah ($132 billion) in total government revenue allocated in its 2017 budget.
"With the extended deadline, we expect to have around 17 million taxpayers submitting their tax returns," Hestu said.
The amnesty program could improve collections in the future because it registered more than 52,000 new taxpayers.
"If all taxpayers comply, the government will have bigger fiscal capability to spend on programs to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and increase infrastructure construction, which will boost our economic growth," Hestu said.
Philippine officials plan to emulate Indonesia's program to go after tax evaders, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez told Bloomberg Television earlier this month.
"We will design a tax amnesty program, most likely similar to the one that Ibu Sri Mulyani has designed," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama is facing a stiff challenge from opponent Anies Rasyid Baswedan, with polls showing them running neck-and-neck before next week's run-off vote in the local governor's race.
More than 7 million people are expected to turn out for Wednesday's vote that will decide who will lead Indonesia's sprawling, diverse and cosmopolitan capital for the next five years.
Ahok, a member of Indonesia's small ethnic Chinese and Christian community who has served as governor since 2014, is trailing narrowly behind Anies, a former education minister in the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, according to the latest polls.
According to numbers released this week by pollster Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), Ahok and running mate Djarot Saiful Hidayat were gaining ground on Anies and his running mate, Sandiaga Uno, and were trailing them by 1 percentage point. The incumbents gained 3.1 percent while the challengers saw their numbers slip by 2.8 percent, according to the poll conducted between March 31 and April 5.
A different poll, conducted from March 7 to April by Lingkaran Survei Indonesia (LSI) Denny JA research center, found that 54.1 percent want a new governor to lead Indonesia's capital city, while only 33.7 percent want the incumbent to stay.
As they did in the previous round of the election, religious tensions have underscored the second and final round. Muslim groups have urged residents of the capital to elect a non-Muslim for governor and have demanded that Ahok be removed from office because of blasphemy charges leveled against him, for which he is now standing trial.
J. Kristiadi, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said it is difficult to predict who will win on April 19 because such tensions have marred the run-up to the vote. Still, he is confident voters can make the right decision about who will lead Jakarta for the next five years.
"The most important thing is the process of democracy runs well. Religious and racial issues should never damage the democracy in the nation," Kristiadi told BenarNews.
13,034 polling stations
Ahok and Anies, who finished first and second in a three-way election on Feb. 15, must face off again on Wednesday because neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote.
Jakarta Election Commission officials expect 7.2 million people to cast ballots, an increase of nearly 110,000 from the February vote. The Commission has 13,034 polling stations in six districts across the province.
Jakarta Metro Police Chief M. Iriawan said more than half the force would be deployed during the day to maintain peace and order.
"A polling station will be guarded by one police, one armed forces member and a number of civil police personnel. There are around 15,000 armed forces personnel and 34,627 police personnel. We will be helped by civil police personnel as well," Iriawan told reporters on Thursday.
Blasphemy controversy
Ahok has kept campaigning for the post he was appointed to in 2014, when then-Gov. Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was elected president, even as he stands trial on blasphemy charges.
Those charges stem from an online video where he cited a verse from the Quran that hardliners claim insulted Islam. During a visit to Thousand Islands regency last year, Ahok, an ethnic Chinese Christian, told residents not to be deceived by people using the verse Al Maidah 51 to deter them from choosing a non-Muslim leader.
Prosecutors decided to postpone the reading of the sentence demand against Ahok until April 20, the day after the run-off election. In February, Minister of Home Affairs Tjahjo Kumolo said Ahok could be removed temporarily from his position as governor if he faced a sentence of five years in prison.
Since the video became public, the hard-line Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) and other groups held rallies attended by thousands of Muslims to demand his arrest. One rally in November started out peacefully, but turned violent at the end of the day.
More recently, the Electoral Supervisory Board reported that 630 banners with provocative anti-Ahok messages were found in mosques and on Jakarta streets urging Muslims not to vote for a non-Muslim leader "who insulted Islam."
Some hardline groups have threatened to not perform funeral rites for Muslims who support Ahok. In early March, residents refused to perform such rites for a 78-year-old woman because she had voted for Ahok-Djarot in the first round of the election.
Anies courts Muslim votes
Anies, who was removed by Jokowi from his role as minister of education, had been recognized as a moderate Muslim, but has been working with hardline groups as the election nears.  He was seen sitting next to FPI leader Rizieq Shihab during a recent meeting.
"Jakarta for all, and every Jakarta resident has the right to discuss with the candidates Anies and Sandi," Anies told DetikNews when asked about the meeting.
But on Wednesday when he squared off against Ahok in the final nationally televised debate, Anies separated himself from hardline Muslims, declaring he would not bring Sharia law to Jakarta.
Voter Syahrul Idri, 52, said he would stick with the Ahok-Djarot ticket. The Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, resident  said the candidates were proven leaders who would make Jakarta a better city.
"Too many thugs in the city. We need a tough leader like Ahok. He has proved through his works and he is not involved in any corruption cases. I don't care about his religion or race," Syahrul told BenarNews.
Merchant Mahdi, 47, said Jakarta needs a leader who will not be divisive. The Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, resident hopes tensions related to the elections will disappear.
"Whoever the governor will be, we hope there will not be a clash. Peace is all we need," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesians appear convinced that China's challenge over their gas-rich Natuna Islands represents an urgent national security threat, according to a recent study.
Jakarta has pushed back against Chinese claims that waters surrounding the islands are part of its traditional fishing grounds, in a shift in position driven by an increase in Chinese incursions around the resource-rich area.
Media research showed that "Jakarta had successfully convinced the Indonesian people that the Chinese aspirations in the NI (Natuna Islands) waters represented an urgent national security threat, i.e., Jakarta had successfully securitized the NI issue," Patrik Meyer, a visiting professor at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, who conducted the study, told a seminar in Washington on Monday.
He said that the Indonesian government's discussions and policies around the Natuna islands went from being exclusively a cultural issue to one of urgent national security in the past three years.
"It was successful. People discussed the Natuna islands as a national security issue," he told participants of the seminar "Escalating Tensions in the South China Sea: Will Indonesia Fight Back?" organized by New America, a U.S.-think tank.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his officials have framed the Natuna islands, an archipelago at the far southern end of the disputed South China Sea (SCS), as a security threat posed by China's efforts to exert fishing rights around the islands.
Beijing's claims overlap Indonesia's 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone around the Natunas.
"Indonesia finds itself cornered by the actions of the giant in the region," Meyer said, adding that his study of Facebook and Twitter keywords showed that Jakarta had waged a successful media campaign following a spate of face-offs in 2016 between its navy and Chinese fishing boats off the Natuna Islands.
In a report published earlier this year, "Indonesia's Swift Securitization of China's Claims in Natuna Islands," Meyer said "Beijing's assertiveness has woken up a dormant conflict with Jakarta, its closest ally in the region, over the sovereignty of the Natuna islands territorial waters that now threatens to erupt into an outright military confrontation."
Later, he wrote, "It is the recent intensification of China's verbal and physical assertiveness in this complex power and legal confrontation that has forced Jakarta to break its silence and leave its long held position of 'honest broker' to join the resistance to China's expansion in the SCS."
Security
While Meyer said messaging has quieted in 2017, government officials continue to stress the need to maintain security.
"This is a priority," Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan told BenarNews in Jakarta, Monday.
"Securing the area of outer islands, such as the Natunas, is crucial to maintain the stability of Indonesia security. We are multiplying our imaging satellites and strengthening the rapid response unit there," he said.
Indonesian legislator T.B. Hasanuddin agreed on the need to defend the islands while continuing diplomatic efforts with China.
"If we can, we need to have a patrol unit that oversees the territories. The presence of this unit is very useful to prevent the recurrence of such incidents," he said, referring to incidents where Chinese Coast Guard ships protected fishing boats in the region.
"We still maintain a good relationship, but we should not surrender our sovereignty," Hasanuddin told BenarNews.
Warning
Meyer offered a warning to Indonesian officials about what they could face in the future.
China, he said, will continue to expand its presence in the SCS and likely will encroach on Indonesia's territory. Such encroachment is not reversible.
"They act more than they talk," he said referring to the government of Xi Jinping.
"Pragmatism, not populism, should guide Jakarta," he said, adding that Jokowi and other government leaders should be firm but not confrontational.
"China will negotiate with you," he said, adding that Indonesia "should squeeze China for economic benefits." The report states that China is Indonesia's main trading partner with exports totaling $15 billion (200 trillion rupiah) or 10 percent of Indonesia's exports.
In addition, Indonesia needs to reject China's traditional fishing grounds argument, develop the islands' economy and improve military and marine infrastructure. He said it appears Jokowi's government is taking positive steps regarding the economy and military buildup in the region.
"Jakarta and Beijing should approach their legal battle in a flexible and creative way and avoid unnecessary and costly confrontations," he wrote in the report.


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BENARNEWS- Former Education Minister Anies Rasyid Baswedan won the Jakarta governor's election in a run-off vote Wednesday after a bitterly fought campaign marked by religion-based rejection of the incumbent, an ethnic Chinese Christian.
Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, who was running for election while standing trial on anti-Muslim blasphemy charges, in the end could not overcome a tide of religious fervor against him, and the ultimate winner took away votes Ahok had won in the first round of polls in February, according to analysts.
"Efforts to neutralize those sentiments by Ahok's camp did not prove effective because, from the beginning, they were indeed very strong," Syamsudin Haris, a senior political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), told BenarNews.
Endorsements of Ahok by the Muslim-based National Awakening Party (PKB) and United Development Party (PPP) were not enough to dampen faith-based opposition to Ahok, said Deni Irvani, a researcher with Saiful Mujani Research & Consulting, which conducted quick count polls.
"The decision of the party leadership and members were not in line. The PPP was even split into two camps," he said.
In the second and decisive round of voting, votes for Anies came from almost all areas of the capital city, suggesting that Ahok did not hold on to pockets of support he had won in the first round, Deni said.
"It's clear that almost all of the supporters of Agus-Silvi went over to Anies-Sandi," he told BenarNews, referring to Anies and running mate Sandiaga Slahuddin Uno and the ticket of Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Sylviana Murni that was eliminated in the first round.
'God gives and God takes away'
On Wednesday, exit polls showed Anies, 47, defeating Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama by a 16-point margin, upending earlier polls that had portrayed a tight race since a first-round vote in February.
Official results will not be announced until the first of May. But so-called quick counts by several polling organizations showed Anies and his running mate Sandiaga with 58 percent of the vote, while Ahok and his deputy, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, took 42 percent.
"Believe me, God gives and God takes away. There is not a single person who can serve without God's permission, so no need to overthink it," Ahok, 50, told supporters gathered at Hotel Pulman in Jakarta after conceding the election late Wednesday.
Ahok thanked election workers for organizing what he characterized as safe and orderly polling. He called for unity following a hotly contested campaign that saw huge demonstrations by conservative Muslims calling for his arrest for alleged blasphemy.
"Forget all the problems during the election campaign, because Jakarta is our shared home. We must build it together," he said.
Anies also called for unity, saying "the next phase of our work involves all Jakartans."
"We may have different languages, we may have different religions, we  may have different ethnicities. We may be from different parties, but we have the same blood, Indonesian blood," he said, speaking Wednesday at Gerindra Party headquarters.
'Nothing like what we feared'
Muslim groups that staged mass demonstrations in October, November and December calling for Ahok's arrest for alleged blasphemy had also called for 100,000 people to turn out in Jakarta on election day on the pretext of safeguarding ballots.
But police forbade the gatherings, and National Police Chief Tito Karnavian said there were no reports of demonstrations by the so-called Jakarta Victory Movement, or groups of people rallying outside the city limits and then trying to get in.
He said there were no notable incidents during the voting and that reports of voter intimidation at some sites turned out to be mere "misunderstandings" when checked.
"Since morning, it's been normal here, running smoothly. Nothing like what we feared," Suprapto, a resident of Mampang, South Jakarta told BenarNews at his polling place.
After exercising his voting rights, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the Jakarta elections would run smoothly and bring the city a trusted, capable leader.
"Whatever the results, whoever is elected we must accept them gracefully," he said, according to the website of the Indonesian cabinet secretary.
Blasphemy
Ahok had been elected deputy governor of Jakarta in October 2012 as Jokowi's running mate but ascended to the top spot when his boss became president two years later.
He is the highest-serving public servant from the tiny ethnic Chinese minority in Indonesian history.
But while many viewed him as tough on corruption and a driver of badly needed infrastructure improvements, he was deeply unpopular among riverbank dwellers displaced by anti-flooding programs – and among hardline Muslim groups.
Calls erupted for him to be arrested for blasphemy after he referred in public comments to a verse in the Quran that, some believe, bars Muslims from having non-Muslim leaders. An edited clip of the comment uttered at an event in September 2016 went viral.
The Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) – known for conducting Ramadan-time raids on 'sinful' businesses – and similar groups organized mass demonstrations calling for his ouster in October, November and December.
A riot broke out in front of presidential palace at the end of the Nov. 4 rally, because protesters were frustrated Jokowi would not meet with them, some said. The president turned out to pray with protesters at the next rally, on Dec. 2.
Anies, the former rector of a liberal university in Jakarta, even met with the head of the FPI during the campaign, as the fundamentalist groups flexed new political muscle.
But Ahok met them in court. His blasphemy trial began in December, putting his political future in doubt since blasphemy convictions carry five-year sentences.
Despite that, Ahok came out ahead of two challengers in the Feb. 15 election, winning 43 percent of the vote compared with 40 percent for Anies and 17 percent for a third contestant, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono. But since no candidate topped the threshold of 50 percent, a run-off vote was required.
There was no significant difference in voter turnout between the first and second round of voting, according to Deni of Saiful Mujani Research & Consulting, which conducted quick count polls.
Jakarta will not be governed as well by Anies as it was by Ahok, Syamsudin Haris predicted – and moreover the new governor will have to clean up the mess left by the campaign, including managing groups that helped sweep him to power, such as the FPI.
According to the Indonesian political calendar, Anies will take the reins in October, and Ahok will remain governor until then. But that may depend on the outcome of his trial. At the next hearing, scheduled for Thursday, the prosecution is scheduled to rest its case against him.


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BENARNEWS- Anies Rasyid Baswedan, a former education minister who comfortably beat the incumbent in Wednesday's run-off election for the governorship of Indonesia's capital, will take the helm of this sprawling and teeming city of 10 million residents in October.
The 47-year-old Anies, a Muslim who holds a doctorate in political science from Northern Illinois University in the U.S., is the ex-rector of Paramadina University, a faith-based institution of higher learning in Jakarta.
He's an Indonesian politician who has changed his partisan stripes more than once.
With Wednesday's win, Anies ousted Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, who was Joko Widodo's running mate in his successful bid for the post in 2012 and took over when "Jokowi" became Indonesia's president two years later. Jokowi appointed Anies as education minister but sacked him in a shake-up of his cabinet last year.
During the run-up to the presidential election, Anies took part in a convention held by the Democratic Party of out-going President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), whose son later ran for Jakarta governor but was eliminated in the first round of the race in February.
After the party led by SBY failed to nominate a candidate for the presidency in 2014, Anies switched to Jokowi's camp, joining the team of the then-Jakarta governor and candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle as a campaign advisor.
Jokowi went up against and ultimately defeated Prabowo Subianto, whose Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) wound up endorsing Anies in the governor's race. Amid controversy shrouding Ahok's alleged anti-Muslim comments, Jokowi backed away from endorsing his former deputy in the Jakarta governor's mansion.
Wednesday's run-off vote in Jakarta was a precursor for presidential elections in 2019 that could see a re-match of the 2014 contest, according to analysts.
The Jakarta governor's race was the most hotly contested local election in Indonesia in years, with tensions coming to the surface along religious and racial lines.
Conservative Islamic groups called for Jakartans to vote for the "Muslim candidate" against Ahok, a member of the ethnic Chinese and Christian minority who was standing trial on blasphemy charges for allegedly insulting Islam.
Anies did not use that rhetoric during the campaign but he did go to mosques to pick up support, and he met with leaders of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and other conservative Muslim groups that had organized mass marches in Jakarta calling for Ahok's removal from office.
On April 12, when Anies squared off against Ahok in a final televised debate, he appeared to distance himself from Muslim hardliners by saying that, if elected governor, he would not bring Sharia law to Jakarta.
While Ahok has built a name for himself as a governor who is tough on corruption, and who cleaned up slums and the red-light district, Governor-elect Anies won out on a platform in which he promised to help poor residents of the city afford housing through a loan program with zero-down payments.
On the campaign trail, Anies also pledged to allocate some 70 trillion rupiah (U.S. $5.3 billion) to support mass organizations in the city, including Islamic groups.
"Our focus is social justice, ending inequality and our commitment is to safeguard diversity and unity," Reuters quoted him as saying on Wednesday night.
As he closed out the victory at the polls, Anies struck a conciliatory note.
"The next phase of our work involves all Jakartans," he told supporters at Gerindra Party headquarters.
"We may have different languages, we may have different religions, we may have different ethnicities. We may be from different parties, but we have the same blood, Indonesian blood," he said.


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BENARNEWS- American Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday hailed Indonesia's moderate tradition of Islam and held a closed-door inter-faith dialogue on the first day of a visit to the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.
Pence's two-day trip to Indonesia is the first high-profile visit to Southeast Asia by an official from President Donald Trump's administration and is being touted as aiming to foster closer bilateral ties, especially in the areas of security and trade.
"As the largest majority Muslim country, Indonesia's tradition of moderate Islam, frankly, is an inspiration to the world," Pence said during a joint news conference in Jakarta with Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
The visit comes amid anger across the Islamic world, including in Indonesia, over moves by the new U.S. administration to ban citizens from a handful of Muslim nations in Africa and the Middle East from entering the United States because of terrorism-related concerns.
"In your nation, as in mine, religion unifies – it doesn't divide," Pence said.
Neither he nor Jokowi touched on the issue of the U.S. immigration ban being pursued in the courts, but the two sought an enhanced strategic partnership in promoting regional peace, security and prosperity.
Among mutual concerns, Pence expressed an American wish to pursue a stronger defense partnership because, he said, both countries had to confront various security threats. He cited the "rise and spread of terrorism" as "one of the greatest threats."
"[A]s the largest Muslim population country in the world, as well as the third largest democracy in the world, Indonesia also agrees to strengthen cooperation on peace," Jokowi said for his part.
The American vice president also paid homage to Indonesians who were killed in a terrorist attack carried out by Islamic State-linked gunmen in central Jakarta in January 2016.
"Our hearts broke for your people," Pence said. "We too know the terrible cost of terrorism and the United States stands with you to condemn it and to confront it."
Later in the day, Pence visited the Jakarta secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is marking its 50th anniversary this year.
There, he announced that President Trump would travel to Asia in November to attend the U.S.-ASEAN Summit, the East Asia Summit and a meeting of leaders of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries in Vietnam and the Philippines, according to the White House.
Shoeless
After meeting with Jokowi and other government officials, Pence, his wife and two daughters toured the Istiqlal Grand Mosque in Jakarta, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia.
As is customary in Islamic practice, the Pence family removed their shoes and the women put on veils as they were shown around the immense mosque that can accommodate 200,000 worshipers, according to White House pool reports.
Nasaruddin Umar, the mosque's Grand Imam (High Priest), led Pence and his family on the tour.
The imam showed the vice president a bedug wooden drum, made from a 300-year-old tree, that is used at the mosque to call the faithful to prayers.
The high priest told BenarNews that he allowed Pence to have a go at striking the great drum, which, he said, is a symbol of Islam blending into Java in the 14th and 15th centuries A.D., when Hinduism and Buddhism were the dominant religions.
"This shows that Islam came to Indonesia without posing a threat to the local culture," Nasaruddin told BenarNews.
Following the tour, Pence took part in an inter-faith dialogue with leaders of Indonesia's six official religions – Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Roman Catholicism and Confucianism – that was held behind closed doors.
Nasaruddin, who was at the meeting, said Pence showed his appreciation for Indonesia's long-standing tradition of inter-religious tolerance.
All of the other participants representing a rainbow of religions spoke about their experiences of living in a pluralistic Indonesia, Nasaruddin said.
"The dialogue flowed very well and was very open. We introduced our diversity and [these various religions] are not to be treated differently. We put more of an emphasis on the aspect of their similarities rather than their differences," Nasaruddin told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- The Jemaah Islamiyah group that was blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and other terrorist attacks in Indonesia has re-emerged as a rebuilt organization that could splinter into more militant cells nationwide, a Jakarta-based think-tank says in a new study.
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has rebounded in recent years as a newly structured and "hybrid" operation that is trying to use political influence to press for Islamic law in Indonesia and emphasize religious outreach efforts while building up a new military wing, according to the report published this week by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC).
JI has transformed itself into a more benign organization under the leadership of Para Wijayanto that does not agree with waging jihad on home soil, but the group still has the potential to rise again as a militant threat, IPAC Director Sidney Jones said.
As she put it, JI can produce radical cadres because JI continues to instill jihadist ideology in their followers with a permanent goal of realizing an Islamic state.
"Don't look at JI as a dead organization. They can rise again. They still teach salafi jihadi ideology in their lectures," Jones told BenarNews on Friday.
JI, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Southeast Asia, was the group notorious for carrying out the bombings that killed 202 people in Bali 15 years ago as well as other deadly attacks in Bali and Jakarta in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2009. But JI-linked bombings stopped after many of its leaders were arrested and put in prison.
More recent arrests of 18 suspected JI members since 2014, however, have exposed hundreds of members and pointed to the group's re-emergence on the scene, according to IPAC.
By 2015, IPAC said, police estimated that JI had about 1,000 members, who were each contributing Rp 60,000 (U.S. $5) to the extremist group's coffers each month.
The new incarnation of JI "is not an immediate threat," the report says, adding that the group since 2007 "has rejected the use of violence on Indonesian soil and its leadership is strongly opposed to [Islamic State]."
"But the revelations of the 18 JI members arrested since 2014 should still be considered a danger."
Since 2010, JI has also been trying to rebuild a clandestine military wing while arguing that violence on Indonesian soil is counterproductive, according to IPAC.
"The problem is that JI is recruiting lots of new members on the basis of a salafi jihadi ideology and then telling them they can't engage in violence," Jones said in a news release accompanying the report's publication.
"This is exactly the kind of situation that produces dissent and splintering."
The IPAC report studied JI's decline and its rebuilding efforts since 2010 under the leadership of Wijayanto, a longtime member who advocates focus on religious outreach efforts known as dakwah.
"More than a dozen arrests since 2014 have revealed a highly structured operation concentrated on Java but with branches extending into other parts of Indonesia," the report said. "Much of its energies are focused on above-ground religious outreach efforts ... aimed at creating a mass base."
JI renaissance?
Brig. Gen. Hamidin, who directs Indonesia's National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), who had not yet read the IPAC report, said Friday that authorities were working to closely monitor and shut down suspected militant cells across the country, including JI.
"We continue to monitor and do prevention," Hamidin told BenarNews.
"We are aware of any changes to the organization," he said, referring to JI.
Counter-terrorist police unit Densus 88 in recent months has carried out multiple arrests that netted suspected members of Indonesian groups linked with Islamic State (IS). The Middle East-based group claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack that killed eight people, including four assailants, in central Jakarta in January 2016.
Al Chaidar, a terrorism observer from Malikussaleh University in Indonesia's Aceh province, said JI was likely to survive under Wijayanto because he commands support of JI officials not only in Indonesia but Southeast Asia.
"He is a figure who has been with JI for a long time and his ability is better than others," Chaidar told BenarNews.
He said JI and al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia have been preparing for this re-emergence and have been eyeing Indonesia as the center of al-Qaeda operations in Southeast Asia.
"It has been prepared for the last two years. The target is to inaugurate it in 2017," he said.


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BENARNEWS- While Indonesia was hosting an international gathering in Jakarta on Monday to mark World Press Freedom Day, a journalist in the restive far eastern province of Papua said police beat and arrested him as he covered a peaceful protest.
Yance Wenda told BenarNews that he was released four hours after his arrest, but with smashed lips and a swollen back. He said officers had struck his face, back, hands and feet. Before they allegedly roughed him up, Yance said he tried to show officers his media credentials and told them he was at the demonstration as a journalist.
"I was just about to show my assignment letter to (police officers), but they already swung their hands, guns and cane at me," said Yance, who was on assignment for Jubi, a news website that covers Papua and West Papua provinces, which make up a predominantly Christian region that was annexed by Muslim-majority Indonesia 54 years ago.
Monday's incident in Sentani, Papua, that involved Yance spotlights challenges and intimidation faced by media practitioners in Papua and West Papua. Local press freedom advocates have reported at least 65 cases of violence or intimidation against journalists in the past five years.
Meanwhile, more than 1,500 reporters and editors from 100 countries gathered in Jakarta for a series of meetings organized around World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), which will be observed globally on May 3.
The Indonesian government and the Press Council of Indonesia were co-hosting the conference along with the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The conference opened on Monday and will run through May 4.
Yance said he was covering a non-violent demonstration by the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB), a local organization that has called for a referendum on whether the two provinces should remain part of Indonesia or break away, when the cops arrested him in Sentani, near the provincial capital Jayapura.
KNPB held the demonstration on May 1, the day marking Indonesia's annexation of Papua and West Papua in 1963.
Jayapura Police Chief Gustav Urbinas acknowledged that officers arrested Yance but denied they had roughed him up.
"There were no injuries," Urbinas told BenarNews. He said Wenda joined the protesters but did not bring a press pass.
"After he was arrested he claimed to be a journalist, but there was no journalist ID card," Urbinas said. "He brought only a scanned assignment letter."
Dominggus Mampioper, chief editor of Jubi, confirmed that Wenda was on assignment Monday covering the protest by the KNPB.
"Our policy said that we don't give ID card for new reporters, just a letter of assignment," Dominggus told BenarNews. "Both have the same function. ... Indeed, we assigned him to cover the KNPB action."
Violence and Intimidation
Violence and intimidation against journalists are common in the Papua region, according to local press freedom advocates.
Since 2012, at least 65 cases of violence and intimidation against journalists have been recorded in Papua and West Papua, Indonesia's Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) of Jayapura said.
Just last week, three Papuan journalists said they received death threats from unidentified people while covering a hearing on an electoral dispute at the Wamena District Court in Jayawijaya.
One of the journalists, Richardo Hutahaean, said they were also briefly detained by police.
"My camera was seized and the recorded contents were deleted by them," Richardo, chairman of Indonesian TV journalists of Papua, told BenarNews, adding that he and his two colleagues had reported the alleged death threats to local police.
The Papua police, however, have not provided information on what steps they have taken after the three journalists filed their complaint. A police spokesman said he could not comment.
"Violence should not be used to restrict journalistic activities," Fabio Lopez Dacosta, the coordinator of AJI of Jayapura, told BenarNews.
Access for foreign journalists
The region of Papua, which also encompasses West Papua, is also among one of Indonesia's under-covered regions with access to international reporters restricted by the government, press advocates say.
In an open letter to Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo that was published online last month, activist Samuel Tabuni wrote about his disappointment over such restrictions on foreign journalists entering Papua.
Tabuni, director of Papuan Language Institute, said the restrictions were still in place despite assurances from Jokowi that his administration had made Papua and West Papua accessible to reporters.
"I am very disappointed that the international media I invited cannot enter Papua because of the difficulties related with complex immigration issues when they arrive in Jakarta," Tabuni wrote in his letter dated April 26.
He said he recently had invited local and foreign newsmen to visit Papua to attend the inauguration of his language institution, but none of the foreign media could enter the province.
Papua Gov. Lukas Enembe said that foreign journalists should not be restricted in covering the region's news.
"Foreign journalists should see progress in Papua. We cannot hide it," he said. "If we are open, they will see a tremendous change that has happened in Papua."


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BENARNEWS- Women clerics should take a more active role on issues such as child marriage, polygamy and religious extremism, according to participants at a first-of-its-kind congress in Indonesia.
Demonstrating that principle, the two-day Congress of Indonesian Women Clerics (KUPI) called on the government of Muslim-majority Indonesia to raise the minimum marriage age for girls to 18 and declared that sexual violence is forbidden inside marriage as well as outside of it.
"It's time for women clerics to come forward and discuss these issues and give strength to those working on the ground in all fields," said Bushra Qadim Hyder, an activist from Pakistan whose organization, PAIMAN Alumni Trust Pakistan, is working to promote peaceful Islam.
Religious extremism is one of the most urgent issues for female clerics to address, since women are directly involved in raising children, Bushra told BenarNews on the sidelines of the conference in Cirebon, West Java, which drew more than 200 participants in late April.
"They should condemn extremism, and they should educate mothers to avoid extremism at home, and to support their children as tolerant Muslims and tolerant humans," Bushra said.
Point of view
Some issues facing Muslim women arise from the relative lack of female perspective on Islam's holy book, said Nur Rofiah Bil Uzm, a lecturer in the postgraduate program at the Al Quran College of Higher Education in Jakarta.
"There is a verse about monogamy in the Quran. Why is it not popular? Maybe because female clerics have not yet emerged," she said during one of the congress's sessions.
It's not easy for women to become leaders because of cultural perceptions favoring men, supported by men's interpretations of religious texts, said Machasin, a professor at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University in Yogyakarta.
"Men alone cannot make balanced religious interpretations because they bring only the male point of view," he said.
Lack of access to education is another factor, according to Hatoon Al-Fasi, a Saudi historian who spoke at a seminar for international guests that kicked off the congress.
"It's really important to establish our rights. We've been put aside and deprived of knowledge because some religious scholars called education as unislamic. That has deprived women of knowledge for a long time," she told journalists on the sidelines of the seminar.
"We've all been affected by the controversial verses that are used to prove that women are inferior to men. These verses are interpreted by men and are haunting for women."
Harmful
The congress ended with a series of recommendations on social issues, including that Indonesia raise the minimum marriage age for girls from 16 to 18.
"All parties must do everything they can to minimize this harmful practice," Badriyah Fayumi, head of the KUPI steering committee, said of child marriage at the closing ceremony.
Government agencies should not register child marriages, and officials who support the practice by falsifying identity documents should face repercussions, she declared.
Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Saifuddin welcomed the recommendation.
"I will immediately communicate with the state minister for women's empowerment and child protection, to conduct this review," he said.
But he called for more concrete specifications on the subject, saying certain exceptional cases need to be considered. He did not elaborate further.
The female clerics also urged religious leaders to support victims of sexual violence, not allowing them to be stigmatized, cast out of society or forced to marry the perpetrator.
"From an Islamic point of view, the state has the obligation to guarantee citizens' rights, especially victims' rights," said Priyati, a congress participant from Jakarta who read out the declaration against sexual violence.
"Sexual violence in all its forms is haram whether in marriage or outside of marriage, because it violates human rights guaranteed by Islam," the declaration said.
Moderation
Lukman, the religious affairs minister, praised the congress.
"This congress has succeeded in affirming and emphasizing that Islamic moderation should always be our priority. Moderate Islam, Islam which is rahmatan lil alamin, Islam that does not marginalize women," he said, using an Arabic phrase that means "a blessing for the world."
Masrivah Amva, owner of Pesantren Kebon Jambu al-Islamy,the boarding school where the Congress was held, said she was very satisfied with its results.
"Our hard work has borne fruit beyond our hopes, and our aspirations have been heard," she told BenarNews.
Masrivah said organizers, including the Syekh Nurjati State Islamic Institute of Cirebon and the Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN) Indonesia, initially encountered resistance as the gathering was seen as unfriendly to men or aiming to change the role of male clerics.
"The Congress was very friendly and open to anyone, even foreign observers," she said.


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BENARNEWS- An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced Santoso's second wife to two years and three months in prison on grounds she had aided and helped hide the former top militant before he was shot by security forces last year.
Jumiatun, alias Umi Delima, 22, was one of three women who lived with the Eastern Indonesian Mujahiden (MIT) band of militants in the jungles of Sulawesi.
North Jakarta District Court Judge Abdul Rosyad ordered a punishment nine months shorter than the three years requested by prosecutors because, he said, the young woman was following her husband's orders.
"She was compelled to obey her husband," Rosyad said.
Her lawyer, Andi Nurul Askin, agreed.
"For a person like Jumiatun, the word of the husband is an irrefutable command," he told BenarNews, adding he was satisfied with the outcome of the trial.
After the sentence was announced, Jumiatun, surrounded by armed police, was whisked away to a prison van. Before the trial, she said she felt calm as she awaited the verdict.
"Praying for what is best from Allah," the petite, veiled woman told BenarNews.
Jumiatun married Santoso in 2012 after being introduced to him by her Arabic language teacher at Pondok Pesantren Al Madinah in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara. Her parents did not agree to the match, but her older brother gave consent.
Her first husband, a militant from Bima, had been killed by police.
Jumiatun was arrested on July 23, 2016, in Poso Pesisir district of Poso Regency in Central Sulawasi province, four days after her husband was shot dead by security forces.
'Slaughtered'
Also on Thursday, Rosyad sentenced Santoso follower Muhammad Unul Usman Paise to 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of conspiracy and criminal acts of terrorism, offenses that carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.
"Facts of the case show that the accused had a role in several killings," Rosyad said.
Unul was involved in the killing of two police in October 2012 and the killing of a Poso resident in September 2014, Rosyad said.
Through his lawyer, Unul said that he accepted the verdict. But later, speaking to BenarNews outside the courtroom, he gave a different response.
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MIT member Muhammad Unul Usman Paise enters the courtroom at North Jakarta District Court, May 4, 2017. (Arie Firdaus/BenarNews)
"If they reduced it to three years, I wouldn't accept it," he said, adding that the trial had a narrow view of justice.
"In Poso, a lot of our relatives were butchered, they didn't say anything about that," he said with a raised voice.
The 25-year-old appeared restless during the hearing and was unable to sit still or focus his gaze on one thing.
He did not deny involvement in several killings in Poso and said he did not regret them either.
"My own brother was killed by police," he said.
Unul was arrested in Poso Pesisir district of Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi province, on June 16, 2016, after spending about four years with MIT.
Four of the group's members have been convicted and sentenced to prison. Trials of other MIT members are under way.
A joint army-police security operation is ongoing in Poso Regency even though only nine MIT members are believed to be at large.
More than a dozen MIT members including Santoso and six Uyghurs were killed in 2016. In 2015, seven were killed and 31 captured.
Four months before his death, the U.S. government named Santoso a "specially designated global terrorist"and the MIT a specially designated global terrorist entity.
Analysts described the group as remants of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the Al-Qaeda-linked network responsible for the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings that killed hundreds. Santoso had declared allegiance to the Islamic State terror group in an audio recording released by the MIT in July 2014.


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BENARNEWS- The United States pushed Southeast Asian nations Thursday to step up sanctions against North Korea for developing nuclear weapons and missiles in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson prodded his counterparts from the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to fully adhere to U.N. calls for sanctions on North Korea, officials said.
"Secretary Tillerson and the ASEAN foreign ministers discussed the tensions on the Korean Peninsula caused by the [North Korean] nuclear tests and missile launches, and the grave threat posed to regional stability," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
"They recognized the need for full implementation of all relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions," she said.
Before the meeting on Thursday, U.S. diplomats had reiterated Tillerson's recent call at the Security Council for countries to sever diplomatic and financial ties with Pyongyang, warning that failure to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile abilities could lead to catastrophic consequences.
Patrick Murphy, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state to East Asia, told reporters after the talks that Washington was not encouraging ASEAN states to formally cut diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, but to examine the North Korean presence "where it clearly exceeds diplomatic needs," Reuters reported.
He said some countries were already doing this and also looking at the presence of North Korean workers, a significant revenue earner for Pyongyang, Murphy said.
"We are communicating with all countries to implement the U.N. Security Council resolutions and, most importantly, deny North Korea the revenue streams it has used to advance its provocative programs. ... We are encouraging continued and further steps across all of ASEAN," Murphy said.
"We think that more can be done, not just in Southeast Asia."
Diplomatic relations
All ASEAN members – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – have diplomatic relations with North Korea and five have embassies in Pyongyang.
In February, Malaysia downgraded relations with Pyongyang and withdrew from a visa waiver program for North Koreans following the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 that month.
Since January 2016, North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests, more than 30 launches using ballistic missile technology, and various other activities relating to the nuclear and ballistic missile programs in clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The council in December 2016 unanimously imposed its toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea by fixing a limit on the reclusive state's key coal exports.
North Korea has been under UN sanctions since 2006. Previous sanctions notably targeted North Korean weapons exports and access to financial markets. North Korea insists its nuclear weapons are a deterrent to U.S. aggression."
Tillerson also told his ASEAN counterparts that the Asia-Pacific region was a top priority for President Donald Trump's administration and that "ASEAN is an essential partner," Nauert said in her statement.
Trump is scheduled to visit the Philippines and Vietnam in November to attend regional summits.


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BENARNEWS- Human rights activists expressed concern after the Indonesian government announced Monday its intention to begin efforts to disband Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the local branch of an international organization that calls for uniting Muslims worldwide under an Islamic caliphate.
Registered as a civil society organization under Indonesia's Home Ministry since 2006, HTI has been preaching in Indonesia for decades, and is thought to have about 2 million members.
"After looking carefully at several considerations and weighing the aspirations of the people, the government has to take firm steps to disband HTI," Wiranto, the coordinating minister of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, told a press conference Monday.
HTI has not played a positive role in Indonesia's national development, he said. Its activities undermine the 1945 Constitution as well as Pancasila, the state philosophy emphasizing national unity and pluralism.
Human rights group said the move could infringe on constitutionally protected freedoms.
"The government needs to exercise restraint and be careful not to take repressive measures that could threaten the rights to freedom of association in Indonesia in the current era of democracy," Wahyu Wagiman, executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) said in a written statement to BenarNews on Monday.
National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) Commissioner Maneger Nasution said creating a stigma around criticism of the state or its philosophy was a "fascist way" of silencing political opponents.
"Only a court may decide whether a person or organization is guilty against Pancasila," Nasution told BenarNews.
Applicable law
Wiranto said the process of disbanding HTI would follow a 2013 law that lays out a series of steps including issuance of a warning, cessation of activities and administrative sanctions.
"The government won't act in an arbitrary manner, but will rely on applicable Indonesian law," he said.
Government officials claim that HTI activities have created tensions that threaten security, order and unity.
Wiranto said the decision did not mean that the government was against Muslim organizations, but had been taken following President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's remarks about problematic civil society groups, and following extensive study of the matter and community input.
HTI spokesman Ismail Yusanto rejected the notion that his organization undermines Pancasila. He said HTI had never received a warning regarding the government's plan to dismantle it.
In remarks at his office Monday night, he said his group's mission was to convey the teachings of Islam as a solution to problems in the country, such as poverty, injustice and corruption.
"It is not right we are treated like this. It's very despotic and based on false accusations," Ismail said, adding that HTI would take the necessary steps to challenge the action.
"This government move must be stopped, because stopping da'wah (preaching of Islam) is not only against the law but also violates the rights of people to express their opinions. This is also against the teachings of Islam."
But Gerakan Pemuda Ansor, the youth wing of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, welcomed the government initiative.
Ansor chairman Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, who is also a member of the House of Representatives, told BenarNews that HTI should be disbanded because it wants to replace Indonesia's unitary state with an Islamic caliphate.
"It's the same as dissolving Indonesia. Yet we are convinced it is not just Islam that helped found and liberate the country. Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and others also had a role," Yaqut said.
"Of course we are against it," Yaqut said, referring to HTI. "They intend to replace Pancasila with Islamic ideology. Whereas Pancasila has proven itself able to unite all the differences that exist in this archipelago."


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BENARNEWS- A court on Tuesday convicted and sentenced Jakarta's Christian governor to two years in prison for blasphemy against Islam, even after the prosecution had dropped the charge, in a case that exposed the rising power of fundamentalism in Muslim-majority Indonesia.
North Jakarta District Court judges ordered Ahok sent to prison immediately, and Indonesia's interior minister announced he was dismissing the governor at once and replacing him with Dep. Gov. Djarot Saiful Hidayat.
Hundreds of Ahok supporters protested late Tuesday outside the prison in Cipinang, in East Jakarta, where Ahok was initially sent. Outside the court venue, Ahok's detractors declared the verdict too lenient.
"I want everyone to respect the legal process and the verdict handed down by the panel of judges," President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said in a statement to reporters in Papua province.
"We must also respect the steps that will be taken by Basuki Tjahaja Purnama to appeal," he added. "The government cannot intervene in the judicial process."
The ruling far exceeded the sentence recommended by the lead prosecutor, who had dropped the blasphemy charge during closing arguments on April 20, saying he could not prove that Ahok had intentionally insulted Islam. Public furor over the comments erupted after a videographer uploaded edited footage of the remarks on social media, he said.
Ali Mukartono recommended two years' probation followed by one year in jail if Ahok committed a new offense.
The regional bureau of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reacted with alarm over the verdict. "We are concerned by jail sentence for #Jakarta governor for alleged blasphemy against #Islam. We call on #Indonesia to review blasphemy law," it said in a tweet.
'Acceptable'
In its 630-page decision, the five-judge panel said Ahok committed criminal blasphemy when he told an audience in September they should not be deceived by people citing a Quranic verse that some interpret to mean Muslims should not have a non-Muslim leader.
"In that statement, the defendant considers Al Maidah a tool to deceive people or society. So this court believes the defendant had disparaged and insulted Al Maidah 51," the ruling said.
The judges went on to say that urging a person to cast their vote based on religion was acceptable in a democracy and no different than choosing a candidate based on ideology or political party.
The judges also ruled that the case had nothing to do with politics and Ahok's efforts to hold onto his seat in the fiercely fought gubernatorial election, which the Jakarta Post in an editorial called "the dirtiest, most polarizing and most divisive the nation has ever seen."
Ahok won a first round vote in February but lost a run-off on April 19. First elected deputy governor of Jakarta in 2012 as Jokowi's running mate, Ahok ascended to the top job two years later after his boss became president. That made Ahok the highest-ranking ethnic Chinese, Christian politician in Indonesian history.
"The defendant Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has been legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing a criminal act of blasphemy. We give punishment of two years in prison and order the accused to be arrested," Judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto said, delivering the verdict.
The judge asked Ahok how he would respond.
"We will appeal," the governor replied after conferring for a few minutes with his lawyers.
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Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama (center) speaks to his lawyers after judges sentenced him to two years in prison for blasphemy, May 9, 2017. [AFP]
'Trial by mob'
The verdict came after a six-month trial and a series of massive street demonstrations calling for Ahok to be ousted for alleged blasphemy.
The man who defeated Ahok at the polls last month, former Education Minister Anis Rasyid Baswedan, rode a wave of anti-Ahok fervor whipped up by conservative Muslim groups that had staged street protests calling for Ahok's removal from office over the comments.
When he went on trial in December, Ahok apologized for those remarks, saying he had never intended to offend Muslims, and noting that he had been raised by adoptive Muslim parents.
Ahok's attorneys said the judges had submitted to public pressure in their deliberations.
"There were so many demonstrations," I Wayan Sudirta said after the court session. He said he doubted the case would have been pursued if Ahok were not running for office.
Ahok supporters outside the courthouse broke into tears after hearing the verdict.
"Hopefully, Ahok is patient and strong," a 42-year-old woman, Marlina, who was among those weeping, told BenarNews.
Anti-Ahok demonstrators were among hundreds of people who rallied outside the Agriculture Ministry, where the trial was held, as the hearing unfolded.
"He should be sentenced to the maximum of five years," one of the protestors, Masludin, told BenarNews.
Hendardi, head of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, a Jakarta think tank, said Ahok had been given a "trial by mob," in remarks cited by Kompas, a national newspaper.
"Judges are indeed independent but they must base verdicts on facts and evidence. The weak evidence presented by prosecutors should have been able to convince the judges to hand down a lighter sentence than that demanded by prosecutors," Hendardi separately told the Jakarta Post.
"The verdict has proved the blasphemy article is prone to misuse by certain parties," he added.


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BENARNEWS- A female member of conservative Muslim group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, who was handing out news releases at a press conference Tuesday at HTI headquarters in South Jakarta, refused to give one to a male reporter.
She told him to get a copy from an ikhwan, referring to male HTI members who were handing out the release at the other end of the room.
The segregation between men and women also was apparent at the entrance to the conference room even though members of both sexes eventually assembled in the same room without a partition between them.
It has become common for some Muslim communities in Indonesia to use Arabic words such as ikhwan, which means "brother," and akhwat, which means "sister," in everyday conversation.
Iffah Ainur Rochmah, the spokeswoman for Muslimah HTI, the women's division in the HTI organizational structure, said such segregation was common within the Muslim communities. She said it was part of efforts to uphold Islamic values and integrate them into daily activities.
Still, she said this did not rule out that women and men would be involved in the same activity even as seating would remain segregated.
"This is also part of our efforts to promote Islamic Shariah law, that we uphold women's honor without discriminating against one or the other, men or women," Iffah told BenarNews.
HTI aims to introduce Shariah law at the individual and community levels across Muslim-majority Indonesia, but also calls for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate that unites Muslims around the world.
Such efforts have made HTI a target for the government to disband it over claims that the civil society organization undermines Indonesia's 1945 Constitution as well as the state's ideology of Pancasila.
Wiranto, the coordinating minister of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, said that even though HTI's activities were mainly proselytization, as the group claims, its efforts were political and could undermine Indonesia's sovereignty.
Wiranto said HTI is a political movement that aims to eradicate Indonesia's nation-state concept built on Pancasila, a philosophy emphasizing national unity and pluralism.
"The public has to really understand that a caliphate system aims to eradicate nation-states, that is why Hizbut Tahrir has been banned in 20 countries," Wiranto told reporters on Friday.
He added that reports from police in many parts of Indonesia show that locals have refused HTI's presence in their areas, which could trigger conflict between adherents and opponents.
Court action
On Wednesday, Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said the Attorney General's office was preparing to begin court proceedings necessary to disband HTI.
Tjahjo said that the government collected evidence to back claims that HTI is against the state ideology.  Some of the evidence shows HTI leaders delivering sermons about the contradiction between Pancasila and a unitary state.
"Their deed said they are based on Pancasila, but that doesn't show in their activities," Tjahjo said, adding he was convinced that a court would grant the government's request to disband HTI.
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Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia spokesman Ismail Yusanto (center), discusses his group's efforts to improve Indonesia during a press conference in Jakarta, May 9, 2017. (Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata/BenarNews)
HTI spokesman Ismail Yusanto rejected the government's claim that an Islamic caliphate goes against Pancasila.
"Caliphate is part of Islamic values. According to article 59 in the 2013 Mass Organization Law, Islamic values don't contradict with Pancasila," he said during the Tuesday press conference.
Ismail said HTI had contributed to the country's development through its proselytization and by criticizing laws and regulations deemed too liberal for Indonesia. Other activities include campaigning against drugs, opposing separatist movements and any efforts of disintegration, and volunteering humanitarian aid to disaster victims.
"Therefore, accusing HTI of not having a positive role for Indonesia is not true," he said.
Ismail acknowledged that HTI strongly criticizes democracies for placing people as the ultimate source of authority to make laws and to govern themselves.
"This completely contradicts with Islamic teaching that says rules and laws were written by God. We humans are not lawmakers. We abide God's laws. In Islam, a leader is elected to lead us in implementing Shariah law," Ismail said.
History of HTI
According to a report published by the International Crisis Group 14 years ago, HTI first appeared in Indonesia in 1983, brought in by an Australian of Jordanian-Lebanese origin named Abdurrahman al-Baghdadi.
For the next 15 years, HTI was mostly an underground movement on college campuses in Java, but took off when political controls eased in the aftermath of the fall of President Suharto's government in May 1998, the report said.
Ismail said HTI's presence in Indonesia never encountered any obstacles, "until now."
"We don't draw specific comparisons between regimes, but why now? This move could justify some members of the public's perception that this regime is repressive and anti-Islam," Iffah said.
The ICG report also said that HTI had a particularly strong presence on the campuses of the Bogor Agricultural Institute. But a lecturer at the institute's School of Fisheries and Maritime Science, Akhmad Solihin, said religious-based student organizations had been waning in the last five years or so.
"Only a few students would attend meetings. It is not like how it used to be in the 1990s when student organizations would challenge each other to gain influence in campus," he told BenarNews.
Sahat Sinurat, chairman of the Indonesian Christian Students Movement (GMKI) and a graduate of the Bandung Institute of Technology, said GMKI maintained good relations with Muslim student organizations, regardless of their views. GMKI rejects calls to turn Indonesia into an Islamic caliphate, Sahat said.
"We debated and argued about that. We have different views, but we interact well with each other," Sahat said.
More recently, HTI participated in mass-Muslim rallies during the past eight months that called for Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, a member of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese and Christian minority, to be prosecuted for anti-Islamic blasphemy. On Tuesday, a court sentenced Ahok to two years in jail.


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BENARNEWS- Southeast Asian leaders are hailing economic cooperation with China in helping it realize its ambitious "One Belt, One Road" infrastructure initiative, despite questions about financing and concerns that Beijing's massive undertaking ignores sovereignty and territorial integrity.
China on Monday wrapped up its first international conference during which Beijing laid out its plans to invest more than U.S. $1 trillion in building a network of ports, roads, railways and other logistics-related projects stretching through Southeast Asia, South Asia and beyond.
Leaders and officials from dozens of countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Bangladesh, attended the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
The so-called Maritime Silk Road is part of China's multi-pronged strategy to boost its global trading links by developing overland and maritime routes connecting the world's most populous nation and economic powerhouse to markets in Europe.
"I believe that the Belt and Road initiative will strengthen economic relationships between both countries as Indonesia is focusing on its infrastructure development," Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said after meeting with Chinese counterpart Ji Xinping in Beijing on Sunday.
But Chinese regional rival India stayed away. New Delhi issued a strongly worded statement over the weekend voicing its misgivings about China's grand geo-political strategy. 

"We are of the firm belief that connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognized international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality," the Indian government said.
"Connectivity initiatives must follow principles of financial responsibility to avoid projects that would create unsustainable debt burden for communities."
As part of Beijing's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, Chinese engineers are drilling hundreds of tunnels in Laos to support a 260-mile railway, preparing for a $5 billion high-speed railway in Thailand, and building power plants in Pakistan, along with hundreds of other projects stretching from China to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa and Europe.
Beijing is building power plants in Pakistan as part of an expected $46 billion worth of investment in the country. Other high-profile plans include a $1.1 billion port project in Sri Lanka, a high-speed rail link in Indonesia and an industrial park in Cambodia.
Veena Sikri, India's former ambassador to Bangladesh and Malaysia, said New Delhi's decision to snub the forum involved sovereignty issues.
China itself has attached the highest importance to its sovereignty over Taiwan and Tibet, Sikri said.
"Throughout the conference, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is the flagship project, which is going through India's sovereignty. How can China adopt double standards here when in different parts of the world, they have placed sovereignty on the top?" Sikri told BenarNews.
"It would have been much more embarrassing had India gone and participated," she added. "There is no problem in having connectivity across boundaries but certainly sovereignty, environmental impacts and other concerns of India have to be looked into."
'World-class infrastructure'
Southeast Asian leaders said the Chinese-driven projects would further enhance bilateral diplomatic and economic ties as well as map out new trade routes.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the initiative consisted of some "game-changing infrastructure projects." He cited railway projects in his country as well as Laos, Indonesia and Thailand.
"It may seem ridiculous to readers in China or other visitors at the forum, but there are some opposition politicians in my country who say we are selling our sovereignty by agreeing to such projects," Najib said.
"But I make no apologies for wanting to build world-class infrastructure for Malaysia that will ... open up huge swathes of our country, bringing more trade and opportunity to our people."
Malaysia and China have signed nine memorandums and agreements involving U.S. $7.22 billion in investments as part of the initiative, including the building of a Robotic Future City in the state of Johor by Johor Corporation, the state government's investment arm.
The project, worth U.S. $3.5 billion, is scheduled to kick off by the end of this year. It involves the development of a 400-hectare property to set up a futuristic hub focused on the robotic industry, potentially spurring the growth of various supply chains in Malaysia.
Indonesia's Jokowi invited the Chinese leader to invest in three mega projects, including the building of port facilities in Kuala Tanjung, North Sumatra and a power plant project in North Kalimantan, according to a statement from the Indonesian government.
Thailand's Foreign Ministry, in a statement released ahead of the Beijing forum, described the One Belt, One Road initiative as a "win-win cooperation" that would "promote mutual development through the strengthening of infrastructure connectivity."
China and Thailand agreed last week that the first phase of a planned high-speed railway project will cost 179 billion baht ($5.15 billion), Thailand's transport minister said, with both countries calling for closer ties following rocky negotiations. The 873-km (542-mile) rail line will link Thailand's border with Laos to the ports and industrial zones in Thailand's east.
Beijing has railway plans to connect the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming to Thailand, through Laos, and Thailand wants to modernize its aging rail network.
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Questions about Chinese loans
The New York-based Fitch Ratings, one of the three largest credit rating agencies, said more than U.S. $900 billion in projects were planned or under way.
It said most funding would likely come from the China Development Bank, its largest commercial banks and the Export and Import Bank of China, which announced early last year that it had started financing over 1,000 projects.
"We estimate that outstanding loans from Chinese banks total US $1.2 trillion, and a large portion of that has financed infrastructure projects involving Chinese state-owned enterprises," Fitch Ratings said in a report.
A flood of lending to smaller countries lacking strong foreign exchange reserves might not be able to repay the loans if projects fail to generate revenue as expected, Fitch Ratings warned.
Rajiv Biswas, a Singapore-based Asia-Pacific chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said in a report published by the Warton business school that apart from concerns about environmental standards, some economists question if the massive infrastructure development would turn out to be economically sound.
"Let's see what kinds of projects they are getting in the next couple of years and what kinds of returns they are getting," Biswas said.
"Because in the end, if they are not delivering on the returns, then the banks that are lending will eventually say 'we need to be careful and we cannot keep doing this without any returns because it has to be commercially viable,'" he added.
Other analysts upbeat
But in interviews with BenarNews, other analysts and political observers tried to allay fears that the "One Belt, One Road" initiative would be a one-way street benefiting China.
"This initiative will certainly bring economic benefits for Bangladesh. This is because lots of infrastructure will be developed for implementing the project. This connectivity will benefit every nation taking part in the initiative," Munshi Faiz Ahmed, Bangladesh's former ambassador to China, told BenarNews.
"I do not see any reason for fears of Chinese influence over the project," he said.
In late April, Bangladesh held its third meeting on the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, during which representatives discussed the road map for the corridor – which would be the first expressway between India and China that would pass through Myanmar and Bangladesh.
In Thailand, Aksornsri Phanishsarn, director of the Thai-Chinese Strategic Research Center, said that bilateral military and diplomatic visits with China had grown since a junta came to power in Bangkok three years ago.
"China is the top trade partner and the No. 1 export market for Thailand. Our revenues depend on exports to China," Aksornsri told BenarNews on Monday.
In Jakarta, academic Muhammad Arif viewed the Chinese initiative as potentially benefiting Indonesia and other Southeast Asian nations.
"The details of how this would benefit Indonesia are still unclear," the researcher at the Jakarta-based nonprofit Habibie Center told BenarNews, emphasizing that current bilateral talks have been focused on "maritime initiatives, connectivity and infrastructure."
Elsewhere, Azmi Hassan, a geo-political expert at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, said the projects would inherently serve China's construction industry, but Malaysia should grab the economic benefits of early involvement.
"If Malaysia was slow to join this program, it would definitely be difficult to determine whether such program would be beneficial to the country," he said. "What is crucial is that 'intelligence' is needed, so that the benefits do not fall only on China."


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BENARNEWS- Two men killed in a firefight with security forces in Sulawesi have been identified as members of the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) militant group, local officials said Tuesday.
The gunbattle took place a day earlier when soldiers on a routine patrol encounted armed men in a mountainous area of Poso regency so remote that civilians can reach it only after a four-day walk from the nearest village, officials said.
Two were shot dead while the other men escaped, said Arif Darmawan, head of the Central Sulawesi Police Mobile Brigade Unit. One soldier was wounded, he said.
Central Sulawesi police chief Rudy Sufahriadi on Tuesday identified the two dead men as MIT members Barok, 38, and Askar, 30, of Bima, West Nusa Tenggara.
They were identified by MIT members who were captured in recent months, police said, and their bodies were taken to Bhayangkara Hospital in Palu, where DNA samples would be taken in hopes of locating their relatives.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who was in Palu on Tuesday to open a congress of the Indonesian Islamic Students Movement, instructed security forces to find the members of the banned outfit still at large.
Hundreds of security personnel have been on the ground in Poso regency since January 2015 in two joint army-police operations code-named Camar Maleo and Tinombala.
"(The president) expressed appreciation for the personnel of Tinombala Task Force and communicated that we should focus on finding the remaining (suspects)," Rudy told reporters in the provincial capital.
More than a dozen MIT members, including its leader, Santoso, were killed as a result of the operations in 2016, officials said. Santoso swore allegiance to the Islamic State terror group in an audio recording released by the MIT in July 2014.
Analysts had described MIT as a remnant of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the al-Qaeda-linked network responsible for the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings that killed hundreds.


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BENARNEWS- In an unprecedented case, a court in Indonesia's only province that enforces Islamic law convicted two gay men on Wednesday for having sexual relations and ordered that they each receive 85 lashes of the cane, despite pleas for leniency.
The defendants, whose full identities were withheld, are expected to be caned in public next week in Aceh province, before the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
"Lighten my punishment," one of the defendants, identified as 24-year-old M.T., said as he covered his face with both hands after a judge at the Sharia court in the provincial capital Banda Aceh asked if he accepted the sentence.
The judge heading the panel, Khairil Jamal, said the defendant could appeal.
In a separate trial on Wednesday, the other defendant, "M.H.," received the same verdict and sentencing.
The punishment of 85 lashes for engaging in homosexual sex was harsher than the 80 lashes the prosecution had requested for each man.
Wednesday's verdicts marked the first cases in which gay people were convicted in Aceh for homosexual sex acts since the province passed strict anti-gay laws in 2014, which came into effect a year later.
While the judges said the defendants could be represented at trial, neither appeared with an attorney in court.
"We've been trying to find a lawyer, but no one is willing to be our legal counsel," M.H., 20, told BenarNews from behind the prison bar after the verdict was announced.
The men's families were not seen in court on Wednesday.
"He is a quiet and good boy, who performs Salat (Islamic prayers) diligently. Prior coming to Banda Aceh to attend college two years ago, he lived in a pesantren (Islamic boarding school)," the father of one of the men told reporters last week.
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Defendant M.H. sits as he hears his verdict and sentence, May 17, 2017. (Nurdin Hasan/BenarNews)
Vigilante raid
The men were arrested on March 28 after vigilantes broke into their house and found them in bed together.
"The witness peered through the wall when M.H. and M.T. were committing gay sex and then called other witnesses and the neighbors. After seeing what happened, the community decided to break in the door of the defendant's room," the judge said.
Using a camera phone, the vigilantes filmed the raid. The video, which circulated on social media but was not presented as evidence, showed vigilantes insulting the pair while one tried to call someone for help.
The verdicts state that M.T. and M.H. had been legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing gay sex (liwath), which can be punished with a maximum of 100 lashes, 100 months in jail or a fine of 1,000 grams of gold. The prosecutor had asked that they receive 80 lashes, but the judges added five lashes to the punishment for each defendant.
The judges said "the defendants as Muslims should uphold the values of Islam being enforced in Aceh.
"The defendants committed the act repeatedly and it could disturb the community because they can influence others to do the same."
Chief prosecutor Gulmaini Wardani said she would immediately coordinate with Wilayatul Hisbah (sharia police) to determine the time of the caning.
'Barbaric act'
Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the ruling, stating, "the verdict is a barbaric act."
"This is a low point, once again for Aceh, and for Indonesia," HRW Indonesian researcher Andreas Harsono told BenarNews on Wednesday.
He said Aceh's Islamic criminal code is discriminatory, violates the Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Indonesia's 1945 Constitution and the equality of citizens, as agreed by the Free Aceh Movement when it signed the Helsinki agreement with the Government of Indonesia in 2005 to end the 30 years of armed conflict in Aceh.
"Indonesia often claims that it is a moderate Islamic country. How do you explain 'moderate' when there is a caning punishment a la the Taliban in Aceh?" Harsono asked.
The chairman of Aceh's House of Representatives, Muharruddin, disagreed, saying Sharia law in Aceh had gone through a long process at local and national levels before being enacted.
"If it is a violation of human rights ... the caning punishment would be impossible to be imposed," he said.
The verdicts were handed down in Aceh on May 17, the same day that the United Nations and LGBT communities worldwide were marking the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
"It is unacceptable that LGBTI people face violence and discrimination just because of who they are and who they love," said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.
"They are our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our friends and colleagues. LGBTI rights are human rights. We must challenge prejudice wherever we are," Sidibé added in a statement


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BENARNEWS- Leaders of Muslim nations called for unity and a cohesive strategy to fight terrorism, after U.S. President Donald Trump during an unprecedented summit in Saudi Arabia urged them to do their share to defeat "Islamist" extremists and "drive out" terrorists.
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina both proposed that governments cut funding to Islamic terror groups, and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called for de-radicalization to be at the center of counter-terrorism efforts, saying that more non-military measures were needed to "win hearts and minds."
The three Asian leaders delivered their messages in speeches on Sunday that followed President Trump's landmark speech to delegates from 55 majority-Muslim nations at the Arab-Islamic-American Summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.
The 45th American president, who was on the first stop of his first overseas trip as commander-in-chief, said Muslim nations could not wait for the United States to destroy the Islamic State (IS), al-Qaeda and other terror groups.
"A better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and extremists," Trump said in his address.
"That goal is to meet history's greatest test – to conquer extremism and vanquish the forces of terrorism," Trump said.
Jokowi, the leader of the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, said the nations of the Islamic world could only rid themselves of that scourge by coming together to fight it.
"Muslim unity is key to success in combating terrorism. We must not use up our energy in mutual enmity," the Indonesian president said in his speech.
Jokowi called for increased multilateral cooperation, including sharing intelligence and stopping terrorism funding.
"We all know how much money flows to the grassroots in many countries for spreading extremist and radical ideology," he said.
Efforts to resolve the root causes of terrorism must be stepped up as well, such as by addressing inequality and injustice and promoting economic empowerment, he added.
"Every one of us must be brave to be part of the solution and not part of the problem in our efforts to eradicate terrorism. Each of us must be part of the world peace-building effort," Jokowi said.
In her speech that was distributed but not read out at the summit, Hasina echoed Jokowi's call for cutting off terror financing.
"We must stop the source of supply of arms to terrorists and we have to stop the flow of financing to the terrorists and their outfits," the Bangladeshi prime minister said.
She also advised world leaders to not use the word "Islam" in referring to terrorists, according to excerpts of her speech published by Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), the national news agency.
"Terrorists do not have any religion, belief or racial identity, though they may come from any religious background," Hasina said.
'Not just military'
Malaysia's Najib said the summit could not be more timely. "The world needs to be reminded today that the Muslim nations present today completely condemn terrorism and violent extremism," he said.
"The fight against terrorism is not just military: it is also about winning hearts and minds," he said. "To do this, a credible narrative needs to be told, in which Islam and modernity are compatible; material progress and religious devotion go hand-in-hand; and religious knowledge and scientific inquiry mutually reinforce one another."
Malaysia's leader touted his country's de-radicalization program's 95 percent success rate in reintegrating former extremists and offered to share the program's expertise with other nations.
Jokowi also discussed Indonesia's similar success.
"In our de-radicalization programs, for example, Indonesian authorities involve relatives, and relatives of former terrorists who have changed their views, and civil society organizations," he said.
Counter-terrorist centers
The two-day summit in the Saudi capital included more than just talk about taking down militant organizations.
Trump announced that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia had signed an agreement to form the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center and that they would be joined by five Gulf states. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the center's goals are to identify, track, and share information regarding terrorist financial networks; coordinate joint disruptive actions, and; offer support to countries in the region that need assistance building capacity to counter terrorist finance threats.
The center adds to a growing list aimed at destroying Islamic and other extremist groups, including two established sites and one being developed in Malaysia.
Najib's country is home to an online counter-extremist messaging center overseen by the Royal Malaysia Police and the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Counter-Terrorism, operated under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with assistance from the U.S. State Department.
A third center, the King Salman Center for International Peace, backed by Saudi Arabia, will take an academic approach to conducting research into and countering ideology spread by IS and other extremist groups when it opens later this year.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police are holding 141 men including four foreign nationals after raiding what they described as a gay striptease performance at a fitness club in North Jakarta.
Activists decried the "arbitrary and excessive arrests" in which officials paraded the men naked at a police station and released their naked photos on social media.
"The 141 people were questioned while naked and moved from room to room without clothes on the pretext of an investigation. Then the 141 people were photographed naked and [the pictures] were distributed via text, social media and news," said a statement released by a coalition of some 80 organizations called Gema Demokrasi.
The raid and arrest followed established procedures, Dwiyono, chief of North Jakarta police, told BenarNews. "The evidence is quite strong. They were already in a state of nudity when the raid took place," he said.
On Tuesday, two men are to be publicly flogged in Aceh, where Sharia law is in force, after being convicted of same-sex relations, which are illegal in Indonesia's westernmost province but not elsewhere.
Cell phone footage of the two men, naked and terrified, circulated widely on social media after community members forcibly entered a rented home in Banda Aceh in late March.
In a statement Friday Human Rights Watch called on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to prevent the "grotesque display of medieval torture" in Aceh.
"President Jokowi has spoken out in support of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Indonesia, so the imminent public flogging of two young men for same-sex relations is a crucial moment to act," said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Pornography
The men arrested at the fitness club late Sunday would be charged under anti-pornography laws, police said.
After getting tips from local people, "we finally went to the location and it turned out to be true that they were putting on a striptease for gays," Nasriadi, chief of the criminal division at North Jakarta Police, told BenarNews on Monday.
The owner of the business, three of his workers and six male striptease performers were named as suspects, he said, adding that one of the employees was broadcasting the show on social media.
"They will all be charged under Law Number 4, 2008 on Pornography, which carries potential penalties of six years in prison," he said.
All the men present at the location were being held at the North Jakarta police station for further questioning, he said, adding that there would likely be more suspects named.
Two Malaysians, one Singapore national and one British national were also taken into custody, he said.
National police spokesman Martinus Sitompol said the consulates of those countries would be notified.
Gema Demokrasi, the activist group, said the arrests represented an uptick in the persecution of LGBT individuals in Indonesia.
"These arrests are a bad precedent for gender and sexual minority groups.  Arrests carried out in the private sphere may become a reference for further acts of violence," the statement said.
It urged the national police chief to investigate police deportment in the case, and the media to cease spreading "private data of victims."
"President Jokowi and his administration should guarantee the protection of the LGBT community and respect the privacy of citizens," it added.
In late April, police in the East Java city of Surabaya arrested 14 men who were allegedly attending a sex party at a hotel.


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BENARNEWS- Head bowed and wincing, the 20-year-old man convicted of gay sex acts chanted prayers repeatedly as a rattan switch rained down 83 blows on his back outside a mosque in Aceh, Indonesia's westernmost province where Sharia law is in force.
The flogging of the young man and his partner on Tuesday marked the first time that individuals have been caned for gay sex in the Muslim-majority nation, which practices a moderate form of Islam but has grown increasingly conservative in recent years.
International rights groups had called on the Indonesian government to cancel the "inhuman and degrading punishment."
A prosecutor at the edge of the stage counted out the lashes, a rhythm punctuated by derisive shouts from some of the 2,000 spectators crammed against an iron fence around the stage where hooded "executioners" took turns carrying out the flogging.
After each 20 strokes, a doctor asked the young man if he was capable of continuing. He nodded slowly, without breaking off his Quranic recitation.
'You must follow the rules'
Eight other people convicted of intimate acts outside marriage were also caned Tuesday outside Shuhada Mosque on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Caning is frequent in Aceh, but the spectacle marked the first time that people convicted of gay sex had been caned in the province, where an expanded sharia criminal code with harsher punishments went into force in October 2015.
On May 17, a Sharia court judge sentenced the young man and his partner to 85 lashes, minus two for the two months they had been held in jail.
The men were arrested on March 28 after vigilantes broke into their house and found them in bed together.
"The witness peered through the wall when M.H. and M.T. were committing gay sex and then called other witnesses and the neighbors. After seeing what happened, the community decided to break in the door of the defendant's room," the judge said, referring to the defendants by their initials.
Using a camera-phone, the vigilantes filmed the raid. The video, which circulated on social media, showed vigilantes insulting the pair while one tried to call someone for help.
Gema Demokrasi, an Indonesian activist coalition, called on President Joko Widodo on Monday to "guarantee the protection of the LGBT community and respect the privacy of citizens" after 141 men were arrested at a "gay striptease" in North Jakarta and made to undergo police interrogation naked.
But people at the caning in Aceh said the punishment was appropriate for local norms.
"Maybe [elsewhere] in the world this is a human rights violation, but if you're talking about the law in Aceh, it is not," Muhammad Isa, a spectator, told BenarNews. "If you are in Aceh you must follow the rules, the law that applies in Aceh."
'Curious'
The two men withstood the caning without collapsing, although officials paused after every 20 lashes to give the convicts a medical check and a drink of water.
Many people in the crowd, which included women and children, recorded the proceedings on their electronic devices.
Indah Sofiana, 21, a student at Ar-Raniry State Islamic University, said she had come with friends to watch the caning of the gay couple.
"They lived near my rented room when they were arrested, so I was curious to see how they were whipped," she told BenarNews.
Standing among the spectators, M.H.'s father could not bring himself to look directly at his second-born son as his sentence was carried out.
"I'm sad, but he did wrong. What else can I say. I accept that he should be whipped," the 50-year-old farmer told BenarNews afterwards. He asked that his name not be used.
He had come 4.5 hours in a public minibus from his village in Bireuen regency, to see his son caned and to take him home afterward.
The two barely spoke when they met after the caning.
"I didn't look to see if his back was hurt. I didn't ask. He said nothing. I also didn't ask anything. As a parent, I hope that he is aware and repentant," he said, adding that after arriving in his village M.H. would be placed in an Islamic school for rehabilitation.
The young man had been in Banda Aceh for three years for college, but his father said he had no further thought about the education of his son. "The important thing now is he repent for his deeds."

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A medic checks on a man undergoing caning after being convicted of gay sex in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, May 23, 2017. [Nurdin Hasan/BenarNews]

 
'Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading'
The Qanun Jinayat, Aceh's sharia criminal code, allows for up to 100 strokes or 1,000 grams of gold or 100 months in jail for gay sex or sodomy.
During their trial, which had only two sessions, the men were not accompanied by lawyers, although the judge said this had been offered to the two defendants.
"We've been trying to find a lawyer, but no one is willing to be our legal counsel," M.H. told BenarNews from behind the prison bar after the verdict was announced.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the ruling "a barbaric act."
"This is a low point, once again for Aceh, and for Indonesia," HRW Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono told BenarNews last week.
"Indonesia often claims that it is a moderate Islamic country. How do you explain 'moderate' when there is a caning punishment a la the Taliban in Aceh?" Harsono asked.
The sentence was also blasted by Amnesty International which called on the Indonesian government to stop using caning "which constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and may amount to torture."
Responding to the statements, Marzuki, head of investigations for Aceh's Sharia police force, told BenarNews that "flogging in Aceh is not torture, but a lesson."
Four other couples were caned earlier after being convicted of ikhtilath, forbidden acts of intimacy such as hugging and kissing between unmarried heterosexual couples.
The individuals were caned between 21 and 28 times. One young woman's punishment was paused after nine lashes because she had trouble withstanding the pain, but her whipping was resumed and completed later.
After the caning, all ten individuals were brought to the Banda Aceh's prosecutor's office for administrative processing and released.
M.H. and his father boarded a public minibus to return to their village.


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BENARNEWS- Former Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama will not appeal his two-year sentence on a blasphemy conviction, his wife told a news conference Tuesday while reading a letter from the jailed leader who said he had accepted the verdict for the nation's sake.
The move by Ahok, a member of Indonesia's Christian and ethnic Chinese minority, was surprising because many observers had expected him to challenge his conviction and sentencing on May 9, in a case widely seen as skewed against him. The court convicted him on a blasphemy charge, even though the prosecution, which is appealing the ruling, had dropped that charge against Ahok, citing insufficient evidence.
Reading a handwritten letter from Ahok, his wife, Veronica Tan, briefly went silent. Ahok's sister, Fifi Lefy Indra, and one of his lawyers rubbed Tan's back to comfort her until she was able to regain her composure and resume her statement.
"I know it's not easy for you to accept this reality, let alone me ...," Tan read, her voice shaking.
Ahok has been held at the Mobile Brigade Command detention center in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java, since he was sentenced by the North Jakarta District Court two weeks ago.
He wrote the letter on Sunday, a day before he officially withdrew his appeal.
"I have learned to forgive and accept all this, for the sake of our people and nation,"Ahok wrote. "It is not right to protest against each other in the process I am going through now."
In its 630-page decision, the five-judge panel said Ahok committed criminal blasphemy when he told an audience in September 2016 that it should not be deceived by people citing a verse from the Quran, which some interpret as meaning that Muslims should not have a non-Muslim leader.
The verdict ended a six-month trial that took place in the heat of a gubernatorial race in Jakarta and amid a series of massive street demonstrations staged by conservative Muslim groups who clamored for the governor to be ousted from office. Last month, he was defeated in a run-off by a Muslim candidate who rode a wave of anti-Ahok religious fervor.
During his trial in December, Ahok apologized for his remarks, saying he had never intended to offend Muslims, noting that he had been raised by adoptive Muslim parents.
Concern for supporters
The Chinese Christian leader wrote about his concern that rallies organized by his supporters could potentially be infiltrated by people who meant him harm and he did not want his supporters to clash with them. He went on to thank supporters for their prayers and for the food and flowers they sent to him.
Since May 9, supporters have held rallies seeking justice for Ahok, including a series of candlelight vigils in Indonesia and by citizens in other nations.
"Gusti ora sare (God doesn't sleep). Put your faith in the Lord, now and always. In my faith I say the Lord will work out his plan for my life," Ahok said.
Court actions
Despite Ahok's action, an appeal of his conviction continues.  Prosecutors, who had called for a lighter sentence of two years' probation followed by one year in jail if he committed a new offense, have already filed a request for the court to review the case.
"Until today's deadline, nothing has been changed from the prosecutors' perspective," North Jakarta District Court spokesman Hasoloan Sianturi told BenarNews on Tuesday.
"So the case will continue to the appeal level. Tomorrow, we will submit the case to be filed to Jakarta High Court," Hasoloan said.
The prosecutors' appeal claims the court erred in sentencing Ahok for blasphemy, and that it should have sentenced him for the lesser offense of conveying feelings of hostility, hatred or humiliation to any or several groups.
Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said he would review the prosecution's appeal, but said he considered Ahok's withdrawal an acknowledgment of guilt.
"With Ahok dismissing the appeal, by jurisdiction, he admitted that he is wrong. The prosecutors should conduct a review on the relevance and urgency of the legal appeal," he said, according to Tempo.co.
Ahok lawyer I Wayan Sudirta said he would not challenge the prosecution's action.
"Please go ahead," he told BenarNews.
"We do not want to intervene," he said, adding that his team was focusing on submitting a request to have Ahok's sentence suspended.
He said the court had not presented a clear explanation for why Ahok was jailed. At sentencing, the court ordered him to prison immediately.
"So we will file for the suspension of his sentence. It is up to the high court to decide whether Ahok will be a city prisoner or a house arrestee," he said.
Wayan was reluctant to comment about the possibility of asking President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo for clemency. Ahok served as deputy when Jokowi was governor of Jakarta before being elected president.
"Pak Basuki (Ahok) will decide when the time comes," Wayan said.
Meanwhile, Tan continued to back her husband.
"My children and I support him to go through this," she said at the end of the press conference. "Our family feels this is fine for us. We will not go further."


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BENARNEWS- Three policemen and two suspected suicide bombers died in a terrorist attack late Wednesday outside a busy bus terminal in East Jakarta, police said.
Ten other people were injured in the twin bombings, carried out minutes apart at a time when many police officers were overseeing a parade in the area that was taking place ahead of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
"Once again I must express my deep sorrow because three police officers died," National Police spokesman Setyo Wasisto told reporters at the scene after midnight (local time).
"Two perpetrators were declared dead, who are suspected to have exploded the first and second bombs. Five police officers and five civilians were injured," he added.
The attack was the first carried out in the Jakarta area since eight people, including four suspects, were killed in an assault by terrorists in the heart of the Indonesian capital in January 2016. Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for that attack.
After Wednesday's attack, Setyo urged reporters to be careful as security personnel had not finished sweeping the area.
"The area is still dangerous and needs to be secured. We must be vigilant. Our colleagues must maintain their safety while on duty, so please give us time to search the crime scene," he said.
Setyo linked the attacks to international terrorism, noting the suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester, England two days ago that killed 22 and injured 64, many of them teenage girls.
"In my view, this is linked to global attacks. We're prepared, but we don't know the place and where the action will be carried out," he said.
Pictures reportedly taken at the scene showed bodies next to a motorcycle parking area and severed body parts on the street.
"Explosion near Kampung Melayu terminal a suspected suicide bombing," Jakarta Police Traffic Management Center tweeted shortly before 9:46 pm.
Andry Wibowo, the East Jakarta metropolitan police chief, told BenarNews that police had been targeted.
Police had deployed near Kampung Melayu bus terminal to escort a torchlight parade that civil society groups had organized to mark the upcoming start of Ramadan, which is likely to be this Saturday.
"Those who were on patrol near the TransJakarta bus stop were attacked," he said.
"We don't know what kind of material was used in the explosion. Our officers and the explosives team are still investigating the scene," he said.
Two explosions could be heard about 1 km (0.62 miles) away and sent white smoke high into the air.
"I heard two explosions. The first was around 9. A few minutes later there was a second blast," said a man who gave his name as Rudi.
Many passersby panicked and ran from the scene, but others were drawn to it despite the danger and took pictures and videos of victims being rushed from the scene and body parts lying on the pavement, he said.
"At first I thought a bus had exploded, but it was not that," Rudi said.
Another man in the area, Wibowo, said he saw blood and part of a leg at the scene of the blast. "Some motorcycles nearby burned," he said.
"There were two blasts. First I saw smoke and then glass shattered. It was very strong, the ground was shaking, it shocked me. After a few minutes there was another blast," Rosmala, an eyewitness, told Agence France-Presse.
After IS claimed last year's attack in central Jakarta, Indonesian authorities launched multiple raids nationwide that foiled other alleged terror plots, officials said. In 2016, counter-terrorist police arrested 160 suspects, and between January and May 2017, the authorities said they caught another 26 people suspected of links with Islamic State or other militant groups


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BENARNEWS- World leaders joined the Indonesian president Thursday in condemning a terrorist attack that left three policemen dead outside a busy bus terminal in the Jakarta area.
No militant group has taken responsibility for the Wednesday night attack, but Indonesian officials pointed to a potential Islamic State (IS) link without releasing details. Two suspected bombers were also killed and 10 other people were injured in the worst terrorist attack on the Indonesian capital since January 2016.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo called for a thorough probe into the circumstances leading to the attack, which a Malaysian government leader said could be linked to the recent death of a regional IS leader based in Syria.
"It was outrageous. Motorcycle-taxi and public transportation drivers, street vendors and policemen are the victims," Jokowi told reporters in Solo, Central Java, on Thursday morning.
"I have ordered the national police chief to thoroughly investigate the perpetrators' cell networks. Hunt them down to their roots," he said, urging the public to remain calm.
In neighboring Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib Razak posted a message of support on Facebook.
"Malaysians stand with the Indonesian people at this time," he said. "Coming so soon after the appalling Manchester [England] bombing, this new outrage shows that terrorism has no borders and knows no race or creed. My thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of those affected."
Najib said the region would end up stronger.
"Even as the terrorists try to intimidate us, we must not fear them. Each atrocity must harden our resolve. Now more than ever is the time to be united, even as violent extremism seeks to divide us," he said.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he spoke to Jokowi and pledged to strengthen his country's support of Indonesia.
Users of social media also condemned the attacks, using Twitter hashtags #KamiTidakTakut ("We are not afraid") and #PrayForJakarta to get their messages across. Those tags topped trending lists on Thursday.
Following an attack claimed by Islamic State in central Jakarta in January 2016 that killed eight people, including four suspects, social media users adopted similar hashtags to show their defiance and outrage, along with support and solidarity for the victims.
Evidence
Investigators found backpacks, aluminum slabs, buckshot and other suspected bomb-making materials at the scene, National Police spokesman Inspector Gen. Setyo Wasisto told reporters on Thursday.
Police also found a receipt for a pressure cooker in the pocket of one of the bombers blamed for the latest attack that took place around 9 p.m. Wednesday outside the Kampung Melayu bus terminal in East Jakarta.
Officials released little information about the bombers, noting their initials were A.S. and I.N.S. Setyo said the pair, who set off their explosives minutes apart, targeted police.
"The perpetrators are still under investigation. Please be patient, we will release the information when we have more details," Setyo told reporters, adding that police were checking for DNA matches and connections to terror networks to positively identify them.
Members of Densus 88, the nation's elite counter terror squad, raided the suspects' homes on Thursday, according to media reports
Setyo linked Wednesday's attack to a park bombing earlier this year in West Java province.
"Investigators found evidence showing similarities with an incident in Bandung a while ago," Setyo said referring to an explosion in a public park in the capital city of West Java province on Feb. 27. No one was injured when Yayat Cahyadi, 42, detonated a pressure cooker bomb, but he later died in a shootout with police after he fled into a nearby office building.
Police at the time linked Yayat to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Indonesian militant organization that has pledged support to IS.
Malaysian official links to Wanndy
Also on Thursday, the deputy prime minister of Malaysia linked the twin bombings in East Jakarta and recent attacks elsewhere in Southeast Asia to the April death of Malaysian IS recruiter Muhammad Wanndy Bin Mohamed Jedi, who was killed in a drone strike in Syria.
"Based on the findings of the intelligence unit, the recent terror attacks in southern Thailand, Mindanao and Jakarta are linked to each other," Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters. "The killing of Muhammad Wanndy, who is one of the coordinators for Katibah Nusantara, is linked to the bombing attacks in these locations."
Officials and analysts in other countries played down Zahid's comments.
In Thailand where a pipe bomb blast at a hospital injured 21 people on Monday, National Police Chief Gen. Chakthip Chaijinda told reporters he did not have intelligence information linking the attacks.
"If IS was responsible for the attack at the military-run hospital, the terrorist group would have openly taken credit like in previous terrorist attacks in other countries before this," he told reporters.
Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict in Jakarta, also questioned Zahid's statement about the link to Wanndy.
"That seems unlikely, especially because there was no suggestion that the Bandung group responsible for the Jakarta attacks had any links to Wanndy and there's been no suggestion from anyone in the Maute group that his death was a factor," she told BenarNews. She was referring to the Maute group, a militant organization linked with IS that has locked in a three-day battle with Philippine government forces in the southern city of Marawi.
Jones did say, though, that the Jakarta attack likely was carried out by a pro-IS group, according to Reuters news service.
Zachary Abuza, a U.S.-based expert on insurgencies in Southeast Asia, also questioned Zahid's comments.
"Yes, IS cells may want to retaliate after the death of senior leaders such as Muhammad Wanndy. But there is absolutely no proof that there is a connection to the Big C bombing in Pattani, or any of the insurgency-related violence," Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington, told BenarNews in an email.
He was referring to a twin car-bomb attack that wounded at least 69 people at the Big C department store in Pattani, a province in Thailand's insurgency-stricken and Muslim-majority Deep South, on May 9.
"Bombings happen in Indonesia when they are ready to go, especially given Densus 88's recent record of disrupting cells," Abuza added. "These were coincidental. I think it is highly unlikely that there was any coordination."
Analysts see JAD link
According to Taufik Andrie, executive director of Prasasti Perdamaian Foundation, a Jakarta based think-tank, evidence of the types of bombs used in the attack in East Jakarta pointed to the attackers belonging to an Indonesian group that supports IS.
Moreover, the bombs were the same as those used in foiled plots in the West Java cities of Bandung, Bekasi and Tangerang in the last seven months that led to the arrests of several suspected bombers, he said.
In December, a woman, Dian Yulia Novi, was arrested on suspicion of attempting to blow herself up during a changing-of-the-guard ceremony outside the presidential palace in Jakarta.
"Apparently, this time, their experiment was successful. My presumption currently leads to JAD groups," Taufik told BenarNews.
Al Chaidar, a terrorism analyst at Malikussaleh University in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, said the attack was linked to IS because the militant group recently called for simultaneous attacks in regions, including Southeast Asia.
He agreed with Taufik that the attack was likely linked to JAD.
"Pressure cooker bombs are identical to IS attack patterns and certainly JAD is the most powerful (terrorist organization) currently in Indonesia," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is calling for increased police powers to help prevent terrorism in the wake of a twin suicide bombing in Jakarta this week that authorities say was carried out by militants linked to Islamic State (IS).
IS has claimed responsibility for Wednesday night's attack outside the Kampung Melayu bus station in East Jakarta, which left three policemen and two suspected bombers dead in the worst terror act to hit the Indonesian capital in 16 months.
After visiting a police hospital in Jakarta where some of the attack's survivors were recovering from injuries, the president called on the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) to speed up efforts to pass a long-delayed bill that proposes to toughen Indonesia's laws against terrorism.
"We want the government and DPR to immediately complete the anti-terrorism bill so it will make it easier for the law enforcement officials to have a strong foundation to act," Jokowi told reporters as he left the hospital on Thursday.
"The priority is to do prevention," he said.
On Friday, Indonesian police counter-terrorist squad Densus 88 made the first three arrests in connection with the East Jakarta attack, taking the suspects into custody in raids in Bandung, West Java, reports said.
According to the nation's police chief, the Bandung cell of local militant group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah carried out the attack, and JAD is linked to Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian IS figure based abroad who is wanted by authorities back home.
"It's an old and small network. We will continuously hunt its members; people do not need to panic. We all remain strong and we do not have to worry about," Karnavian said Friday while visiting the scene of the attack.
The United States has labeled JAD a foreign terrorist organization and Indonesian police have accused Bahrun of orchestrating a terrorist attack in central Jakarta that left eight people, including four suspects, dead in January 2016.
According to police, Bahrun joined IS in Syria in 2014 but may have moved to the southern Philippines, where IS-linked militant groups are very active.
'Phenomenon of decentralization'
During the past year, Indonesian police said they had thwarted a number of alleged terror plots hatched by JAD. Last Christmas, for instance, the authorities said they stopped the group from carrying out attacks targeting revelers during the Christian holiday season. Police arrested four suspected members of a JAD cell and shot dead two others during a counter-terrorist raid in West Java province.
The attack in East Jakarta and elsewhere in the world was part of a trend resulting from Islamic State being cornered by government and anti-IS military offensives in Syria and Iraq, where the group's traditional strongholds are located, Karnavian suggested.
"Currently there is a phenomenon of decentralization. As their centers were attacked, they split, and then they ordered the support cells in various countries to carry out attacks to divert attention," he told reporters.
In recent years, Indonesian police have taken a heavy toll in terrorist attacks or in efforts to combat terrorism, the police chief added.
"Up to today, more than 140 police have become victims of terrorist groups," he said, noting that 40 officers were killed, including the three who died in the line of duty on Wednesday, and the rest were injured.
Late on Thursday, IS's official news agency Amaq claimed via social media that "one of the fighters of the Islamic State" had carried out the East Jakarta attack on a "police gathering," according to SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based website that monitors online communications among Muslim extremist groups worldwide.
Anti-terror bill
Legislative efforts to change Indonesia's anti-terror laws have stalled because of resistance put up by some political parties and concerns raised by activists that the changes could infringe on human rights.
Under the existing laws, Indonesians who go overseas to join extremists groups like Islamic State cannot be prosecuted in Indonesia unless they commit a terrorist act on home soil.
The proposed revisions would broaden the definition of terrorism and give police the power to detain suspects without trial for longer. The changes would also permit the authorities to arrest people for hate speech and disseminating radical content, Reuters reported.
Asrul Sani, a lawmaker who sits on a DPR committee working on the anti-terrorism bill, said the committee was still identifying and making a list of problematic parts of the proposed changes.
"Members have agreed to intensify the discussion of the problems. Next week, we will meet again to sharpen the discussion," he told BenarNews on Friday.
The committee members have not yet agreed on a definition for terrorism, he said.
"It is not only us, but the government has also not yet agreed. But essentially, we will seek together to accelerate the discussion of this bill," Asrul said.


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BENARNEWS- A coalition advocating free speech and human rights is alerting the Indonesian public and authorities to a rash of cases where supporters of a hardline Muslim group have allegedly intimidated people for posting online content critical of the organization's leader.
This week the Anti-Persecution Coalition held a news conference to air concerns over cases of harassment against social media users by members of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) and other groups. The coalition says these have become more frequent following the arrest last year of then-Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama on blasphemy charges.
The coalition of more than a dozen local NGOs said at least 59 cases of intimidation by the FPI and others have been recorded this year alone.
"Based on this data, we think it is necessary to be alert to this kind of mistreatment," Damar Juniarto, the regional coordinator of the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet), a member of the coalition, told the news conference in Jakarta on Thursday.
Cases that have made headlines include the alleged harassment of a female physician, Fiera Lovita, over a Facebook post that FPI members deemed as insulting to their leader, Rizieq Shihab. Additionally, a video recording that has gone viral shows alleged FPI supporters slapping a 15-year-old ethnic Chinese Indonesian boy for posting online comments that were seen as criticizing or making fun of Rizieq.
The fugitive Rizieq is wanted by Indonesian police on suspicion of violating Indonesia's anti-pornography law by exchanging lewd images with a woman through text messages.
Ahok, another member of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese-Christian minority, recently lost the Jakarta gubernatorial election and last month was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison over alleged anti-Muslim comments. Critics of Ahok had wanted him to receive a stricter sentence.
"There are plenty of people who have lost trust in the legal system ... but it doesn't give them the right to take matters into their own hands and resort to violence and intimidation," Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) Director Asfinawati told BenarNews. The foundation, which belongs to the coalition, has set up a hotline number for victims of harassment to call or send text messages.
'Under pressure and afraid'
During Thursday's news conference, Fiera spoke about how she had suffered from alleged intimidation by FPI members.
The resident of Solok, West Sumatra, said she had been targeted for intimidation since her Facebook comment posted sometime between May 19 and 21 went viral.
"If innocent, why run away? There are 300 lawyers and 7 million members of the congregation ready to assist you. Please stop running away bib," she said without naming Rizieq.
"The intimidation was real and I still experience it now even though with less intensity," Fiera said, adding that she and her two young children had moved to Jakarta temporarily because of the constant harassment.
On May 22, she said, a Solok police officer came to the hospital where Fiera works. The officer showed her a Facebook post of FPI members who said they were going to hunt her down because of her comment.
The next day, her boss called and asked that she come to the office immediately. When Fiera arrived, a top hospital executive said "there is a group of mass organization leaders, including a leader of FPI," who wanted to see Fiera.
During the meeting with FPI members, police officers and the hospital's board of directors, Fiera said she was told to apologize, repent for her action and made to promise not to do it again.
"I had to say it as I choked and held back my tears. I was feeling miserable, because I was under pressure and afraid," she said.
"After I said I was sorry, the leaders took turns introducing themselves and preaching to me about this matter," she added.
Fiera said they could not accept her post because "according to them, Habib Rizieq Shihab's case was fabricated and slanderous."
Forced to sign statement
Jakarta Police spokesman Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said officers were quick to respond to the case of the 15-year-old. The boy, his mother and siblings were taken to police headquarters to be questioned about the incident.
"We have arrested two alleged intimidators. They are from a certain group," Raden told BenarNews without identifying the suspects or their group. The suspects could be charged with violating child protection laws and battery.
The video shows the boy surrounded by a group of men who slap him and threaten him with bodily harm. He is forced to read a statement denouncing his posting.
Argo said the boy was being assisted by YLBHI advocates and child-rights activists.
"He could be placed under the witness and victims' protection program," Raden said.
FPI Secretary General Novel Bamukmin could not be reached for comment on the video showing the teenager being harassed and slapped, but an Indonesian news website said that Novel could not identify the men or confirm if they were members of his group.
"I have no idea. I don't know them. It could be a group of men claiming to be FPI," Novel was quoted as saying, adding they were reacting to actions they considered insulting to clerics and Islam


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BENARNEWS- Some relatives of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, are living in Indonesia but do not pose any threat to the nation's security and could be tapped to join de-radicalization programs in countering terrorism, according to intelligence officials.
The kin of al-Baghdadi, one of the world's most wanted terrorists, are living in the city of Solo in Central Java province, the spokesman for Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency (BIN) said Wednesday.
Officials have identified the Solo residents who have blood ties to Baghdadi through his clan in Yemen, Wawan Hari Purwanto, BIN's director of communication and information, told BenarNews in an interview.
He declined to give more details, citing security concerns. He also did not reveal the exact number of Baghdadi's relatives living in Solo, about 580 km (360 miles) east of the nation's capital, Jakarta.
"They still have blood relations," said Wawan, a terrorism analyst. "I cannot give details of whether they are older brothers or sisters, younger brothers or sisters or cousins. What is sure is they are from one clan."
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the 45-year-old leader of IS, is an Iraqi national. He made his first appearance on a video in July 2014 when he gave a sermon in Mosul after IS fighters seized the northern Iraqi city. His current location is unknown.
Wawan said intelligence officials were still approaching the family members in Indonesia, urging them to help the government battle terrorism, especially through its de-radicalization efforts to encourage those with extreme ideologies to adopt more moderate views.
"We continue to approach (them), so they are willing to help the country. We hope (to get) a positive response," Wawan said.
During the interview, Wawan referred to the Solo family in both singular and plural terms, refusing to acknowledge the number of relatives. But he hinted that officials have contacted at least one person.
"He is Indonesian. His native family is from Yemen. He is a good person who disagrees with ISIS views. ... He has contacted Baghdadi, as a family. But he disagrees with ISIS ideology," Wawan said, using a different acronym for IS.
Despite having close ties with Baghdadi, the Solo family members do not share IS views especially in terms of spreading terrorism, Wawan emphasized.
Born into a lower-middle-class and devout Sunni Muslim family in Iraq in 1971, Baghdadi uses his nom de guerre, not his real name, Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri.
He has been careful not to reveal his whereabouts for a good reason: In 2006, U.S. forces tracked down and killed one of his elusive predecessors, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, during a bombing raid.
In December 2016, the U.S. State Department announced a reward of $25 million for information leading to Baghdadi's capture – more than doubling the previous bounty for his head.
Analysts expect no impact
Other security analysts played down Wawan's comments regarding the significance of having identified Baghdadi's relatives in Indonesia, saying the unconfirmed information might not augment the country's de-radicalization efforts.
Taufik Andrie, a terrorism analyst with the Jakarta-based Prasasti Perdamaian Foundation, said even if Baghdadi's relatives were indeed living in the country, they would not have a meaningful involvement in the de-radicalization process.
"I do not think it will be effective at all. This is a battle of mahzab(ideology). People who are affected by this (IS) ideology will stand up," he told BenarNews.
Al Chaidar, a terrorism analyst from Malikussaleh University in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, supported Taufik's opinion, adding he wasn't convinced about the presence of Baghdadi's relatives in Indonesia.
"How the blood relation is connected is not clear. It was also mentioned that they are harmless," he told BenarNews. "So, in my opinion, this would not mean anything."
Revamping a person's radical ideology, he said, would not be easy.
"Although it is said a person has a blood relationship with Baghdadi, it does not necessarily mean that people who have been contaminated with radical ideology will believe in that person," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Prosecutors who tried ex-Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama for blasphemy said they withdrew their appeal of his two-year sentence, which means he must serve the full prison term unless he successfully appeals to the Supreme Court or seeks clemency.
On Thursday, North Jakarta Court spokesman Hasoloan Sianturi confirmed the prosecutors' action, telling BenarNews they dropped the appeal earlier in the week.
Prosecutor Ali Mukartono said the action was taken because the prosecution team no longer saw a need to carry on with the appeal.
"There is no benefit, the defendant has revoked his appeal," he told BenarNews. "Why would we want to fight if it has been accepted by Ahok? If we appeal, we consider the certainty of the law and its benefit."
On May 22, Ahok, a member of Indonesia's Christian and ethnic Chinese minority, surprised many of his supporters by deciding that he would not appeal the conviction and sentence handed to him by a bench of the North Jakarta court on May 9.
In a letter from Ahok read by his wife at a press conference, he said he dropped his appeal for the sake of the nation. He was concerned that prolonging the legal process would trigger bigger conflicts between his supporters and opponents.
Prosecutors who had called for a lighter sentence of two years' probation followed by one year in jail if he committed a new offense, had filed a request for the court to review the case.
The prosecutors' appeal claimed that the court erred in sentencing Ahok for blasphemy, and that it should have sentenced him for the lesser offense of conveying feelings of hostility, hatred or humiliation to any or several groups.
The court ruled that Ahok committed criminal blasphemy when he told an audience in September 2016 it should not be deceived by people citing a verse from Al-Maidah 51 from the Quran, which some interpret as meaning that Muslims should not have a non-Islamic leader.
The May 9 verdict ended a six-month trial held during the heat of a gubernatorial race in Jakarta and amid a series of massive street demonstrations staged by conservative Muslim groups who clamored for the governor to be convicted and ousted from office.
On April 19, Ahok was defeated in a run-off by a Muslim candidate, former Education Minister Anies Rasyid Baswedan, who was elected amid a wave of anti-Ahok religious fervor.
When his trial opened in December 2016, Ahok apologized for his remarks, saying he had never intended to offend Muslims and noting that he had been raised by adoptive Muslim parents.
Review or presidential pardon
Lawyer I Wayan Sudirta, who represents Ahok, said he was aware of the prosecutors' decision to withdraw the appeal.
"Do not know yet," Wayan told BenarNews when asked about what his client intended to do now.
With all appeals dropped, the former governor who resigned from office effective May 23, is officially a convict. As such, he is entitled to two steps to mitigate his sentence: he can file a judicial review to the Supreme Court or he can request clemency from his former boss, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
Ahok served as vice governor of Jakarta when Jokowi was governor of the capital city before being elected president in October 2014. Over the course of the trial, Jokowi appeared to distance himself from his one-time deputy.
"The decision will be Ahok's," Wayan said.
Abdul Fickar Fajar, a legal analyst at Trisakti University in Jakarta, said the two choices could prove positive for Ahok. Abdul pointed out that judicial review is allowed only when the verdict is official.
Another legal analyst, Muhammad Fatahillah, who teaches at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said either step was possible.
"The verdict has been inkracht (has a permanent legal force). For clemency, the minimum requirement is a two-year sentence. So, Ahok has a chance," he told BenarNews.
Wayan would not comment on which step, if any, his client would take.
"We will discuss it," he said without elaborating.


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BENARNEWS- The Indonesian military says it is beefing up security along the nation's sea border with the Philippines, where Islamic State-inspired (IS) militants are locked in ferocious battles with Filipino government forces in the southern city of Marawi.
The building of military bases in some of the country's outermost northern islands, such as on Morotai island (see map), to block extremists who could potentially travel there from the southern Philippines was part of a strategic plan presented to Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo told reporters on Monday.
Gatot spoke during a dinner with journalists in Jakarta, three days after reviewing the construction of a submarine dock at a naval base in Palu, Central Sulawesi province.
After visiting the base on Friday, Gatot said in a press release that Indonesia had deployed submarines off Marore and Miangas islands along the northern end of Sulawesi Island because the military was anticipating security-related possibilities as a result of the ongoing fighting in Marawi.
Gatot said the militants could travel easily from Marawi to Indonesia's northernmost territories, such as Bitung and Sangihe, in North Sulawesi, and Morotai, in North Maluku province.
"This is why we together have to be cautious," he said. "Do not let the conflict in Syria move to Indonesia. We must prevent them from coming to our place because the seeds in our place already exist."
Other than Morotai, the Indonesian military will bolster its presence around the Natuna Islands in the South China Sea, Biak Island in Papua and the Tanimbar Islands in Maluku, the general said, emphasizing that construction of military bases on the islands would depend on economic conditions in Jakarta.
Together, Indonesia and the Philippines have more than 18,400 islands and share a little-patrolled ocean border.
Gatot also told reporters that the Indonesian military had found dormant IS cells almost everywhere in the country. A possible infiltration of militant groups from Marawi could wake up those cells, he said.
"Almost all provinces in Indonesia, except Papua, have existing ISIS cells but they are sleeping," Gatot said, using a different acronym for IS.
'We've put people there'
Maj. Gen. Ganip Warsito, the commander in North Sulawesi, Gorontalo and Central Sulawesi provinces, said the military had strengthened security forces in Indonesia's outermost islands, including in Marore, Kaiwo and Matatuang in the waters of North Sulawesi and Morotai Island, in North Maluku province. He did not provide details.
"We've put people there. We must be careful not to get infiltrated, that can be also weapons, because that is the possible route that can be used for infiltration," Warsito said, explaining that the outcome of the Marawi conflict would impact Indonesia either way.
If the militants win, the Southeast Asian region would be their strong base, he said, but if the Philippine military ends up defeating the extremists, they would be expected to regroup in Indonesia.
"And here there are dormant cells that are ready to accommodate them," Warsito said as he emphasized that Filipino troops were battling local extremists from the Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups who are backed by foreign militants, including fighters from Indonesia and Malaysia.
Khairul Fahmi, a researcher from the Jakarta-based Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS), said the plan to build a military presence on Morotai Island was part of Indonesia's old maritime defense concept.
"Maybe now there is momentum, but the threat is already in front of us, so the TNI should have another plan while there is no base with a permanent force," Fahmi told BenarNews.
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Terrorist designation, trilateral patrol
In other news related to terrorism, the U.S. State Department on Monday declared an Indonesian militant group, Majelis Mujahideen Indonesia (MMI), as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.
Formed in 2000 by jailed cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, MMI has claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Indonesia, including a May 2012 attack at the book launch of Canadian author Irshad Manji that injured three attendees, according to the State Department.
The special designation alerts the American public and the international community that MMI has "committed or pose a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism," the department said in a news released.
"Designations expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and result in denial of access to the U.S. financial system.  Moreover, designations can assist or complement the law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and other governments," it said.
Also on Monday, a spokesman for Indonesia's Defense Ministry, Brig. Gen. Totok Sugiharto, confirmed that Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines would launch a joint maritime patrol in the Sulu and Sulawesi seas early next week.
"The launching of the patrol will continue the plan that previously has been delayed," Sugiharto told BenarNews.
The launch is scheduled from the town of Tarakan, in the Indonesia province of North Kalimantan, on June 19, he said.
The three nations have been talking for more than a year about joining forces in trilateral patrols to prevent acts of piracy and kidnappings of sailors at sea by suspected Islamic militants operating out of the southern Philippines.


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BENARNEWS- The man whose online video whipped up blasphemy allegations and massive protests against Jakarta's former governor was charged in court Tuesday with intentionally editing the politician's words to incite hatred based on ethnicity and religion.
Buni Yani appeared at the Bandung District Court in West Java, where he faced charges of violating Indonesia's Electronic Information and Transactions Law by altering words uttered during a videotaped speech in September 2016 by Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama.
Those words were at the center of a public controversy around Ahok, which was driven by conservative Indonesian Muslim groups who wanted this member of the country's Christian and ethnic Chinese minority to be prosecuted for comments that they construed as anti-Islam. Ahok has since been removed from office. He was jailed after losing an election bid in April and convicted of blasphemy the following month.
Buni allegedly violated article 32 of the law – intentionally making changes, hiding or transmitting electronic information belonging to other people – and article 28 – inciting hatred or hostility toward others based on ethnicity, religion, race or social group.
"The first article carries a sentence of eight years, while the second six years," Buni's lawyer, Aldwin Rahadian, told BenarNews in a phone interview after Tuesday's hearing, which was the first in the case.
Buni allegedly posted a 30-second portion taken from the 24th and 25th minutes of a nearly two-hour video, which was filmed by the governor's office. Buni is charged with removing a word from the portion he posted online to make it appear as though Ahok's remarks targeted the Quran and not people. Buni was accused of putting a caption under footage claiming that Ahok's comment was religious blasphemy.
"This additional caption also results in the strong reactions from people, especially Muslims," prosecutor Andi Taufik said, according to Kompas.com.
Aldwin said prosecutors were wrong regarding the first indictment linked to article 32.
"The article is not in the investigation, but why suddenly is it there during the judicial process?" Aldwin said. "We reject this charge and will file an exception."
Buni said he had never been questioned by investigators about that indictment.
While Buni and his team of lawyers were inside the courtroom, dozens of supporters rallied outside. The defendant visited with them after the hearing.
He told supporters that Ahok's conviction should work in his favor.
"Ahok has been imprisoned, my case should be stopped," he said. "The legal facts say that Ahok is already in jail, that is, I am not insulting Ahok for defaming religion."
Ahok drops appeal
Following a six-month trial, Ahok was convicted on May 9 of criminal blasphemy for telling an audience last September that it should not be deceived by people citing a verse from Al-Maidah 51 from the Quran, which some interpret as meaning that Muslims should not have a non-Islamic leader.
On May 22, Ahok's wife read a letter where he announced that he would not pursue an appeal of his two-year sentence for the sake of the nation. Prosecutors, who had sought a lesser sentence, last week dropped their appeal.
Ahok is entitled to two steps to mitigate his sentence: he can file a judicial review to the Supreme Court; or he can request clemency from his former boss, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
The hearing is expected to resume on June 20 when Buni's lawyers present their objections to the prosecution's case.


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BENARNEWS- A leader of the conservative Muslim group Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) on Tuesday rejected the U.S. State Department's designation a day earlier that branded it a global terrorist group.
As a result of the official U.S. listing of MMI – known in Indonesian as Majelis Mujahideen Indonesia – American citizens are prohibited from engaging in financial transactions or dealings with the 500-member group, which is based in the Javanese city of Yogyakarta.
"I do not know how MMI can become a global terrorist [organization]," MMI Secretary-General Shabbarin Syakur told BenarNews on Tuesday. "We have not even conducted any activities for years and MMI is anti-ISIS (Islamic State)."
In a news release on Monday announcing the designation, the State Department said MMI was formed in 2000 by jailed Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, which also has been tagged by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian affiliate of al-Qaeda, has been blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and other terrorist attacks targeting Indonesian cities.
The news release said MMI had conducted attacks in Indonesia, including claiming responsibility for a May 2012 attack at the launch of a book by Canadian author Irshad Manji, where three people were injured. It said MMI also had links to the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaida-affiliated group in Syria.
Shabbarin denied those allegations. He acknowledged visiting Syria in 2014 together with several MMI leaders to meet Islamic scholars, who were believed to be Islamic State (IS) members, but he said he had disagreements with them over their violent ideology.
"Some MMI leaders and I went to Syria and it was not for jihad(holy war) or joining any groups," he said, explaining that MMI actively campaigned for the enforcement of Islamic law in Indonesia during the recent past, but lately has been inactive as an organization.
'Makes no sense'
The global-terror designation for MMI also surprised Sidney Jones, a terrorism expert who directs the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, a Jakarta think-tank.
She questioned the criteria used by the United States to come up with its conclusion.
"It makes no sense and it's outrageous [that MMI] is labeled a terrorist organization, while it has never committed any violence," Jones told BenarNews.
Thayep Malik, a researcher from the Jakarta-based think-tank Prasasti Perdamaian Foundation, which focuses on security issues, also raised doubts on MMI's designation as a global terrorist group.
MMI has had no relationship with Abu Bakar Bashir for a long time, Thayep said.
"It's true that MMI is a 'jihad' organization and some of its senior members have been involved in acts of terror, but the allegation needs to be based on an objective assessment," Thayep told BenarNews.
Regarding the group's alleged link to the al-Nusra Front, Thayep said MMI member Ridwan Abdul Hayyie indeed went to Syria to join the terror group, "but it is uncertain whether he left for Syria to represent the MMI or (to fulfill) his personal desire."
Ridwan, son of MMI leader Abu Jibril, was found dead after a gun battle between al-Nusra and Syria's Arab National Army (SAA) in 2015.
'A significant risk'
MMI's special designation as a terror group alerts the American public and the international community that it poses "a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States," the State Department ease said in its news release.
National police spokesman Setyo Wasisto and Irfan Idriss, spokesman for the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT), could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
The MMI designation came as military officials announced that Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, had taken steps to bolster its security along its sea border with the southern Philippines, where IS-inspired militants have been engaged in more than three weeks of clashes with Filipino security forces in the city of Marawi.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's first accused would-be female suicide bomber and her husband appeared in a Jakarta area court Wednesday to stand trial on charges stemming from their alleged botched attempt to attack the Presidential Palace in the nation's capital last year.
Defendants Dian Yulia Novi and Muhammad Nur Solihin face charges of conspiring, attempting or assisting the crime of terrorism based on Indonesia's Anti-Terrorism Law that carry a maximum life sentence.
"The trial process is ongoing. Today is only the second day. It will probably take about three months," defense lawyer Fariz told BenarNews on Wednesday. "We will try to defend them so they do not get the maximum sentence charged by prosecutors."
The trial at the East Jakarta District Court opened on May 31.
The prosecution team could not be reached for comment.
In May, Dian was indicted on charges of preparing to be a suicide bomber with the help of her husband, an alleged leader of a terrorist cell. If not for police intervention, she would have been the first female suicide bomber in Indonesia.
In the earlier court session, the couple admitted that they married for the purpose of committing a terror attack during a changing-of-the-guard ceremony outside the presidential palace, on Dec. 11, 2016.
During a TV interview shortly after their arrests on Dec. 10, the couple told the same story, saying they were being directed by someone whom they believed was Bahrun Naim, a leading Indonesian figure of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group.
Testimony on Wednesday featured the owner of the rented room where Dian stayed and where police arrested her. The witness, who was not identified, said he did not know that the two were planning a suicide bombing.
Police found a presser-cooker bomb that was ready to be detonated.
"The witness did not know about what the defendants did inside the room. So the judge also cannot dig for more information," said Fariz, who, like many Indonesians, uses one name.
Woman came up with suicide plan
The indictment states that Dian came up with the plan and was aided by Nur Solihin, who shared her vision about jihad (holy war) and being a suicide bomber as "a way to please God." Her husband, who already had a wife, married Dian to help prepare for the attack, according to the indictment.
Nur Solihin took on Dian as his second wife because a fatwa issued by IS required women to have permission of their fathers or husbands "to carry out any activities outside their home – even for worshipping, including by becoming a martyr," according to a report published earlier this year by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), a Jakarta think-tank.
"From the beginning they had the same idea to take action that they believed to be jihad," Fariz, the defense attorney, said, referring to the two wives of Nur Solihin.
The couple was arrested in two separate locations along with five other suspects. Nur Solihin's first wife was among those arrested on suspicion of participating in his terror cell.
Lawyer: Dian is a victim
Fariz said Dian was a victim of a radical doctrine and he did not believe that Nur Solihin had encouraged her.
"Dian's position in this case is a victim. Moreover, they did not have time to do the action. This will be our material to defend them later," the lawyer said.
Fariz said he had a tough time gathering information to support Dian's case because she did not want to talk privately with the lawyers. According to her conservative Muslim's belief, she must be accompanied by at least four people, which could include prison wardens.
Previously, reports surfaced that Nur Solihin had taught Dian about suicide bombing after receiving instructions and funding from Bahrun Naim, who is believed to be in Syria and leading Malay-speaking IS fighters.
Letters to parents
After police arrested Dian, they seized two letters from Dian to her parents in Cirebon, West Java. She wrote to tell them that this was her path to defend her religion.
"God willing, someday we will regroup in a more beautiful place. This is my way of worshiping my religion and to you, my parents. Don't you ever hate my way," she wrote a few days after her arrest.
The trial will resume on June 21. At least 12 witnesses are expected to testify.


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BENARNEWS- After a year of delays, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines on Monday launched joint security patrols in waters between their three countries, spurred to action by the seizure of a city in the southern Philippines by Islamic State-linked militant groups.
Defense ministers and top military brass of all three countries were on hand to inaugurate the initiative, first proposed in May 2016 as a rash of maritime kidnappings in the Sulu Sea slowed trilateral trade and reportedly reaped millions of dollars in ransom for Mindanao-based militants such as the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
Deputy Defense Minister of Brunei Darussalam Abdul Aziz bin Haji Moh Tamit and Senior Minister of State for Defense and Foreign Affairs Maliki Osman of Singapore attended the launch as observers.
The martime patrols, including air and surface elements, are meant to boost security "in the face of non-traditional real threats such as piracy, kidnapping, terrorism and other transnational crimes in regional waters," a joint statement by the three participating governments said.
"The main goal of the Trilateral Maritime Patrol is to ensure militants, including Daesh members, do not make the Sulu Sea a 'rat trail' to infiltrate the three nations, especially after the fighting incident in Marawi City, Philippines," Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told BenarNews, using another name for the so-called Islamic State.
Armed groups in the southern Philippines banded together to take over large parts of the southern city of Marawi on May 23, leading Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law across the Mindanao region. Government forces have been battling the gunmen ever since, with a death toll of some 345 people, most of them militants, according to officials.
The dead include foreign fighters from at least six countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Chechnya, Saudi Arabia and Yemen – one year after Islamic State leaders urged followers who could not reach Syria to travel to the southern Philippines instead.
 
 

Military theater
As part of the initiative, each of the three nations will set up a maritime command center in locations bordering the Sulu Sea: Tarakan, North Kalimantan, in Indonesia; Tawau, Sabah, in Malaysia; and Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines.
The send-off ceremony staged at a naval base in North Kalimantan included the simulated rescue of a cargo ship suddenly swarmed by gun-toting "pirates" amid a burst of gunfire.
Within seconds, two Indonesian warships drew alongside the container ship, and two Sukhoi fighter jets swooped low over it. Malaysian and Philippine navy ships steamed onto the scene as Indonesian navy commandos rappelled to the deck from a hovering helicopter.
According to Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, the "rescue" was set in motion by a distress call from the container ship, which was being followed by surveillance aircraft.
"This is the kind of cooperation we will do against piracy," Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told a press conference aboard Indonesian Navy Vessel Dr Suharso-990.
"One and a half years ago, we predicted ISIS would come to the southern Philippines. Why? They were losing in Syria and Iraq. They are conducting activites in Europe, for sure they will return to Southeast Asia," he said.
Hishammuddin said the patrols are a positive step in containing growing radicalism among "a handful of community groups who don't respect the law."
"We've already made a commitment not to give them even the slightest bit of room on our soil," he said.
Porous borders
Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said his goverment was determined to combat the ASG, which has undermined security in the region for years.
The security cooperation would help secure Sulu waters, a key trade route for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), he said.
"This cooperation will enable us to hunt down all the hiding places of the Abu Sayyaf gang," he said.
In Manila, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla told reporters, "The end objective of the trilateral border agreement is to reinforce the security in this common area."
Abductions at sea would end "and the movement of potential armed elements, any jihadist organizations or any armed organizations, will not go through all these porous borders because of that heightened security," he said in describing the aims of the cooperation.
For years, ASG has been kidnapping and holding hostages for ransom, and executing some of them. In February, the group released a video showing the beheading of a German hostage, Jurgen Kantner, after a deadline for a U.S. $600,000 (2.6 million ringgit) ransom passed.
Last year, ASG militants were blamed for attacks on ships in waters between Borneo island and the southern Philippines that resulted in abductions of dozens of Indonesian and Malaysian sailors. Most were released.
ASG collected at least 354.1 million Philippines pesos (U.S. $7.3 million) from ransom paid for hostages in 2016, Philippines-based news website Rappler.com reported.


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BENARNEWS- Fourteen years after detaining him, the United States says it will file terrorism charges against the once powerful Indonesian militant, Hambali, in a move that Jakarta says will provide him transparency and legal certainty.
Hambali, detained at the U.S. military's Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, was notified last week that prosecutors are making preparations to charge him before a military commission at the U.S. base in Cuba, according to the Pentagon.
No firm date has been given for hearing the case against Hambali, once the most powerful Southeast Asian leader of the al-Qaeda terror network led by Osama bin Laden who masterminded the 9/11 attacks in the United States that left nearly 3,000 people dead.
"At point in time, no charges have been forwarded to the Convening Authority's office, so I will be unable to provide any sort of confirmation statement," Pentagon spokesman Maj. Ben Sakrisson told BenarNews in an email response.
The Convening Authority's office, among groups within the Pentagon responsible for the overall management of the military commission's process, is in charge of referring charges to trial.
Hambali is acccused of terrorism and murder, among other charges, including conspiring with Al-Qaeda leaders in a spate of attacks, notably the Bali bombings in October 2002 that killed 202 people.
Indonesia notified
The Indonesian government is aware of the charges against Hambali, an official told BenarNews, and has been in contact with Hambali's lawyer through its embassy in Washington "to closely monitor the legal process."
"The Indonesian government regards this as a U.S. government internal process," Ahmad Rizal Purnama, the embassy's political counselor, told BenarNews.
"For Indonesia, Hambali being charged by military prosecutors would provide him transparency and legal certainty," he said. "The Indonesian government would ensure that his legal rights are met and continue to communicate with Hambali's lawyer."
Based on the charge sheet provided to BenarNews by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Military Commissions, Hambali is accused of "murder in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of war, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, attacking of civilians, attacking civilian objects [and] destruction of property, in violation of the law of war."
He allegedly orchestrated the Bali bombings and an August 2003 attack that killed 11 people at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta.
Australia suffered the largest number of casualties in the Bali bombings – 88 dead – followed by Indonesia with 38. The charge sheet names all the victims, including seven Americans who were killed.
Marine Corps Brig. Gen. John Baker, the chief defense counsel, said in an email that he was notified prosecutors do not intend to seek the death penalty even though some of the charges are potentially capital offenses, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
Baker said he would be submitting a request for additional resources to "effectively represent" Hambali but the decision to not seek the death penalty means he will not have to find experienced capital attorneys, the AP report said. Such lawyers are typically civilians.
In October 2016, the Guantanamo Periodic Review Board, tasked with cutting the number of inmates at the facility, rejected Hambali's appeal for release, saying in a statement that he remained a "significant threat to the security of the United States."
Indonesian officials reportedly said then that if Hambali were to be released, they would be reluctant to accept his repatriation for fear his return could spark a revival among domestic terror cells.
Hambali, whose birth name is Encep Nurjaman and who is also referred to as Riduan Isomudin, is among 41 prisoners at Guantanamo.
If the U.S. presses a case against him, he would be the first charged under President Donald Trump's administration.
Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata in Jakarta contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian authorities say they have found nothing criminal in a vlog post by President Joko Widodo's youngest son, after a police report alleged that he had insulted religion and spread hate speech in a video uploaded on his YouTube account in May.
In the video, Kaesang Pangarep, 22, criticizes behavior of some Muslims during protests against former Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, who was convicted of blasphemy in May in a case that exposed the rising clout of conservative Islam in Muslim-majority Indonesia.
"Fanning conflict, throwing around 'infidel' accusations. Refusing to pray at the death of fellow Muslims, just because of differences in choosing a leader. What's that about?" Kaesang says in the video, in a line cited in the police report.
He goes on to characterize such behavior as "ndeso," a slang word meaning backwards or not modern.
The investigation "is not being continued. No criminal element was found," Jakarta Metro Police spokesman Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said Thursday.
Police consulted three linguists about the remark and determined it was not an insult, Argo was quoted as saying in the Indonesian news outlet Tempo.
"There is no criminal element," Deputy Police Chief Syafruddin told reporters at police headquarters in Jakarta.
Kaesang – whose YouTube channel has 31 videos, more than 300,000 subscribers and 21 million views – is currently accompanying his father on a working trip to Europe.
Presidential spokesman Johan Budi declined to comment on the case. "Wait for the president or Kaesang to come home from Turkey and Germany," he said.
Critical, not criminal
The police report was filed July 2 in Bekasi, a city adjacent to Jakarta, by local resident Muhammad Hidayat, who has filed some 60 hate speech complaints against different individuals, Jakarta police spokesman Argo told BenarNews.
The police report identifies the perpetrator as "Kaesang" and includes a line from his vlog "Dad Asks for a Project," a short video that skewers nepotism and intolerance.
Authorities need to get serious about hate speech on social media, Hidayat told Metrotvnews on July 6.
"I don't take into account if the perpetrator is the son of the president. I think spreading hate speech on social media is a crime that needs to be stopped," he said.
In the video, Kaesang also comments about a group of kids who chanted "Kill Ahok" during a pre-Ramadan parade, seen in a video that went viral in late May.
"I'm not trying to protect Mr. Ahok. But I'm asking why kids of that age are like that. It's very unfortunate when young kids are taught to spread hate. What's that about? Basically ndeso!" he says.
The deputy chief of the Democratic Party urged police not to investigate the case further.
"Don't look at who it is. It has to be handled," Syarief Hasan told Tribunnews.
Social media expert Enda Nasution said the police decision to drop the investigation was the right one.
"I see a political element to this, a desire to shake Jokowi," he told BenarNews, using the president's nickname.
Nukman Luthfie, another social media observer, said the video did not insult religion or contain hate speech.
"I've watched it. What expressed there is normal. What's not normal, is that it's Jokowi's son," he said.
Pratiwi Febry, an activist with the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, also praised the police decision to drop the case.
"They know what is criticism, and what is criminal. They aren't getting into suppressing freedom of opinion," she said.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia and Turkey agreed to bolster bilateral counter-terror cooperation and defense ties during President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's visit to Ankara, officials said Friday.
The two nations also agreed to develop a high-tech system for sharing intelligence to curb terrorism and help prevent foreign militants from crossing international borders, according to a statement sent to BenarNews by officials at Indonesia's Presidential Palace.
Jokowi, the leader of the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, made the state visit in Ankara before attending the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. He met Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.
Fighting terrorism was no longer one country's issue, the two leaders said during a joint news conference in the Turkish capital.
"Indonesia and Turkey have agreed to improve efforts in anticipating the infiltration of foreign terrorist fighters through cooperation in intelligence sharing," Widodo told the news conference, according to the statement released on Friday by the Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau in Jakarta.
Erdogan said he discussed various counter-terror efforts with Widodo, "including cooperation in defense system and sharing ideas."
"We have agreed on those important steps for the sake of both nations," Erdogan said, according to the statement.
Indonesians deported
The two presidents met a day after Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Turkish authorities had caught about 300 Indonesians, from 2015 to early 2017, while they were trying to cross into Syria via Turkey to join the extremist group Islamic State (IS).
All of the Indonesians have been deported from Turkey, the ministry said. It said no charges could be pressed against the deportees because there was no law prohibiting Indonesians from crossing borders while allegedly planning to join militants in Syria.
Indonesia announced the deportations as U.S.-backed Syrian forces inched closer to the heart of the extremist group's de facto capital of Raqqa.
Well-educated Indonesians were among those who have been deported from Turkey this year. Upon their return from Turkey, the deportees usually receive guidance on the country's ideology of Pancasila, Indonesia's state philosophy that emphasizes national unity and pluralism, and how to integrate themselves back into their communities.
On Wednesday, Agung Sampurno, a spokespesman for Jakarta's Directorate General of Immigration, said officials were challenged in identifying Indonesians returning from Syria and other conflict zones.
"The problem is there is no direct flight. They must transit in a third country, including Malaysia, before flying back here," Agung told reporters.
"When they transit in the third country, their whereabouts remain unknown. It can only be identified when there is intelligence shared by the Turkish or Syrian government," he said.
Agung said Indonesians returning from Syria and Turkey were classified under the high-risk category, which means their personal data cannot be shared with the public.
"It's part of anticipation, because no one can guarantee that any of their family members are not involved. If their data is made public, they might disappear," he said.
As many as 83 Indonesians with alleged links to IS were on a wanted list of 243 people circulated by the national police, the immigration department said.
The agency said it had stopped hundreds of suspected foreign militants – including 127 from Afghanistan and 40 from the Philippines  – from entering Indonesia.
Thousands of suspects expelled from Turkey
At Thursday's meeting between the two presidents, Erdogan revealed that Turkey had deported 5,000 suspected terrorists, according to a report by Anadolu, the official Turkish News agency
During Widodo's visit, Turkey's leading defense companies Aselsan and Turkish Aerospace Industries also signed a deal with Indonesia's PT Dirgantara and PT Len to collaborate on defense products, Anadolu said.
Widodo, according to the statement from Jakarta, appreciated the deal signed by both nations to produce a medium-size tank, known as KAPLAN MT, a prototype of which was unveiled during the 13th International Defense Industry Fair in Istanbul on May 9.
Other details about the deal were not disclosed.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's government on Wednesday unveiled a controversial executive decree designed to make it easier for authorities to break up civil society groups seen as fomenting discord and threatening the state, officials said.
The decree comes after the government announced two months ago that it would shut down the domestic branch of Hizbut Tahrir, an organization calling for Muslims worldwide to unite under an Islamic caliphate and to establish Sharia law in Indonesia.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo signed off Monday on the decree, which temporarily replaces a 2013 law regulating non-governmental organizations. The decree will allow the government to bypass a lengthy court process earlier required to disband NGOs.
"The 2013 law is outdated and does not accommodate measures required to prevent the proliferation of ideology that contradicts our state ideology Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution," Wiranto, the nation's minister for law, politics and security affairs, told a news conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The new decree doesn't identify any organization by name, but it prohibits organizations from committing blasphemy against any faith or using religion to incite hatred based on race, religious affiliation, or ethnicity.
It also forbids organizations from fanning divisions that threaten the nation's sovereignty. Violating any of the decree's articles is punishable by prison sentences ranging from five to 20 years, according to a copy seen by BenarNews.
The measure follows recent religious tensions fanned by hardline groups that have tested Indonesia's tradition of moderate Islam and "unity in diversity" – the motto of the multi-religious nation.
"This regulation is not intended to discredit Islamic mass organizations, given that Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country, or to limit freedom of expression, assembly, and free speech," said Wiranto, a retired army general and former chief of the Indonesian armed forces.
The new measure goes into effect immediately but requires a two-thirds vote in parliament to replace the existing law permanently.
Going after HTI
In May, the Indonesian government announced its intention to begin efforts to disband Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI). Registered as an NGO under Indonesia's Home Ministry since 2006, HTI has been preaching in Indonesia for decades, and is thought to have about 2 million members.
In recent months, HTI was among hardline Muslim groups that spearheaded massive street demonstrations calling for the arrest and removal from office of Jakarta's governor, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, over allegations that he had uttered blasphemous, anti-Islam words in a speech last year.
Ahok, a member of Indonesia's tiny Christian and ethnic Chinese minorities, has since been convicted and imprisoned on related charges and he was defeated in a gubernatorial election in April.
HTI repeatedly has said that its activities do not contradict Pancasila or espouse violence.
"This is clear evidence of injustice and tyranny by the government, and it will make people increasingly view the regime as anti-Islam," HTI spokesman Ismail Yusanto told BenarNews, referring to the new government regulation.
He said his organization might call for a judicial review of the move, because powers to override existing laws can only be invoked in emergency situations.
The government was specifically targeting HTI in trying to change a law that purposely made dissolving organizations difficult to avoid abuse of power, he said.
"The government knows that banning an organization is difficult under existing law, so they are publishing this new regulation. The government should give a better example to society of how to be law abiding."
'Our country could be destroyed'
In a July 7 press conference, 14 Islamic organizations had urged the government to issue the new regulation as the legal basis for dissolving "radical and anti-Pancasila mass organizations such as HTI and others."
If left unchecked, such organizations could grow and threaten pluralism in Indonesia, becoming accepted by society, according to Said Aqil Siradj, chairman of the board of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization.
"You can imagine, our country could be destroyed like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and others," he said.
While HTI and other organizations thought to oppose Pancasila do not commit violence, their ideology is permeating society and threatening Indonesia's political system, he added.
"It is unlikely that mass organizations who do not believe in the Unitary Republic of Indonesia and want to replace it with other systems will be able to carry out their obligations to participate in achieving the goals ... stated in the preamble of the 1945 Constitution," Aqil said.

'Selective silencing'
Human rights advocates, meanwhile, expressed concern about the government's move.
It could be viewed as a selective silencing of government critics, said Rida Hesti Ratnasari, a researcher on HTI from the Community of Ideological Islamic Analysts (CIIA).
She said the government should be prepared to provide "guidance" for members of the organization if it is dissolved.
"If there is no guidance, they may become out of control and it will be hard to track what happens to them ... they may exist as an organization that is not registered but still has the same beliefs," she told BenarNews.
Sidney Jones, director  of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, called the plan to disband HTI politically inept and said it "left Indonesia more religiously polarized than ever," according to the Jakarta Post.
If the HTI is dissolved, it would be the first Islamic organization to be banned since the three-decade rule of President Suharto era, who banned Islamic groups deemed as threatening to Pancasila, the Post noted.
The move could stifle Indonesia's fragile and young democracy, said Andreas Harsono, a Jakarta-based reasearcher for Human Rights Watch.
"Banning any organization strictly on ideological grounds ... is a draconian action that undermines rights of freedom of association and expression that Indonesians have fought hard to establish since the Suharto dictatorship," Harsono said, according to the Associated Press.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia has renamed the resource-rich northern region around its Natuna islands, which lie off the southern end of the South China Sea, as the North Natuna Sea, a government official announced Friday in presenting an updated national map.
The decision to change the name of the sea region north of the islands was spurred by an international tribunal's ruling last year that went against China's claim to the entire South China Sea through its "nine-dash line," Arif Havas Oegroseno, the deputy of maritime sovereignty at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, told a news conference in Jakarta.
Based on a challenge filed by the Philippines, the ruling declared that atolls or land formations in the South China Sea that could not sustain human habitation could not be used as the basis to claim a 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf. Previously, the Philippines had renamed it the West Philippine Sea.
"We updated the sea column on the northern side of Natuna so its name is in line with its continental shelf. Our national team agreed to name it North Natuna Sea," Arif told reporters at his office.
Indonesia will register the new name with the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).
The official map was last updated in 1953 and territorial borders were determined based on old documents following Indonesia's independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1945. The name Natuna Sea started appearing unofficially in 2002.
Political message
The renaming could signify that Indonesia is sending a political message about its sovereignty over the area, according to I. Made Andi Arsana, a professor of geodesy at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.
"It's a unilateral action but it is acceptable, although it may not change the international consensus that the area is known globally as South China Sea," he told BenarNews. "It's directed more toward domestic use of the name, although it may get international recognition when the government registers the name to the related international agencies such as the IHO."
In June 2016, after years of neutrality over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Indonesia's military announced that it would maintain a hardline stance toward safeguarding its EEZ in the waters of the Natunas. It deployed naval ships and aircraft to patrol the maritime area against vessels trespassing into the zone.
The new map shows a clear blue line of Indonesia's continental shelf in the Natuna Sea – south of the islands by that name – and the North Natuna Sea, along with purple dash lines that delineate contested borders of EEZs, with Malaysia to the east and west and Vietnam to the north.
"Economy-wise, in the long term we will have clear boundaries on natural resources exploitation," Arif said. The new designation is expected to provide clarity for Indonesian fishermen over where to fish and for the navy and law enforcement agencies over where to conduct patrols.
Indonesia shares land borders with Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste, and sea borders with India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Timor Leste.
Arif said intergovernmental agencies had been meeting to update the map since 2016. Those meetings have considered 2010 and 2017 territorial agreements with Singapore and an EEZ agreement with the Philippines ratified this year.


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BENARNEWS- Palangkaraya, by any standards, is not well-known outside Indonesia.
But the city on the island of Borneo is quickly becoming a newsmaker after experts started debating the concept of relocating the nation's capital following a government official's statement that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo ordered a feasibility study.
Bambang Brodjonegoro, chief of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), told journalists in Jakarta on Tuesday that he had been instructed by the president to conduct a study regarding moving the capital from Jakarta.
Brodjonegoro declined to elaborate but said the president cited a number of reasons for considering the move, including issues related to infrastructure, flooding and congestion.
As the controversy about the possible move swirled in Jakarta, Widodo skirted issuing a direct statement confirming his plans.
"I will explain it when the time comes," the Jakarta-based Republika website quoted him as saying on Tuesday.
But on Thursday Widodo broke his silence by issuing a Twitter message.
"Discourses about the relocation of the state capital are now still in the analysis phase," Widodo said. "Deep calculations are necessary so as to guarantee that the relocation will be really beneficial."
While officials have not confirmed the location of the possible new political and administrative hub, government sources told BenarNews that Palangkaraya, the capital city of Central Kalimantan province in Borneo, would be the top candidate.
"None has confirmed Palangkaraya. There are some candidates," Brodjonegoro told BenarNews. "Right now our team still analyses the criteria of the area and the land availability."
He said the feasibility study, including budget estimates, is targeted for completion by the end of this year.
Palangkaraya has a population of about 240,000, according to a 2014 census.
It is in Kalimantan, the largest island in Indonesia and since the 1950s government officials have been eyeing it as a frontrunner to become Indonesia's future capital, a potential replacement to the congested and flood-prone Jakarta, home to about 30 million people.
Former President Sukarno started the initiative to sever links with Indonesia's colonial past by potentially moving the capital out of Jakarta, which was known as Batavia during Dutch rule.
Moving toward debate
But even at the early stage of conducting feasibility studies, the plan has been flooded with opponents.
Nirwono Joga, an observer of city planning with the Jakarta-based Trisakti University, said the relocation would be unnecessary.
"It needs a lot of money," he told BenarNews.
"Even if the government really has a big budget, it is better to use it for the improvement of Jakarta and the development of other areas to support Jakarta," he said.
Instead of relocating the capital, Joga suggested the government spread out the administrative and business burden borne by Jakarta.
For example, he said, Bandung in West Java can be converted into a technology center, Yogyakarta, can become the center of arts and culture and Surabaya can be transformed into a maritime hub.
"That makes more sense," Joga said.
But other analysts offered diverging opinions.
"Kalimantan is a right place," said Krishna Nur Pribadi, a city planning analyst from Bandung Institute of Technology.
During a phone interview with BenarNews, Nur Pribadi mentioned the vastness of land available in the island.
With an area of 544,140 sq km (210,093 sq miles) of Indonesia's 699,450 square-mile land, Kalimantan is populated by only 14 million people.
He cautioned that Palangkaraya has only 50 sq km developed land of its total area of 2,400 sq km.
He said the government must ensure the relocation would not crash the central government's annual budget, which is expected to encounter a shortfall of about $25 billion this year.
Fadli Zon, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, opposes the relocation idea, according to Kompas.com.
"Many infrastructure projects are in risk of being unfinished because of financial difficulties, so concentrate on that first, no need to think about relocating the capital," he said.
But Brodjonegoro said his agency would approach the private sector if the state budget could not support the project.
"We are studying it intensively," he said. "The burden for Jakarta is already too heavy, not only as a state's capital, but also as the center of industry and business services."
The 2016 Jakarta Transportation Board estimated $11.2 billion per year is lost because of traffic congestion in Jakarta.
Confusion
Talk about possible relocation also delivered confusion among Jakarta residents.
"So how would my family be?" 31-year-old Kiki Sofia told BenarNews on Tuesday.
Sofia, a Ministry of Public Works employee in South Jakarta, owns a house in the suburb of Bekasi, while her husband works for a private company in the capital.
"If my office moves, I also have to move, right?" she said.
Boy Eka, 31, another government worker, also expressed concern.
"I don't know. Let's see," he said.


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BENARNEWS- The Indonesian government has been asking Telegram to remove terrorism-related content from its encrypted chat groups since March 2016 but got a response only after it began to block access to the platform, officials said Monday.
Telegram has now apologized and begun responding to some of its requests, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Communications and Informatics on Monday.
"I have received an email regarding an apology from Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram," Minister of Communications and Informatics Rudiantara said in the statement.
"It appears he was not aware there were several requests from the ministry, since 2016," he said.
Durov has already taken steps requested by the ministry and proposed communications dedicated for handling radical or pro-terrorist content, Rudiantara added.
"I appreciate the response from Pavel Durov, and the ministry is going to follow up as quickly as possible on the technical details so that a standard operating procedure can soon be implemented," he said.
The government will restore access to web-based Telegram messaging – which it blocked on Friday – if Telegram meets several conditions, Semuel A. Pangerapan, a director general of the ministry, told a news conference in Jakarta on Monday.
These include opening an office in Indonesia; making the ministry a "trusted flagger" of Telegram accounts or channels containing terrorist propaganda; and involving the ministry in content-filtering efforts.
"When all the conditions we have requested are met by Telegram, then we will unblock it," Indonesian media outlet Kompas quoted him as saying.
The ministry on Friday announced that it had requested Internet service providers to block 11 domain names used by Telegram after collecting evidence that many channels on the messaging app had been promoting extremist ideologies.
17,000 pages
Indonesia's government had identified 55 channels on Telegram that contain terrorism-related content, including discussion of how to mount attacks, and printed out 17,000 pages of terrorism-related content from Telegram's web-based channels, officials said.
In addition, almost all individuals convicted of terrorism-related activity between 2015 and July 2017 used the application, Pangerapan said Monday.
"So we can see how massively they use, or misuse, the sophistication of technology. That is why we must take quick, strategic steps to prevent it going forward," he said.
The ministry took the decision to block Telegram after sending a sixth email expressing its concerns to the company on July 11 and receiving no response by July 13.
It had sent five other emails starting on  March 29, 2016 asking the company to clean up radical and terrorism-related content from its channels, but there had been no reply.
In a message posted on Telegram on Sunday, Durov said those channels had now been blocked and the company would take additional steps including setting up a direct line of communication with the Indonesian ministry.
"We are forming a dedicated team of moderators with knowledge of Indonesian culture and language to be able to process reports of terrorist-related content more quickly and accurately,"The Wall Street Journal quoted Durov as saying.
"Telegram is heavily encrypted and privacy-oriented, but we're no friends of terrorists —in fact, every month we block thousands of ISIS-related public channels," he said.
Indonesia's decision to block Telegram was criticized by journalists and human rights activists, who said it had been hastily implemented to counter radicalism without addressing the root of the problem.
On Sunday, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo publically backed the move.
"The government has long observed Telegram and we are a country that prioritizes the safety of our nation, our people," the Journal quoted him as saying.


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BENARNEWS- One of Indonesia's most powerful politicians Tuesday rejected a report by an anti-corruption agency that named him a suspect in one of the biggest graft scandals to hit the country.
House Speaker Setya Novanto was among many senior government officials who received kickbacks from funds allocated for a government project to issue electronic national I.D. cards, the state's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced late Monday.
Investigators said the corruption scheme had pumped out about U.S. $173 million from government funds.
"I was said to have received 574 billion rupiah (U.S. $43 million)," Setya, 61, told reporters at the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Jakarta. "I never received it. The sum ... is incredibly huge. How was it transferred, how was it received and how did it look like?"
"I really beg you to stop abusing me," Setya said, vowing that he would respect the legal process and not quit his parliamentary position.
At news conference on Monday, KPK Chairman Agus Raharjo named Setya as a suspect in the massive graft case, which allegedly involved a network of about 80 people, mostly legislators, and senior government officials.
He said the suspects and several companies embezzled more than one-third of the 5.9 trillion rupiah ($443 million) that was allocated for the I.D. program known as e-KTP, between 2011 and 2012.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, through his spokesman, called on all involved parties to respect the legal process.
The case could turn into a test of Jokowi's commitment to overhaul the image of Indonesia, which is still known as one of the most corrupt countries in Asia, political observers said.
Setya, who is also a chairman of Golkar, one of Indonesia's largest political parties allied with Widodo's administration, was previously named a suspect in another corruption case two years ago when he was accused of trying to extort a 20-percent stake from the U.S. mining giant Freeport-McMoRan.
In December 2015, Maroef Sjamsoeddin, president-director of Freeport Indonesia, testified to lawmakers and submitted an audio recording of Setya purportedly demanding company shares estimated to be worth around $4 billion, in exchange for helping the company get its operating contract extended.
Setya was cleared of the allegations but its aftermath forced him to resign as speaker in 2015. He was reappointed as speaker last year.
[https://www]
Indonesian House Speaker Setya Novanto answers questions during a news conference in Jakarta, July 18, 2017. [Arie Firdaus/BenarNews]


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's government used an executive decree Wednesday to officially ban  Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the domestic chapter of a hardline international group that is pressing for an Islamic caliphate in the world's largest majority-Muslim country.
The government had the authority to disband non-governmental organizations (NGOs) considered as a threat to Indonesia and its pluralist state ideology known as Pancasila, a top official with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights told a news conference in Jakarta.
"The government believes that the revocation of the decree for the legal entity of the HTI was not done arbitrarily, but after a synergy between governmental agencies in the fields of politics, law and security," said Freddy Harris, the ministry's director general for legal administration.
Last week, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo approved the decree, or government regulation signed in lieu of the law, referred to as a Perppu in Indonesia. Officials said it was aimed at making it easier for the government to disband civil society groups seen as fomenting social unrest and threatening Indonesia's unity by not having to take such organizations to court under a 2013 law that regulates NGOs.
As written, the decree did not identify Hizbut by name, but government officials had warned they were moving to disband it.
The president said the decision was legal and made after careful consideration.
"The government has studied for a long time and considered the inputs from ulemas and the community," Jokowi said.
While HTI claims Pancasila, a philosophy emphasizing national unity and pluralism, as its own ideology, in reality its activities violate this, Freddy alleged.
"They broke their own articles of association," he said.
"Anyone having any objections to the decision may take legal action in accordance with the laws and regulation," he added.
No activities allowed
The local branch of HTI, which is believed to have about 2 million members, campaigned for a caliphate and implementation of Sharia law in the country.
The Council of Indonesian Ulema (MUI), a group of Muslim scholars, supported the ban on HTI.
"The dissolution of HTI is indeed a process that has been taken. The government has the right to say that HTI is not in accordance with Pancasila," MUI chairman Ma'ruf Amin said, according to Kompas.com.
Police said they would continue to monitor members of the organization. Police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said officers would not issue any permits for HTI activities.
"If they continue to carry out activities, we will stop them and process them according to applicable law," he told BenarNews. Those who violate the ruling could face prison sentences of six months to life.
HTI responds
HTI spokesman Ismail Yusanto said the decision proved that the government is despotic.
"We never knew what mistake we had made because there had never been a warning letter (to us) as regulated in the Perppu," he told BenarNews.
Ismail accused the government of breaking its own rules.
"HTI will not remain silent. HTI will take legal action," he said.
The organization's lawyer, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who served as minister of justice and Human Rights from 2001 to 2004, said his side would appeal to the State Administrative Court.
"Perppu opens opportunities for the government to become a dictator. The government unilaterally dissolves mass organizations without their right to defend themselves and without a fair and proper law enforcement process," he said in a written statement.


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BENARNEWS- Southeast Asian countries could face larger terrorist threats after Philippine forces finally wrest the Mindanao city of Marawi from an alliance of Islamic State-linked militants, a Jakarta-based think-tank warned in a report published Friday.
The militants' ability to hold onto portions of Marawi and ward off a government onslaught over the past two months will have regional ramifications "long after the Philippines military retakes the city," the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) reported.
"The risks won't end when the military declares victory," IPAC director Sidney Jones said in releasing the report. "Indonesia and Malaysia will face new threats in the form of returning fighters from Mindanao, and the Philippines will have a host of smaller dispersed cells with the capacity for both violence and indoctrination."
The post-Marawi after-effects could bring about a higher risk of violent attacks in cities in the Philippines as well as in Indonesia and Malaysia, IPAC said. There could also be greater cooperation among Southeast Asian extremists and new leaders emerging in pro-Islamic State (IS) cells in Indonesia and Malaysia from among combat veterans returning from Marawi, the report said.
IS-backed operations in the southern Philippine city "received direct funding" from IS central in the Middle East, revealing "a chain of command that runs from Syria through the Philippines and beyond," according to the 25-page study, titled "Marawi, the 'East Asia Wilayah' and Indonesia."
The report compares photographs posted on social media after the battle in Marawi began on May 23, showing smiling fighters holding their weapons in the air, with victory photos from Mosul, Iraq, in 2014.
"They generated a shared sense of triumph and strengthened the desire of ISIS supporters in the region to join the battle," IPAC said among the conclusions in its report, referring to IS by another acronym.
Major roles for foreign fighters
IPAC also examined the role of foreigners linked to IS in preparation for the battle. The report specifically identifies Malaysian professor Mahmud bin Ahmad as an example of a foreigner who had a crucial role in aiding the Marawi militants.
Not only did those foreigners wanting to join the battle have to go through him to get to the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, he also was responsible for thousands of dollars channeled through IS to purchase weapons, the report said.
The report detailed how, in January 2017, Mahmud set up a delivery of U.S. $10,000 through a Telegram account. The money was sent by Western Union to trusted recipients in the Philippines. In February and March, Mahmud set up similar transfers of $25,000 and $20,000 from sources in Syria to recipients in the Philippines.
Mahmud was in Marawi during the battles but, according to a Malaysian counter-terrorist police official, he may have fled to Indonesian or Malaysian Borneo from the Philippine city after reports emerged last month that he was possibly killed in the fighting there.
"We believe Mahmud is not in Marawi now as he is more of a planner and administrator," an intelligence official based in the nearby Malaysian state of Sabah told BenarNews on Friday.
"In the early days of the fighting, he was there in Marawi. But now, he and Isnilon have fled, and Mahmud is believed to be with the IS in Basilan," the source said on condition of anonymity.
He was referring to Isnilon Hapilon, a top leader of the southern Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf who is recognized as the leader of the Philippine branch of IS.
Indonesian fighters
Based on estimates that 20 Indonesians joined other foreign fighters in Marawi, IPAC listed potential concerns for the government.
These include "the return of a few men with the potential to organize, unite and lead some of the existing pro-ISIS cells"; interest shown among militants in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia in pursuing joint operations in Indonesia; and Indonesians possibly becoming involved in violent acts in the two neighboring countries.
The report also mentions the potential risk of militants establishing "a new regional training site in Mindanao that could attract recruits from Indonesia and Malaysia and even further afield."
Indonesian police are watching out for home-grown militants returning from the fighting in Marawi, a spokesman for the national police force said in response to the IPAC report.
"We are cooperating with immigration officials to flag those suspected as returnees from Marawi. We will keep an eye on them, although, legally, there is nothing we can do," Police spokesman Inspector General Setyo Wasisto told BenarNews on Friday.
The police force has also increased its presence in North Sulawesi province and other island areas in Indonesia's northernmost reaches closer to the southern Philippines, so as to prevent militants in Marawi from infiltrating Indonesian territory by sea, Setyo added.
Dysfunctional ties
Among the conclusions in its new report, IPAC makes the case that Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines – the three "front-line" nations in this battle against IS – need to recognize where they have problems and focus on greater cooperation, while fixing dysfunctionality in their bilateral and multilateral security relationships.
"These include the deep-seated political distrust between the Philippines and Malaysia that impedes information sharing; concern from Indonesia and Malaysia police about mixed loyalties of local counterparts in Mindanao, especially given clan and family links; and institutional disjunctures that give the lead in counter-terrorism to the police in Indonesia and Malaysia but to the military in the Philippines," the report said.
Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata in Jakarta, Felipe Villamor in Manila, and Colin Forsythe, in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Muslim religious leaders need to embrace moderation and play a more active role in countering radicalism, participants agreed at an international gathering of clerics in Indonesia this week.
The call was one of six recommendations in the "Padang Declaration" issued Thursday at the end of the four-day conference attended by about 700 ulemas from Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Ulemas are Muslim scholars recognized as having special knowledge in sacred law and theology.
"We see the role of ulemas as very important and strong in guiding people to avoid extreme thinking, either far right extreme like terrorism and radicalism, or far left extreme, toward liberalism," Muhammad Zaitun Rasmin, the head of Southeast Asia Ulema Association, told BenarNews.
"But the most important thing is to come with the same understanding on the meaning of moderate Islam that brings blessings to all," Rasmin said.
Rasmin also leads a conservative Muslim organization that rallied earlier this year for the arrest of then-Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian who was later convicted for comments deemed insulting to Islam.
Unity
Islamic unity is important to help Rohingya in Myanmar, Palestinians, and Muslims elsewhere who are facing oppression, Rasmin said.
"Although there are differences and threats of disunity as has happened in Arab countries now, as long as all parties are willing to sit together and communicate, the unity of the Muslim community can be realized," Rasmin said.
Among those attending the conference were Shaykh Hassan Bukhari, imam of the Great Mosque of Mecca in Saudi Arabia; Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab, former president of Sudan; and Osama Bin Mohammad Abdullah Al Shuaibi, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Indonesia.
"As the imam of the Great Mosque, I expressed joy for the happiness and blessing on this ulema meeting," Bukhari said.
Abdullah Al Shuaibi expressed appreciation to Indonesia for hosting the annual ulema conference, which it initiated, three years in a row.
"I am grateful to the government of Indonesia that always calls for unity. Indonesia is the example for the world of how Muslims unite," he said.
He said his government fully supported Indonesian government efforts to teach moderate Islam according to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
"Moderate in terms of neither a far right extreme nor a far left extreme," he said. "Saudi Arabia fully supports every effort to teach moderate Islam, which does not teach radicalism and encourages dialogue for all parties."


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BENARNEWS- About 50 residents of several villages in Papua – mostly children younger than 5 – have died from diarrhea and other illnesses since April, church and other officials said, in a case reflecting a stark lack of health services in Indonesia's easternmost province.
Maria Duwitau, a member of Papua's parliament, cast blame on poor health services provided by the provincial government.
"If they already know that diarrhea comes every year, they should have prevention efforts, instead of blaming the community for not having hygienic habits," she told BenarNews. "The health department should promote a hygienic and healthy way of life to the community."
Diarrhea-related deaths occur every year in Papua, a deeply impoverished province, officials said. But the rash of cases reported in a handful of villages in Tigi, a district of Deiyai regency, and elsewhere in the province has been more frequent than usual, they said. It has been caused by people drinking from unclean water sources.
Apart from at least 50 deadly cases, hundreds of people in affected villages have been stricken with diarrhea over the past three months, officials said.
People can die of dehydration brought about by diarrhea, which drains the body of vital fluids and salts. It is a common killer of children age 5 and younger worldwide, contributing to the deaths of tens of thousands of boys and girls annually in Indonesia, according to UNICEF and NGOs working in public health.
Laurens Kadepa, another local parliamentarian, said four public health centers have been established across the western part of the district – where some of the deadly cases of diarrhea have occurred lately – but none are staffed with doctors. This, in turn, has discouraged residents of local villages from seeking medical services at those sites, he said.
"Since two years ago, there has been an attitude of public apathy toward the importance of health services," Laurens told BenarNews.
Visits by doctors, church officials
Cultural practices have also been a factor, officials pointed out. Instead of proceeding to health centers, villagers often stay at home, praying for recovery while using traditional herbs, which, they believe, have healing powers.
According to the chief of the provincial health office, Aloysius Giyai, a medical team of doctors and nurses visited five villages in Deiyai – Ayatei, Digikotu, Piyakedimi, Yinudoba and Epanai – where the rash of diarrheal cases was reported.
"The team formed by the Papua Province's Health Development Acceleration Unit, has been there since a few days ago to handle the case," Aloysius told BenarNews last week.
Church officials visited several villages in Tigi district, after receiving reports from local officials that 30 infants had died in the area over the past three months, said Santon Tekege, a representative of the Catholic Church who is based here.
"After we checked the area, there were 50 deaths, including adults," Santon told BenarNews.
The victims, who died within four days after the onset of symptoms, had experienced high fever, diarrhea, sore mouth and red eyes, he said, quoting data gathered by church representatives.
"According to medical officers, local residents showed symptoms of having acute respiratory infections, measles, diarrhea and dysentery," Santon added.
Since June, dozens of residents have been admitted to hospitals and clinics in Merauke, another regency in Papua, after complaining of diarrhea, officials said. About 200 children younger than 5 and several adults were believed to be afflicted, they said.
"The teams from Puskesmas [community health clinics] have served some of the villages we could reach, while areas in difficult locations have not been reached yet," said Adolf Bolang, chief of Merauke's Health Service. He said 461 people have so far complained of diarrhea in three villages. Four toddlers died after suffering from dehydration, he told BenarNews.
Drinking dirty water and the non-existence of toilets could have precipitated the cases, he said.
In previous diarrhea reports in Papuan villages, Indonesian health officials identified consumption of dirty water as the cause. They said villagers traditionally used natural water ponds as their sources of drinking water, but these had been contaminated by human and animal feces.
Lagging behind
Aloysius Giyai, Papua's health chief, acknowledged services in Deiyai had often performed poorly on the province's annual health assessment.
Papua's overall health status is the lowest in Indonesia, officials said.
Papua, which is bordered by the nation of Papua New Guinea to the east, and by West Papua province to the west, is one of the Indonesia's poorest regions and was absorbed by the country in 1963.
The sparsely populated Papua and West Papua have 5.9 million residents, a majority of whom are Christians. The mineral-rich region – home to the world's largest copper and gold mines – is also where a low-level armed separatist movement has simmered for decades.
Papua's adult literacy rate is the lowest among all of Indonesia's provinces, standing at 74 percent, according to the website GlobalSecurity.org.
"The region also has a disproportionately high number of HIV/AIDS cases compared with the rest of Indonesia and high rates of infant and maternal mortality," the website reported.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia and Australia will co-host representatives from Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and New Zealand at a Saturday meeting in Manado, North Sulawesi, to discuss counter-terrorism efforts in light of ongoing battles against militants in not too far-off Marawi, officials said.
Participants at the one-day meeting expect to focus on concerns about the possibility of the extremist group Islamic State (IS) establishing a stronghold in the region, following a siege by IS-linked gunmen in the southern Philippine city on May 23 that unleashed intense fighting with government forces.
"All countries in Southeast Asia agreed to reject their territories becoming a new base of IS," Wiranto, Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Wiranto said the meeting in an Indonesian city close to the southern Philippines would focus on what impact Marawi will have on neighboring countries, and common ways to combat terrorism.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi is expected to discuss developments following a trilateral meeting with the Philippines and Malaysia on June 22.
Topics to be discussed include preventing the flow of terrorist funds, strengthening laws to criminalize extremists and militants returning to their home countries along with those who provide assistance and support to militants.
Wiranto said representatives would discuss efforts to stop militants from using information technology. The retired army general said Indonesia could take effective measures against terrorism by using a soft approach through coaching and de-radicalization, and a hardline approach through strict law enforcement.
IPAC study
The fighting in Marawi, which led to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declaring martial law in the southern region of Mindanao, could pose new risks for the region after the battles there end, according to the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) in Jakarta. More than 600 people – mostly militants – have died in more than two months of fighting in Marawi, the Philippine government said Wednesday.
In a report published last week, IPAC predicted that new threats in Indonesia and Malaysia would be caused by militants who return to the two countries after having fought in Marawi. About 20 Indonesians were among foreign fighters in the Mindanao region.
The Philippines will have terror cells that will be smaller than before the battles, but will be capable of committing violence and indoctrinating members, IPAC reported. Additionally, the battles could lead to militant groups from the three nations conducting joint operations in Indonesia or elsewhere, the study said.
On Thursday, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishamuddin Hussein urged Manila to host a special meeting for defense chiefs of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to discuss regional security concerns related to Marawi.
"This update needs to be shared because possibly there are some member-states which do not realize that the threat of IS can affect their position," Hishamuddin said, noting that any perceived signs of instability in one country could affect the entire region.
Last month, Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said that dormant IS cells existed in all provinces in Indonesia, except in Papua. The return of Indonesian and foreign combatants bring concerns over the awakening of the dormant cells, he said.
Maj. Gen. Ganip Warsito, a TNI commander who is responsible for the areas of North, Gorontalo and Central Sulawesi, said the military had stepped up surveillance on a chain of smaller islands north of Sulawesi island that belong to Indonesia and are entry points to the country.
Results
Ridlwan Habib, a University of Indonesia researcher on terrorism issues, said the attendees at Saturday's meeting should reach a consensus regarding terrorism financing and how Indonesia's Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center can better access data of partner agencies.
In addition, he said, participants need to clarify the mechanisms used to exchange information related to the movement of terrorists from one country to another.
"For example, if there is information about Indonesian citizens entering Marawi or vice versa, can this be directly shared among the institutions authorized to handle terrorism in each country, or will it only be shared based on request," Ridlwan told BenarNews on Thursday.
Regarding the involvement of Australia and New Zealand, Ridlwan sees the two countries as being interested in safeguarding their people.
"It's about the sterilization of their territory from the entry of terrorists," he said.
N. Natha in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Dozens of Indonesian women working in Hong Kong used their earnings to support the Islamic State after being recruited online, according to a think tank in Jakarta.
A report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) urged Indonesia – the world's most populous Muslim country – to work with labor recruiting agencies to prevent radicalization. It explored how dozens of Indonesians in Hong Kong became vulnerable to extremist recruitment as religious teachings and prayer groups grew alongside with demands for more nannies, domestic helpers or caretakers for the elderly.
The women were exposed to radical content online, said Nava Nuraniyah, an IPAC analyst.
"Some of these women were drawn in by jihadi boyfriends they met online," she said in a statement. "But some joined IS as a path to empowerment."
While the number of radicalized workers is small compared to the Indonesian workforce, it is potentially dangerous, Nava said.
Indonesians form the second-largest migrant community in Hong Kong, with more than 150,000, according to official census data. The Philippines leads the list with more than 180,000.
The IPAC report released Wednesday charted the mostly female Indonesian Muslim community in Hong Kong, which tripled during the past 17 years because of the demand for domestic workers.
It said Jakarta-based overseas employment agencies marketed Indonesian women as being "cheaper" and more pliable than better-trained Philippine maids, resulting in many Indonesians being paid less than the minimum wage. Even though the workers were systematically underpaid and exploited, abuse was not a direct factor in their radicalization.
"The search for a sense of community in an unfamiliar environment may have been more important," the report said, explaining the growth of the Muslim community was accompanied by a rise in religious outreach (dakwah) activities by Indonesian clerics. The outreach started with moderates but gradually included extreme ideologues.
"Indonesian women found friends in these dakwah groups that often acted as surrogate families," the report said. "When one was drawn into a radical circle, others followed."
IPAC conducted in-depth interviews with several dozen domestic workers in Hong Kong, Indonesian clerics and leaders of Islamic organizations in the city and in Jakarta. It also monitored social media and analyzed documents from outreach groups.
The report identified at least 50 female radical workers in East Asia who had taken part in a variety of extremist online discussion groups, including 43 who worked or are working in Hong Kong, three in Taiwan and four in Singapore.
The war in Syria brought support for violent extremism to Hong Kong, the report said, explaining that Indonesian Muslims were interested in the conflict and extremist sites on social media had some of the most detailed news.
As of June 2017, four women joined IS in Syria, about 16 returned to Indonesia and mostly married militants and eight were deported from their host countries or from Turkey while trying to cross over to Syria, the report said.
"None were ever interested in supporting attacks in their host countries," the report said, explaining the Indonesian migrant workers would rather support forces fighting the Syrian government or pro-IS violence in Jakarta.
Getting exposed to radical preachers
As religious conservatism grew in Jakarta, the women in Hong Kong were exposed to radical preaching at Muslim community meetings when prayer groups and visits from clerics became more prevalent, Nava said.
"These women see militants as heroes and want to help them with money and logistics. Some get involved and want to help the militants go to Syria, and are prepared to follow them there."
The public should not panic about the report, she said, but expatriate communities should watch out for migrant workers becoming radicalized.
"If one sees a colleague beginning to show symptoms of exposure to radicalism, approach them in a good way," she said.
The government needs to do more to explain the threat of terrorism to migrant workers, according to Anis Hidayah, executive director of Migrant Care.
"They are vulnerable to IS recruitment. They don't realize it," she said, adding the government should consider setting up a help line or sending an official notice to spread awareness.
"These efforts need to be expanded down to the village level," she said, as she explained embassies should use social media to spread the government's message about the dangers of extremism.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir and Nusron Wahid, head of the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers, could not be reached for comment.
Turkey Deportees
Since 2015, 430 Indonesian nationals have been deported from Turkey as they tried to cross into Syria, authorities said.
"It doesn't mean all of them are linked to IS. They never crossed into Syria," Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters in Jakarta on June 17.
She said 193 Indonesians were deported from Turkey in 2015, 60 in 2016 and 177 in the first six months of 2017.
Officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs said more than 160 deportees from Turkey since last year have been trained in weaving and sewing and how to start small businesses.
About 75 of the deportees were children who received counseling, toys and educational assistance.
Commenting on those figures at that time, IPAC director Sidney Jones confirmed that 60 percent of the deportees were women and children. She called the rehabilitation program insufficient.
"There has to be a plan for where the children are going to go to school, there has to be counselling for those children," she said.


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BENARNEWS- Officials from Southeast Asian nations, Australia and New Zealand agreed at a meeting in Indonesia on Saturday that their governments would support one another in a forum working against a rising terrorist threat tied to battles with militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) in Marawi, the Philippines.
High-level officials from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Brunei joined their counterparts from Canberra and Wellington in a one-day conference co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia in the North Sulawesi provincial capital of Manado. Their discussions focused on terrorism in the region surrounding the Sulu and Celebes seas.
"Global terrorism is that lethal threat to all of our societies and with the collapse of the caliphate in the Middle East, the return of foreign terrorist fighters to our region and the increasing prevalence of cross-border terrorism, it is a threat that is becoming more severe, not less and therefore it demands a regional response," Australian Attorney General George Brandis said.
"That problem has been thrown by recent events in Marawi."
Wiranto, Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, said the forum is focused specifically for countries surrounding the Sulu Sea to prevent the spillover of the Marawi conflict to neighboring countries.
"Countries surrounding the Sulu Sea have direct interests about security in the sub region and we limit this forum at the sub regional level," Wiranto said in a joint press conference with Brandis after the meeting.
Wiranto also said IS changed its strategy by scattering militants to establish new strongholds around the world including Southeast Asia, following defeats in Syria and Iraq.
"They initially wanted to establish a new stronghold in Indonesia, in Poso (Indonesia), or in Marawi (the Philippines), but given the objective conditions, they chose Marawi," Wiranto said, adding the participating countries were briefed by the Philippine delegation on the status of Marawi where government troops have battled militants since May 23.
Fighting terrorism through social media, laws
Other discussions focused on militants' use of social media.
"The six countries agreed that there is an urgency to cooperate with companies that provide social networking, content sharing and messaging services," Wiranto said.
Terrorists are using social media and the six countries agreed to learn from one another to counter extremist propaganda, he said.
The Indonesian government blocked online messaging service Telegram earlier this month over concerns that terrorists were using it to spread radical propaganda and teach followers to mount attacks or assemble bombs.
The participants also agreed to study prevailing laws in each country that criminalize extremists and militants returning to their home countries along with those who provide assistance and support to militants. This would be particularly important for Indonesia, as officials deliberate amendments to a counterterrorism law to criminalize terrorists or their supporters and allow possible military involvement, while maintaining respect to human rights.
Brandis commended Wiranto for bringing the six countries together to address common problems and "to build an architecture in which the six nations represented today can continue to work together, to learn from one another, to assist one another, to ensure that we always stay ahead of the terrorists."
Working together
Philippine National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon Jr. called the meeting fruitful because participants were able to learn from one another, he said.
"I think we have established good links with countries that have the same concerns," he told BenarNews after the meeting.
Esperon said the leaders agreed to meet because they realized that they needed to cooperate because of the borderless nature of terrorism.
"Terrorism can happen in any country, because there is no need for big forces. They do not have to move in big formations, it can take one determined mind to impose upon us, that's what we want to prevent," he said.
In Marawi, operations to combat militants are ongoing while the battleground has been reduced from the original 16 to three villages in the densely populated area. Civilians remain trapped, Esperon said.
"We want to be very, very careful about it. It will be slower but that might serve the purpose because being slow in their liberating, we may be saving some innocent lives," he said.
Wiranto and Brandis said participants agreed to repeat the forum next year.
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Wiranto, the Indonesian coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, speaks to participants at the six-nation meeting in Manado, July 29, 2017. (Courtesy Indonesia Ministry of Political, Legal and Security Affairs)


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police said Monday they had arrested 149 Chinese suspected of involvement in an alleged multimillion-dollar online scam that targeted wealthy people from China.
A joint investigation with police from mainland China allowed Indonesian law-enforcement officials to break the international syndicate that had netted about 6 trillion rupiahs (U.S. $450 million) from its victims, according to National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rikwanto.
The suspects will be deported to their home country immediately after Indonesian authorities complete their investigation, he told reporters in Jakarta.
"All the victims are in China," he said. "This is the request of the Chinese police, because the victims of this network also come from China."
The suspects perpetrated the scam by gathering information about Chinese businessmen facing legal issues, and then identified themselves as law-enforcement officials who could help settle the cases after being paid a certain amount, Rikwanto said.
Indonesian police raided the offices of the suspects in the capital Jakarta, the city of Surabaya and the island of Bali on Saturday during which investigators seized laptops, iPads and mobile phones, among other evidence, Rikwanto said.
"They have been operating in Indonesia since the end of 2016 and March 2017," he said. "Some of the victims have reported the case to police in China, so we were finally informed."
Only 20 percent of the suspects presented their passports and none of the 149 had work permits, Rikwanto said. He said others claimed that their passports were seized by a travel agent.
"We are still looking for the agent who brought them to Indonesia," he said.
Most of the suspects appear to be citizens of the People's Republic of China (PRC). According to an online news report from Taiwan, 22 of those in Indonesian custody are Taiwanese. The web portal Taiwan News quoted a police investigator as saying that each suspect was paid about U.S. $1,500 monthly to participate in the scam.
Investigators said they could not immediately confirm the number of fraud victims, but added that, so far, they believed that none were Indonesians.
Rikwanto said a few Indonesians who were present during the raids worked for the syndicate as domestic helpers, guides and drivers.
"We are still investigating those who might be directly involved in this syndicate," he said.
Officials said the foreign suspects entered Indonesia using tourist visas. They said the syndicate might have chosen the sprawling archipelago because it was easier to hide from investigators compared with being in China.
About 3 million Chinese-descended citizens live in Indonesia, the world's most populated Muslim-majority nation, which has about 264 million residents.
Yasonna Laoly, Indonesia's minister of justice and human rights, confirmed that PRC officials had requested that the suspects be deported to face criminal charges back home.
'We are still very weak'
Saleh Pataulan Daulay, a member of Indonesia's House of Representatives, blamed the government's weak monitoring of foreign nationals for the presence of international criminal syndicates in the nation.
"We appreciate this arrest, but ... we are still very weak in the monitoring of foreigners," Saleh told BenarNews.
This wasn't the first case where foreigners – especially those from China – were arrested for committing online fraud in Indonesia, Saleh said. Foreigners had also been taken into custody as suspects in cases related to illegal drugs and prostitution.
In February last year, police arrested nine Chinese nationals and three Indonesians for alleged involvement in an online fraud. In that case, the suspects would call their victims in China, telling them they had won some prize and that, in order to claim it, they had to pay a fee.
Agung Sampurno, spokesman for the Immigration directorate at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, said his office had formed 196 teams to monitor foreigners in a number of areas in the country.
This year alone, he said, 458 foreigners have been deported from Indonesia. During the same period, about 2,100 people have been blocked from entering the country or arrested at points of entry, he said.
"Of course with the arrest of this fraud syndicate from China, we will further improve the supervision of foreigners in Indonesia," Agung told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- The Indonesian government agreed Tuesday to unblock nearly a dozen domain names used by the encrypted messaging service Telegram, after the company's co-founder promised to eradicate terrorist propaganda and content.
Last month Indonesia blocked 11 domain names belonging to Telegram after collecting evidence that many channels on the messaging app had been promoting extremist ideologies, including some linked to the extremist group Islamic State (IS).
The decision came after Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov met with Rudiantara, Indonesia's minister of Communications and Information, in Jakarta on Tuesday.
"We discussed ways to block the public channels available for the propaganda of terrorism, which is something that we are committed to do globally, and particularly in Indonesia," Durov said during a joint news conference. "And we have discussed ways to make it more efficient."
"We have agreed to keep Telegram accessible," said Rudiantara, who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name.
The government will take steps to remove all blocks this week, officials said.
Meeting at Rudiantara's office, the two sides discussed ways to eliminate distribution of extremist propaganda on the popular messaging app.
Semuel A. Pangerapan, director general of the communications ministry, told reporters that other social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Google, could be scrutinized too for extremist content.
Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim-majority population, had identified 55 channels on Telegram that contain terrorism-related content, including forums and discussions regarding terror plots, officials said.
They said they had printed out 17,000 pages of terrorism-related content from Telegram's web-based channels, adding that most individuals convicted of terrorism-related charges between 2015 and July 2017 claimed to have used the application.
Apologies from Telegram's boss
Durov apologized for failing to respond immediately to emails from the Indonesian government requesting the removal of channels and forums used by extremist supporters.
Officials said they had sent six emails to Telegram from March 29, 2016, to July 11, 2017, but got no response until July 13, when the government decided to block 11 domain names used by the messaging platform.
Durov said he and Rudiantara talked about propaganda by individuals on public channels in which IS can recruit members.
He said Telegram could block terrorist channels within hours as it would employ Indonesian-speaking staff to assist in identifying content related to terrorism and extremist propaganda.
Critics said it would make more sense for the government to monitor Telegram, which had more than 100 million monthly active users last year and is believed to be popular among IS sympathizers.
To counter the spread of radical content, other critics said, the government could take other steps, including disseminating anti-radical videos on social media.
Regional cooperation to counter propaganda
At a regional terrorism meeting in Manado, North Sulawesi province, officials from six nations agreed on Saturday to cooperate in countering terrorist propaganda, including those shared through social media.
"The six countries agreed that there is an urgency to cooperate with companies that provide social networking, content sharing and messaging services," Wiranto, Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, told a news conference after the meeting.
"Social media companies will help track down the existence of terrorists or directly prevent them," he said.
Rudiantara was among the officials who attended the meeting co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia and attended by Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines and New Zealand.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia on Thursday deported 143 suspects allegedly involved in a $450 million cyber fraud ring that targeted wealthy Chinese, triggering a diplomatic protest from Taiwan after more than a dozen of its citizens were sent to China.
The suspects – 125 Chinese and 18 Taiwanese citizens – were arrested on July 29 during raids in Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali, and deported at the request of authorities in China, Indonesian officials said.
The deportations drew protests from the Taiwanese capital Taipei and the Taiwan Economic and Trade Office (TETO), which serves as the island's diplomatic office in Jakarta.
"According to the 'presumption of innocence' and 'principle of repatriation of nationality,' Taiwanese suspects should be sent back to Taiwan for investigation and trial," TETO said in a statement released Thursday.
It said a majority of the suspects did not have passports, allowing officials in Beijing to claim that all of them were Chinese citizens.
Forcibly sending Taiwanese nationals to the Chinese mainland "completely ignores goodwill and appeals from our side," said Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, a cabinet-level administrative agency under the central government's executive branch.
Color-coded shirts
The deportees left from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on two flights, immigration office spokesman Agung Sampurno told BenarNews.
"One hundred and forty-three people, consisting of 125 Chinese and 18 Taiwanese, were able to return home with emergency documents issued by the Chinese government," Agung said.
The suspects were taken to the Chinese cities of Chengdu or Tianjin. As they boarded their flights out of Indonesia, they wore T-shirts with designated colors – orange, blue or pink – to indicate the locations of their arrests, Indonesian and Taiwanese officials said.
Apart from the 143 who were expelled, four Taiwanese nationals and a Malaysian were detained in Jakarta because their documents had not been completed, Agung said.
Home to more than 23 million people, Taiwan is the most populous state to not be a member of the United Nations. China claims sovereignty and considers it a breakaway province.
Most nations, including Indonesia, adhere to Beijing's strict One-China policy and do not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Official request from Beijing
BenarNews could not reach Arrmanatha Nasir, Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, to comment on Taiwan's protest.
Police said the 143 deportees were suspects in an international ring who allegedly extorted money from Chinese businessmen, by identifying themselves as law-enforcement officials who could help settle their legal cases after being paid a certain amount.
Investigators said they could not confirm the number of victims, but National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rikwanto earlier told BenarNews that the international syndicate netted about 6 trillion rupiahs (U.S. $450 million).
"The exact amount has not been known yet, as the legal process will be there (China)," he said, adding local authorities did not start a legal process in Jakarta because there were no Indonesian victims.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian officials said Friday that Google, the operator of YouTube, and Twitter had agreed to tighten monitoring by allowing selected users to flag material deemed as being linked to terrorism.
Indonesia, a Muslim-majority nation of 260 million people, is a prolific user of social media, including YouTube, which is owned by Google. Government officials in recent years have warned that terrorist organizations like Islamic State (IS) were using such online platforms to spread propaganda and recruit young Indonesians to its violent cause.
This week alone, Indonesian officials held separate meetings with executives from four of the globe's tech giants – Google, Twitter, Telegram and Facebook – to discuss ways in which these firms could help the Southeast Asian nation flag problematic content.
After the meeting with Google representatives in Jakarta on Friday, Rudiantara, Indonesia's minister of Communications and Information, told reporters that Silicon Valley firm and ministry "have agreed to implement a new system called 'trusted flagger'" during the next two to three months for YouTube only.
He issued the statement after meeting with Ann Lavin, Google's director for public policy and government affairs in Southeast Asia and Greater China, and other representatives of the search engine.
Lavin, who also attended a post-meeting news conference, said the flagger system was running in France, Germany, Britain and the United States.
"With the trusted flagger program, we're working even more closely with highly sensitive, well-trained users to flag the problematic content so we can move even faster," Lavin said.
Indonesia would be the first Southeast Asia nation to adopt the program allowing a panel of non-governmental organizations and other trusted groups to alert Google to questionable YouTube content.
The flagging system will be limited to YouTube and will not apply to Google's search engine, Rudiantara told Bloomberg news service.
Lavin said the screening process would be transparent and Google would issue a public report every six months revealing details of flagged data.
Rudiantara separately discussed the issue of "negative content" on Friday with Kathleen Reen, Twitter's Asia Pacific director for public policy and philanthropy.
The two shared ideas about countering content related to radicalism, terrorism, drug abuse and child pornography, officials said.
Semuel Pangerapan, director-general of the Communications Ministry, told reporters that the reporting system on Twitter would be similar to the Google flagger system.
"In addition to providing special access, Twitter will speed up the request of the Ministry of Communications and Information related to various types of negative contents, especially in handling the content of radicalism and terrorism," he said.
Flagged content would be removed within an hour to 24 hours, Semuel said.
Eradicating propaganda
Friday's announcements followed a similar one on Tuesday when the government agreed to unblock almost a dozen domain names used by the encrypted messaging service Telegram, after company founder Pavel Durov promised to eradicate terrorist propaganda and content.
Indonesia blocked 11 domain names belonging to Telegram last month after collecting evidence that many channels on the messaging app had been promoting extremist ideologies, including some linked to the extremist group IS.
On Wednesday, Rudiantara met Jeff Wu, Facebook's Asia Pacific Representative, and received assurances that the social-networking giant would include a new feature called "geoblocking" on its pages, allowing users to flag negative content, Semuel said.
He said negative content would include material considered to be pornographic, radical, terrorist, hateful speech as well as fake accounts and fake news.
"There is special content that will not be accessible in Indonesia with the existence of this geoblocking feature," Semuel said.
He said Facebook, which has an estimated 80 million users in Indonesia, would improve its procedure of handling complaints about negative content by hiring employees based in Jakarta.
Threatening to infringe
Such moves by the government to crackdown on content deemed as problematic online alarmed human rights activists, who warned that this threatened to infringe on free speech.
"The government has exceeded its authority," the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) said in a statement last month.
Indonesia is a major source of digital advertising revenue for Google and Facebook. Tax officials have been quoted in local reports as saying that the two online giants accounted for about 70 percent of the U.S. $830 million in estimated online revenue from the country in 2015.
Two months ago, Indonesia reached a tax settlement with Google for 2016 after senior tax officials said they planned to pursue the company for five years of back taxes, which could include a bill of more than $400 million for 2015 alone, Reuters reported.
Officials declined to disclose the figure in the settlement.
Marathon meetings
On Wednesday, Rudiantara met Jeff Wu, Facebook's Asia Pacific representative, and received assurances that the social-networking giant would include a new feature called "geoblocking" on its pages, allowing users to flag negative content, Semuel said.
He said negative content would include pornography, radicalism, terrorism, fake accounts, hoax news and hate speech.
"There is special content that will not be accessible in Indonesia with the existence of this geoblocking feature," Semuel said.
He said Facebook, which has an estimated 80 million users in Indonesia, would improve its procedure of handling complaints about negative content by hiring employees based in Jakarta.


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BENARNEWS- Young people are helping Indonesia's National Counterterrorism Agency battle violent extremism online by uploading content that embraces pluralism and peace.
About 60 "Cyberspace Peace Envoys" gathered in Malang, East Java recently to discuss anti-radicalism campaigns they have launched – and the need for such efforts.
"We found 17,000 messages containing hate speech everyday, while positive contents were only 1,500. It's really concerning," said M. Yasin Arief, a participant.
He and some friends create images and short stories featuring the words of figures such as former Indonesian President Andurrahman Wahid, South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement.
Their Instagram account Sabda Perubahan (The Sound of Change) has 154,000 followers.
Viki Maulana also attended a "Cyberspace Peace Envoy" training held by the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) in Malang from July 23-27.
He said his group was responsible for delivering messages on social media every week that strengthen national unity and humanity.
The messages can be memes, graphics, videos, comics or texts. But his preferred medium is cartoons.
"Visual arts like comics are the best, because it's easy for people to understand. We try not to be patronizing, because who are we, anyway?" he said.
The BNPT training is being held in seven Indonesian cities this year. Bloggers, programmers and visual artists are among those taking part.
Launching another training in West Sumatra this week, the nation's top counter-terror official said that no region was immune from the threat of violent extremism.
"There is no region, province, city or regency free from terrorism or radical ideology," BNPT chief Suhardi Alius said in Padang, the provincial capital, late Monday.
Sujatmiko, a BNPT official heading the counter-messaging efforts, said young people are needed to balance terrorist ideology online, which is spreading at an alarming rate.
"Why young people? Because the target of the brainwashing is young people," he said. "So young people should be armed, not only with knowledge but with ideology and religion."
"With these peace envoys we are creating a young generationg to help BNPT carry out counter-messaging in cyberspace with positive, peaceful content," he said.
In July, National Police Chief Tito Karnavian said police had arrested 336 terrorism suspects from 2015 through June 2017.
In June, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that 430 Indonesians had been deported from Turkey after trying to cross over into Syria during that same time period.
The flow of foreign nationals to an Islamic State "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria has slowed considerably as its territory has shrunk. But the seizure of the southern Philippine city of Marawi by Islamic State-linked militants in May has re-energized IS supporters in the region, analysts say.
Philippine government forces have been battling the gunmen ever since, with a death toll close to 600 people, most of them militants, according to officials.
The dead include foreign fighters from six countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Chechnya, Saudi Arabia and Yemen – one year after IS leaders urged followers who could not reach Syria to travel to the southern Philippines instead.
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BNPT chief Suhardi Alius addresses reporters after opening a counter-messaging training in Padang, West Sumatra, August 7, 2017. (M. Sulthan Azzam/BenarNews)


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police have arrested four men in the past two days suspected of helping people travel to join terrorist groups in Syria and the Philippines, officials said.
Three were arrested in Jambi, Sumatra on Thursday and one was arrested early Friday on the outskirts of Jakarta, according to police spokesman Martinus Sitompul.
The Jambi suspects – ranging in age from 38 to 45 years old and identified only by their initials – were arrested after police successfully prevented a planned departure to the southern Philippines through Tolitoli, Sulawesi, he said.
"As a development of that case, the officers made the arrests in Jambi," Martinus said.
Police nabbed a fourth man in front of his house in Tangerang, near Jakarta, as he was about to take his child to school early Friday morning.
While not linked to the Jambi suspects, this man was also involved in helping people travel to the Philippines and Syria "by collecting funds and provisions for those who want to go," Martinus said.
He did not specify how many people the suspects had assisted and whether they worked for any particular group.
But Jambi police chief Priyo Widyanto said the three suspects in his area were linked to the militant organization Jamaah Anshar Khilafah (JAK), according to the state-owned Antara news agency.
In May, the elite counterterrorism force Densus 88 also arrested two suspected militants linked to JAK in Jambi, according to police.
JAK has existed since 2014, or shortly after the so-called Islamic State (IS) was declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to Adhe Bhakti, executive director of the Center for Radicalism and Deradicalization Studies, an independent think-tank in Jakarta.
According to him, JAK is similar to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a group that police say masterminded the Jakarta bomb attack in January 2016 and a twin suicide bombing at Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, in May.
The United States government declared JAD a global terrorist group in January 2017.
"The two are basically the same ... their leader is the same, Aman Abdurrahman," Adhe said, referring to an imprisoned Muslim cleric.
The wandering 17
Meanwhile, officials announced that 17 Indonesians who had emigrated to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State had crossed into Iraq after escaping the group.
"They are in good condition, we keep in contact, and they are now in Erbil," Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Friday in Jakarta, referring to the city in northern Iraq.
The group – believed to be women and children from a single family – told reporters in June at a refugee camp in Ain Issa, Syria that they had emigrated from Jakarta two years earlier, but their dreams of living in an Islamic caliphate had been crushed by the brutal reality of life in Raqqa.
Asked when they would return to Indonesia, Retno replied, "I cannot talk about it yet. Let me work on it."
Associated Press quoted Omar Allouche, an official at Ain Issa camp, as saying that the 17 had been handed over to Indonesian representatives at a Syria-Iraq border crossing on August 8.
In the past three years, some 430 Indonesians have been deported from Turkey after trying to cross into Syria. The figure includes 193 individuals in 2015; 60 in 2016; and 177 in the first six months of 2017, Retno told reporters in June.
A year ago, an IS propaganda video urged IS supporters who could not travel to Syria to go to the southern Philippines instead.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law in the southern Mindanao region after IS-linked militants backed by foreign fighters seized Marawi city in May.
An estimated 200 militants are still holed up in Marawi, and the death toll after three months of fighting with Philippine military has topped 700, most of them enemy combatants, according to official death toll figures.


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BENARNEWS- Eighteen Indonesians who emigrated to the so-called Islamic State in Syria are in police custody after returning to their homeland on Saturday, police said.
The group reportedly includes a former high-ranking civil servant from Batam, an Indonesian island about 12 miles (18 km) from Singapore, who abandoned his post in August 2015 to go to Syria, as well as four other men, nine women and four children.
Police are questioning the individuals to determine to what degree they have been radicalized, and whether they joined IS, police spokesman Setyo Wasisto told BenarNews on Monday.
"Interrogation and interviews are still being carried by Densus 88 and BNPT," he said, referring to the counter-terrorism police and the National Counterterrorism Agency by its acronym.
The group, originally reported as 17 people, turned up at Ain Issa refugee camp near Raqqa in June, telling reporters they had been enticed to Syria two years earlier by the promise of a prosperous life in an Islamic State.
"The moment we entered ISIS territory, entered their country, we saw something far different than what they said on the Internet," Nur, a 19-year-old Indonesian woman, was quoted as telling AFP news agency at the time.
Gone to Syria
Police announced Saturday that a group of 18 IS "volunteers" had arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport near Jakarta that afternoon, via a post uploaded on a national police Instagram account.
"A team of Densus 88 antiterrorism police met them and took them to Police Mobile Brigade headaquarters inDepok, West Java, for questioning," it said.
The group included former senior civil servant Dwi Djoko Wiwoho and his daughter Nurshadrina Khairadhania, Indonesian media outlets TribunNews and Sindobatam.com reported.
When he went missing, Djoko was director of the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board's licensing office in the Riau Islands, which include Batam, the Straits Times reported. He left with his wife and three daughters, reports said at the time.
BNPT spokesman Nurfan Idris declined to provide information on the investigation into the 18 thus far.
"I'm sorry, I can't yet," he said.
In August 2016, Indonesian police said they had arrested six suspected IS-linked militants who were planning to launch a cross-border rocket attack on Singapore from Batam.
'We don't know for sure'
Ridlwan Habib, a terrorism expert at Indonesia University (UI), said the new arrivals would be screened to determine whether they pose a threat to society.
Indonesia's anti-terrorism laws do not allow for them to be indefinitely detained, but they can be subjected to a certain degree of scrutiny under immigration regulations, he said.
"The problem is, we don't know for sure how dangerous they are, or whether they no longer pose a problem," he said.
Taufik Andrie, a terrorism analyst at the Institute for International Peacebuilding in Jakarta, agreed that police should determine whether the new arrivals were capable of carrying out acts of terror in their homeland.
"The results of the examination will need to be explained clearly, whether all of them were involved with ISIS, or were they just deceived, or what their activities were there," he said, using another acronym for the terror group.
A Syria returnee attacked a police station in North Sumatra on the night of Idul Fitri in June, stabbing to death an officer and injuring another before he was killed, Taufik recalled.
"Their activities after repatriation should also be monitored. Don't let it happen again that a radicalized person carries out an act of terror like in Medan," he said.
Since 2015, about 430 Indonesians have been deported from Turkey after trying to cross into Syria. The figure includes 193 individuals in 2015; 60 in 2016; and 177 in the first six months of 2017, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters in June.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police said Tuesday that they foiled an Islamic State-linked terror plot to attack the Presidential Palace with chemical bombs, by arresting five suspects and seizing explosives and bomb-making material in raids near the capital Jakarta.
Investigators uncovered the plot while interrogating two of the suspects – a husband and wife – who revealed that they were planning to launch their attacks this month, possibly on Aug. 17 to coincide with the country's Independence Day, Yusri Yunus, a spokesman for West Java provincial police, told BenarNews.
Members of Densus 88, the police's counter-terrorist special forces squad, and officers with the province's police force found the chemicals while raiding a house in Bandung, the capital of West Java located about 151 km (94 miles) from Jakarta.
During the raid officers found a "ready-to-detonate chemical bomb" that was different from pressure-cooker bombs, which are often filled with buckshot pellets and nails, Yusri said.
"This bomb, upon explosion, can burn your skin and, if it is inhaled, can cause breathing problems and it can burn organs," Yusri said in a phone interview.
"They were planning to detonate a chemical bomb at the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters in Depok, targeting police officers working in the field, [and] also in the State Palace," Yusri said. Depok is a densely-populated city on the southern border of Jakarta.
Yusri said members of a police forensic laboratory team had to wear oxygen masks during the raid.
"The smell was quite strong," he said.
The five suspects were believed to be affiliated with the Bandung chapter of the militant group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).
In January, the U.S. State Department tagged JAD as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, describing it as a terror group that was formed in 2015 and composed of almost two dozen Indonesian extremist groups that had pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The designation prohibits U.S. citizens from engaging in transactions with JAD, and it freezes properties of people linked to the group.
In January 2016, four people were killed and 25 wounded during an attack by a suicide bomber and gunmen in central Jakarta. The attack, claimed by Islamic State, was attributed to JAD militants who were financially supported by an Indonesian militant based in Syria, the state department said.
The arrests of the five JAD suspects followed last week's arrests by Indonesian authorities of four men who, police said, were suspected of helping people travel to join terrorist groups in Syria and the southern Philippines.
Deported from Hong Kong
Yusri told BenarNews that the married couple in custody learned how to make bombs from a blog written by Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian militant fighting alongside Islamic State forces in Syria, and by communicating with IS militants through the encrypted messaging service Telegram.
"The interrogation revealed that the husband and wife had been deported from Hong Kong for teaching radical ideology," Yusri said.
"The information so far says that they were planning to act this month. It could be on Aug. 17 or in late August," he said, referring to the foiled plot against the presidential palace in Jakarta.
"We will do a deeper investigation and look for those who are linked to this group. Especially those who are directly involved in this plan of action," he said.
Among the five who were arrested were three men – ranging in age from 20 to 30, he said.
Police previously said they had obtained information through messages shared on social media that militants were planning to target officers who would be deployed during country's Independence Day celebrations coming up on Thursday.
"It has appeared several times in social media that they will launch an attack using bombs or if they do not have a bomb, they will use weapons or they will crash into the police office," police spokesman Setyo Wasisto was quoted as saying in the news portal detik.com.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian officials on Thursday defended extra-judicial killings of suspected drug dealers, a day after Amnesty International said they had tripled in the last year.
Police killed at least 60 drug suspects thus far in 2017, compared to 18 in 2016, the rights group said, expressing alarm that Indonesia "could be looking to emulate the murderous 'war on drugs' in neighboring Philippines."
Usman Hamid, director of Amnesty International Indonesia, called it a "shocking escalation in unlawful killings" in a statement issued Wednesday.
"While Indonesian authorities have a duty to respond to increasing rates of drug use in the country, shooting people on sight is never a solution,"he said.
"Not only is it unlawful, it will also do nothing to address the root causes that lead to drug use in the first place."
Authorities should remember that even people suspected of drug offenses "have a right to life that must be respected at all times," he said.
Sulistityandriatmoko, a spokesman for Indonesia's National Narcotics Agency (BNN), suggested that drug dealers commit grave crimes.
"Every day 40 to 50 people die as a result of drugs. So, are they not human rights abusers and mass killers?" he told BenarNews, citing research from Universitas Indonesia, one of Indonesia's top learning institutions.
He insisted police had followed proper procedures when handling drug dealers who resist arrest. What's more, he said, many of those suspects are armed with guns.
"BNN and police have seized dozens of commercial and homemade guns from drug dealers. The threat is not a joke. Police don't shoot them if they don't resist," he said.
'Be merciless'
Indonesian leaders including National Police Chief Tito Karnavian have called for tougher measures against drug-related crimes. He cited Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte 's war on drugs as an example.
More than 8,000 suspected drug offenders have been killed since July 2016 in the Philippines, including those slain by vigilantes, according to a BenarNews tally.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said at least 4.5 million Indonesians had become addicted or exposed to drugs and called for lethal force against foreign drug dealers who resist arrest.
"Be firm, especially to foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist arrest. Enough, just shoot them. Be merciless," he said in a July 21 speech in Jakarta.
His government has executed 18 convicted drug offenders amid howls of protest from foreign governments and rights groups.
Six people faced the firing squad on Jan. 18, 2015; eight on April 29, 2015; and four on July 29, 2016. Three were Indonesian; the rest were foreign nationals.
Of those killed by police in 2017, at least eight have been foreigners, Amnesty International said.
"It is deeply worrying that foreigners appear to be targeted by the authorities. This could point to a deliberate policy to scapegoat non-Indonesians," Usman said.
Self-defense?
Amnesty said most of the shootings of drug suspects took place near the capital city of Jakarta or on the island of Sumatra, "a known hub for drug trafficking."
It said six people had been killed in drug raids this month alone, including a 50-year-old man who allegedly tried to reach for a gun while being arrested in East Java on Aug. 12.
"Police claim that all the killings have been in self-defense or because suspects tried to flee the scene. But as far as Amnesty International is aware, authorities have not conducted independent investigations into any of these incidents," an AI statement said.
Sulistityandriatmoko, the BNN spokesman, said Indonesia is a target market for international drug syndicates, notably in China, Malaysia, Nigeria, and some European countries.
China directed 250 tonnes of methamphetamines to Indonesia in 2016, BNN director Budi Waseso told Reuters in a recent interview. He cited data from China's National Narcotics Control Commission. His agency sized only 3.4 tonnes, he said.
Henry Yosodiningrat, a legislator and chairman of National Anti-Drug Movement, a Jakarta-based NGO, dismissed the AI statement and urged authorities to continue their current approach.
"Don't just look at it from the point of view of human rights. Look at the side of the victims and the fate of the Indonesian nation," he said.
"Arrests have their procedures, from warning shots to crippling shots. In my opinion, you don't need toworry about this criticism. Go ahead," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Dozens of former terrorists mingled with hundreds of locals Thursday in the courtyard of Baitul Muttaqien Mosque in Tenggulun Village, East Java, to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of Indonesia's independence.
Lingkar Perdamaian (Peace Circle), a foundation founded in November 2016 by Ali Fauzi Manzi and other former convicts, hosted the celebration that included a flag-raising ceremony.
Participants included 37 former terrorists and combatants, many of whom had been members Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an al-Qaeda linked group blamed for the 2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202 people and injured hundreds more.
Yoyok Edi Sucahyo (alias Broyok) oversaw the ceremony. Once a favorite student of Abu Faris, a cleric from Tenggulun who is reportedly in Syria with the Islamic State (IS), Broyok admitted he was exposed to radicalism and terrorism.
"That's my past, now it's time to welcome the future," he told BenarNews.
Zulia Mahendra and Khoerul Mustain served as flag raisers. Mahendra is the youngest son of Amrozi, who was executed in 2008 for his role in the 2002 Bali bombing, while Khoerul is the oldest son of Nor Minda who was convicted for providing bomb materials and storing weapons and ammunition.
"I am touched, an unforgettable experience," Mahendra said after the ceremony.
Mahendra said he used to feel angry at police for executing his father and sought to learn how to build bombs. But after interacting with former terrorists, his desire for revenge waned.
Ali Fauzi – whose brothers Ali Imron, Ali Ghufron (alias Muklas) and Amrozi were the main perpetrators of the Bali bombing – read the Independence Proclamation as part of the ceremony.
Some of the former militants took an oath of loyalty to Indonesia as part of an effort to win trust from the local community prior to the flag-raising ceremony.
Ali Fauzi said he often receives threats from radical groups who want Indonesia to abandon its secular constitution and become an Islamic caliphate.
"Many are sending messages stating the pledge to Indonesia is fake," he said.
'The love of their homeland'
In the 1990s, JI leader Hambali – who is confined at Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba – sent Ali Fauzi to Mindanao, in the Philippines, to learn bomb making and to fight with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
But today, Ali Fauzi is totally reformed, he says.
The organization he founded, Lingkar Perdamaian, is dedicated to helping former terrorists like himself find peace and embrace pluralism. He encourages local businesses to employ them so they can support their families.
Lamongan Police Chief Juda Nusa Putra asked the community to accept the men who have changed their lives.
"They have shown and understood the love of their homeland. It's a great, successful ceremony," he said.
At Porong Prison in Sidoarjo, East Java, convict Umar Patek served as flag raiser at a similar ceremony.
"He was not forced, this is proof of Umar's love of Indonesia," prison chief Riyanto told BenarNews.
Umar Patek was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2012 for involvement in the Bali bombing as well as Christmas Eve attacks in 2000. Prior to his arrest in Abbotabad, Pakistan, in January 2011, he was listed as an international terrorist with the al-Qaeda network.
Sentence reductions
To mark Independence Day, the government reduced sentences of 92,816 inmates across the country, according to Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly.
Of those, 35 were involved in terrorism, including Abu Bakar Bashir, the proclaimed spiritual leader of JI who is imprisoned in Sindur Mount Prison, in Bogor, West Java.
"Bashir received a three-month remission. This is the third year he has received the remission for the sentence running to 2024," Yasonna told local media.
Aman Abdurrahman, the suspected mastermind of recent bombings in Jakarta, was due for release from Nusakambangan Prison in Central Java this Aug. 17, but was re-arrested instead.
Abdurrahman is thought to be the founder of IS-linked Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which carried out a terrorist attack that killed eight in central Jakarta in January 2016, and a twin suicide bombing near a bus station in East Jakarta in May 2017, according to police.
The United States government declared JAD a global terrorist group in January 2017.
"Aman was taken by Densus 88 on Sunday, before his letter of release was handed over. He was taken to Mobile Brigade Command Center at Kelapa Dua," Ibnu Chuldun, an official with the central Java provincial government, told local media.
A prison official said Aman was arrested on charges related to a terror attack in the Thamrin area in Jakarta in January 2016 where four civilians and four suspects were killed.


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BENARNEWS- An Indonesian government plan to lengthen the school day by 90 minutes while shortening the school week from six to five days has encountered resistance from Muslim groups who say it will harm after-school Islamic education.
Thousands of members of Indonesia's largest and most liberal Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), marched in the city of Solo, Central Java Thursday, chanting, "What will become of Indonesia without madrasas?"
"Full day school regulations mean the government is keeping children away from pesantren. This is very threatening because the morality of the next generation can decline," said Kyai Haji Mubarok, coordinator of the Solo area branch of NU.
There are about 400 registered madrassas (pesantren), and an estimated 4,000 informal religious schools in the Solo area, according to Muhammad Mahbub, a rally organizer who said that 25,000 people had attended. Police put the number at 10,000.
Mahbub and Mubarok called for the central government to revoke its so-called Strengthening Character Education Program, which is to be formalized via a presidential decree in September.
Some schools already started the new schedule when the academic year got under way in July. Now, instead of six and a half hours, Monday through Saturday, those schools are open eight hours, Monday through Friday.
The central government, acknowledging complaints about the change, has already backtracked and announced that it is optional.
"I need to tell you that five-day school policy or Full Day School is not compulsory," a statement posted on the Indonesian Cabinet Secretariat website on Aug. 10 quoted President Joko Widodo as saying.
The statement was made in response to protests from various parties over the new Ministry of Education and Culture regulation setting an eight-hour, five-day schedule, or full day school, it said.
Nahdlatul Ulama believes the policy impedes children from taking religious education in the afternoon, it noted.
Teacher workday
At a parliament hearing in June, Minister of Education and Culture Muhadjir Effendy said the new schedule was needed to boost teacher performance, although he did not say how the change would accomplish that.
"After decades of assessments, teachers performance is not satisfying in the field," Indonesian media outlet JawaPos quoted him as saying.
The government also wants to adjust the work hours of teachers to conform with other civil servants, he said.
Muhadjir declined to comment when contacted by BenarNews about Thursday's demonstration, except to say people should wait for the upcoming presidential decree.
Asked if the policy would still be announced despite the protests, Muhadjir said, "those who agree with it are keeping silent."
The Solo city government initially rejected the new schedule but is now considering implementing it in stages.
"This policy has been thoroughly studied and it is hoped it can improve the quality of education," said the city's deputy mayor, Achmad Purnomo.
Pros and cons
Siswanti, 45, the mother of a high school student in Klaten, Central Java, said her daughter has been too tired to do chores at home since the longer school day went into effect in July.
"Getting home from school, she doesn't want to do anything, not even study," Siswanti told BenarNews.
Siswanti said she was giving her daughter twice as much spending money due to the longer school day.
Ernawati, 40, who also attended the protest, said she didn't want her child to be in school until afternoon, and to miss out on religious studies with friends at the Quran learning center near their home.
"Interactions with family and neighbors will also be reduced," she said. "Won't it?"
But Wahyuni, 47, whose son attends high school in Klaten, said that he is getting less homework than before, and she no longer has to pay for after-school tutoring.
"Now he doesn't need extra tutoring that would keep him out late. Now at 4 p.m. he's already home," she said.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's would-be first female suicide bomber, who is due to give birth in the next week, was ordered to spend 7½ years in prison, a judge and her lawyer said Monday in what is believed to be the nation's harshest sentence against a woman terrorist.
The verdict at the East Jakarta Court against Dian Yulia Novi, 28, was expected this week but announced Friday without any journalists present because of her medical condition.
"The judges sped up the case because Dian is expected give birth," her lawyer, Kamsi, who like many Indonesians goes only by one name, told BenarNews on Monday. Dian's due date is Sept. 2.
She was found guilty of malicious conspiracy and attempted criminal acts of terrorism.
Her husband, Muhammad Nur Solikin, 26, with whom she allegedly plotted the attack, is standing trial on similar charges and a verdict is expected next month. Police previously referred to Solikin as Solihin.
Dian was arrested on Dec. 10, 2016, disrupting her plan to blow herself up outside Jakarta's State Palace during a changing of the guard ceremony the next day. Police found an unexploded pressure cooker bomb in the rented room where she was arrested in the West Java city of Bekasi, about an hour from Jakarta.
"I was surprised because the Friday agenda was actually for the defense," Kamsi said.
Judge Syafrudin Ainor Rafiek confirmed the verdict and sentencing.
"The bomb was already at the home, so only the action was not taken yet," Rafiek told BenarNews on Monday. "So the elements of conspiring and attempting to conduct a criminal act of terrorism are legally and convincingly fulfilled," he added.
The sentence is lower than the 10-year prison term sought by prosecutors.
In a separate trial at the same court, judges sentenced another woman, Tutin Sugiarti, to 3½ years in prison, less than the five years sought by prosecutors, for recruiting Dian and introducing her to Solikin. Kamsi said both women accepted the verdicts and sentences.
Solikin, who remained married to Tutin, also married Dian in October 2016, a month after they met. Neither were present at the wedding ceremony, but were represented by other people.
Fatwa
Solikin took on Dian as his second wife because a fatwa issued by the extremist group Islamic State (IS) required women to have permission of their fathers or husbands "to carry out any activities outside their home – even for worshipping, including by becoming a martyr," according to a report published earlier this year by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), a Jakarta think-tank.
The criminal indictment stated that the goal of the marriage was to allow Dian to blow herself up in a suicide attack, something she had planned while working as a migrant in Taiwan in 2015.
During TV interviews shortly after their arrests, Dian and Solikin admitted that they married so she could commit the terror act, adding they were being directed by someone they believed was Bahrun Naim, a leading Indonesian IS figure.
Harsh sentence
Adhe Bhakti, a terrorism analyst with the Center for the Study of Radicalism and Deradicalization, said Dian's sentence was the longest for any female terrorist in Indonesia.
"But it's proper seeing the role, the involvement, and the location being targeted," Adhe told BenarNews.
Previously, women had been sentenced for involvement in terrorism under the category of concealing information about terror acts or aiding in hiding perpetrators.
Munfiatun, the widow of Noordin Mohammad Top, a Malaysian extremist who was wanted for a series of bombings, including at the J.W. Marriot hotel in 2003, the Australian Embassy in 2004, and the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in 2009, was sentenced to three years for concealing the whereabouts of her husband.
Umi Delima (alias Jumiatun), the widow of Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen leader Santoso was sentenced in May to two years and three months in prison.
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Dian Yulia Novi sits next to her husband, Muhammad Nur Solikin, as they stand trial in an East Jakarta Courtroom, Aug. 23, 2017. (Arie Firdaus/BenarNews)
Solikin
Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year sentence for Solikin and eight years for a fourth suspect, Agus Supriadi.
The apparent leader of a small militant cell in Central Java's city of Solo, Solikin allegedly said he had received instructions from Bahrun to make the bomb. Bahrun has been identified as the mastermind of an IS-claimed terrorist attack in Jakarta in January 2016 that killed eight people, including four militants.
Police allege Agus rented a car to deliver the bomb made by Solikin from Solo to Jakarta. Special anti-terror squad Densus 88 arrested Solikin and Agus on Dec. 10, 2016, in East Jakarta.
Their verdicts are expected in mid-September.


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BENARNEWS- The Indonesian government's decision to allow one of the world's largest copper and gold mines to operate in Papua province through 2041 prompted local leaders to remind officials that their people never gave up land ownership and want a role in negotiations.
On Tuesday the U.S.-based firm Freeport McMoran announced it was giving up a majority of its ownership in Papua's Grasber mining complex in exchange for being allowed to operate there for up to 24 more years.
"We indigenous Papuans, especially from the Amungme and Kamoro tribe communities, have never released our ancestral lands to any party, neither to the government of Indonesia nor Freeport," John Gobay, a chairman of the Customary Council in Paniai, a district in Papua, told BenarNews on Tuesday. Two weeks ago, he met with Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in Jakarta, where Gobay expressed concerns about issues involving Freeport's operations at the Grasber complex.
He said neither the Amungme nor Komoro were seeking a share of the mine, but they should be valued as the owners of the mountain where Freeport has been operating for decades.
"We own the mountain and the land and the state has recognized it under the state 1945 Constitution and Law No. 21 of 2001 on Papua Special Autonomy," Gobay said.
Freeport-McMoran agreed to divest 41.64 percent of its Indonesian subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), at a fair market price to allow 51 percent ownership by Indonesian interests. Freeport's share of the company is 90.64 percent while the Indonesian government holds the other 9.36 percent.
"Reaching this understanding on the structure of the mutual agreement is significant and positive for all stakeholders. Important work remains on documenting this agreement and we are committed to completing the documentation as soon as possible during 2017," Freeport Chief Executive Richard C. Adkerson said Tuesday in a news release.
As part of the agreement, Freeport agreed to construct a smelter in Indonesia by 2022, thereby lifting a government threat to ban the company from exporting unrefined copper. The smelter is estimated to cost $2 billion and is a major concession for his company, Adkerson told the Wall Street Journal.
The government is not likely to have the financing to buy all of Freeport's share being put on the market, so the divestment could be spread across many potential buyers, analysts told the Journal.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignatius Jonan represented the Indonesian government and Adkerson represented Freeport at a Tuesday news conference in Jakarta where both sides announced the agreement.
Ignatius said Indonesia had agreed to extend Freeport's license, which ends in 2021, by 10 years to 2031, and another 10 years to 2041 if the company met the contract's requirements, including the smelter.
"The negotiation between the government and Freeport began in early 2017. But in the last three to four (days), the talks got intense and the two sides found an agreement," Ignatius said.
Adkerson said Freeport would honor the agreement.
"We appreciate the leadership of President Joko Widodo and we have been listening carefully to what the government wants and its objectives," he told the news conference.
Papuans demand role
But because Papuans own the land in and around the mining complex, they should have a role in the upcoming negotiations involving the purchase of company holdings, said Ruben Magay, a member of the Papuan Regional Legislative Council (DPRP).
"This is the time for the government to involve land owners in determining Freeport's investments," he told BenarNews on Tuesday. "There are three parties, the central government/local government, investors and indigenous people."
He said discussions regarding Freeport should be clear on what percentage is for investors, what percentage is for the government and how much is for the indigenous people.
"During Freeport's first work contract in 1967, until the second work contract in 1991, and this most recent one, the position of indigenous people has been unclear. The discussion has been between the central government and the investor, in this case, America," Magay said.
Gobay expressed hope that Jokowi would hold a special negotiation session attended by the government, Freeport and the representatives of Amungme and Komoro tribes.
"If not, we will report it to the United Nations through the indigenous representatives and we will contest Freeport and the central government for not complying with its own regulation," Gobay said.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian environmental activists condemned the arrest this week of one of their own for allegedly displaying a banner displaying communist symbols during an anti-mining protest in East Java province back in April.
Communism is outlawed in Indonesia, and activist Hari Budiawan (alias Budi Pego), has been in custody since his Sept. 4 arrest by the Banyuwangi District Attorney's office.
"Budi Pego has been accused of spreading communism by displaying a banner with a hammer-and-sickle printed on it during a protest against the local gold mine operation," fellow activist Agnes Deva told BenarNews. She is the coordinator of For Banyuwangi, an organization seeking environmental justice in the region.
She said Budi, 37, a well-known local anti-mining activist, was picked up on suspicion of being involved with the banned Indonesia Communist Party (PKI).
On Oct. 18, 1965, 62 members of Ansor, the youth wing of the largest Indonesian Muslim organization, were killed by PKI sympathizers in a Banyuwangi regency, leading the government to declare communism illegal. At least 500,000 Indonesians died during a nationwide anti-communist purge that targeted suspected PKI members in 1965 and 1966.
Police official M. Lufti said Budi was arrested for a crime against national security tied to a protest rally against the Tumpang Pitu gold mine on April 4.
The criminal statute states: "Those who publicly commit crimes verbally, written, or through other media, spread or develop communism, Marxism, Leninism in any attempt, will be sentenced to a maximum of 12 years in prison."
Budi's lawyer, Subagio, said police fabricated the complaint against his client, adding they could not present evidence of the banner other than a set of photographs of a banner with a hammer-and-sickle.
"Such arrests have been commonly practiced by law enforcers once there is a protest held against mining companies," said Subagio, who uses one name, according to Detik.com.  He plans to file a petition to suspend the charges.
Agnes said police did not have enough evidence to charge Budi, adding she questioned the banner's authenticity. She is confident it was not displayed by Budi and other protesters.
"We all clearly remember there were 11 banners made to be displayed during the protest and none of those had a hammer and sickle printed on them," she said.
"Local police and residents were also there. If the activists made such a banner displaying the hammer and sickle, they would have been aware. Police could have stopped the protest and arrested anyone joining in," she said.
On Thursday, Budi's house was quiet.
"His family told us they would no longer be available to meet the press for any kind of interview," Agnes said.
Targeting environmentalists
Herlambang P. Wiratraman, head of the legal and human rights studies at the University of Airlangga, said Budi's arrest was tied to his activism against mining companies, and had nothing to do with the communist party. He said the stigma against communism in Indonesia was used to stop activists' efforts against mining companies.
He said the protest erupted because a deal allowing the mining operation did not include enough input from the community, along with a lack of public information regarding the project including potential environmental damage.
Tekad Garuda, a land sovereignty advocacy group, said there had been five attempts to file criminal charges against 11 activists protesting against the mine.
Such arrests would run counter to the Environmental Protection and Management act established in 2009 that states, those who fight for their right to live in a healthy and proper environment cannot be charged with crimes or civil penalties.
In September 2015, environmental activist Salim Kancil was killed and his cousin assaulted while they protested against sand mining in East Java. About six months later, 35 suspects, including two local government officials, were charged with the assaults.


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BENARNEWS- The death of a 4-month-old turned away by a private hospital last week because her parents could not afford treatment highlights the need for the government to ensure that health-care facilities follow national regulations, Indonesia's child protection commission said Monday.
Baby girl Tiara Deborah Simanjorang could have been saved had the Mitra Keluarga Hospital Kalideres in West Jakarta obeyed the law and admitted her for specialized treatment, the commission (KPAI) determined.
Indonesian law stipulates that every patient is entitled to humane, fair, honest and non-discriminatory service, the KPAI said. The law also states that each hospital is obligated to provide facilities and services for poor and needy patients.
"So, there should be improvements in the form of periodic, ongoing controls and assurances that all hospitals implement the law," KPAI Chairman Susanto told BenarNews on Monday.
He expressed hope that Deborah's case would swing efforts to improve the nation's health system.
"This could be an entrance for overall improvement," he said.
Deborah's case shows that some health service providers have not fully considered humanitarian concerns, especially child protection, even though the law requires such coverage, Susanto said.
Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection, said the case reflected a growing critical lack of compassion in Indonesia's health-care system.
"Hospitals are no longer an institution to save people, but have turned into business-oriented and economic institutions," Arist told BenarNews.
Hospital demanded full payment
Deborah had suffered from respiratory distress on Sept. 3 and was taken to Mitra Keluarga Hospital, according to her parents, Henny Silalahi and Rudianto Simajorang.
The couple carried the government's BPJS-Health insurance card. But their baby died the same day after the hospital refused to treat her because they could not afford a payment of 11 million rupiah (U.S. $835), even though they had promised to pay 5 million rupiah ($379.19) in advance and the rest after treatment.
Hospital officials said the baby could not be treated at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) until receiving full payment, adding it did not accept BPJS-Health cards, according to the couple.
Many hospital administrators are not aware that all emergency treatment costs at all hospitals are covered by BPJS-Health, Jakarta Health Office chief Koesmedi Priharto said.
"For emergency services, even though the hospital has not cooperated with BPJS Health, BPJS still bears the (cost)," Koesmedi said, according to Kompas.com.
Activist Birgaldo Sinaga highlighted the girl's death on his Facebook page on Sept. 8, and is serving as a lawyer for her family.
Health officer, hospital official speak
On Monday, Koesmedi told reporters that his office had collected information from Mitra Keluarga Hospital. The hospital's director, Fransisca Dewi, was at the news conference.
"There is negligence from the hospital," Koesmedi said in a statement released by his office.
Koesmadi did not release details of the alleged negligence nor potential sanctions against the hospital, adding that his office will continue its investigation.
"We will also want to hear from the patient's side (Deborah's family)," Koesmedi said.
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Mitra Keluarga Kalideres Hospital in West Jakarta, Sept. 11, 2017. (Arie Firdaus/BenarNews)
Fransisca explained why the baby was not admitted to the PICU unit, despite instructions from her doctor.
"We recognize that equipment in special units such as PICU are expensive, so we need to think about the effectiveness and efficiency of the patient, especially since the treatment in a special unit takes a long time," she said, adding that the hospital would cooperate with BPJS.
Having lost their child, the couple said they did not wish to seek financial compensation.
"We only want the hospital to admit its mistake and apologize," lawyer Birgaldo said.
The apology, according to Henny, is to ensure that other hospitals do not make the same mistake.
"I am speaking out to prevent other children from having to experience the same as my child," Henny told reporters at the KPAI office.


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BENARNEWS- Two weeks before he fled the capital of the so-called Islamic State, Heru Kurnia lived the most traumatic moment of a bitterly disappointing two-year stay in Raqqa.
He saw kids kicking a human head in the street as if it were a football.
The testimony is part of a video released by the Indonesian government this week in which eight of 18 Indonesians who escaped the Islamic State (IS) in June recount their experiences.
"There's a clock tower roundabout there. The body was leaned against it, the head was being used as a toy by kids, kicked around. ... People were watching something, I went over. Dear God, a dead person treated like that," Heru told an interviewer in Erbil, Iraq, in August.
Adults standing nearby did not stop the children, he said.
Heru said the sight made him nauseous and "unbelievably scared."
"I told them at home, we have to be careful," he said, apparently referring to other members of the group living in Raqqa.
The Indonesians said they travelled voluntarily to Syria in 2015, attracted by the idea of living in an Islamic country and enticed by promises of financial support.
BenarNews could not independently verify their accounts or speak with members of the group, who were taken into police custody after they arrived in Jakarta on Aug. 12.
Indonesian law does not allow for people returning from IS territory to be arrested but the government has a weeks-long "socialization" program to help them re-enter Indonesian society.
BNPT and security officials did not immediately respond to BenarNews' request for comments about the video.
'They were like thugs'
The 12-minute video, titled "Stories of ISIS Deportees," was filmed in Iraq and Indonesia and uploaded to YouTube by a media unit of Indonesia's National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) on Sept. 11. ISIS is another acronym for the Islamic State.
Reality in Raqqa was far from the pious, prosperous caliphate depicted in IS propaganda online,  according to the video testimony.
"Almost two or three times a week there were fights, for various reasons: food, getting shoved; they were like thugs. We didn't interact very much with them because we were afraid. They were very rough people," Heru said of other residents in Raqqa.
Nineteen-year-old Nurshadrina Khaira Dhania recalled fights and filth in a dormitory where she stayed with other Muslim women.
"They say cleanliness is next to godliness, but oh God, the filth. And the fights – they even involved knives. So different than what they said and shared in the Internet. They liked to gossip and slander other Muslim women," she said.
She said the family had been seduced by empty promises, including that the cost of their  journey to Syria would be reimbursed.
"They made several promises, for example, if we as Muslims had big debts we couldn't pay, ISIS would pay them off. And as for the expense of the journey from Indonesia to Raqqa, they would reimburse it. They would pay all those costs," she recounted.
Her father, Dwi Djoko Wiwoho – reportedly a high-ranking civil servant in Batam when he left for Syria – said that instead of educational opportunties for his daughters in the so-called caliphate, the family found men eager to marry them off.
"They said there were free schools over there but when we arrived, they were told to get married," Djoko, 50, recalled.
"There were a lot of proposals, Daesh people even came after my youngest daughter asking when she would start menstruating, saying, let us know when she's menstruating," he said, using another name for IS.
IS officials were intolerant of different ways of thinking, he said.
"They were very quick to find someone blasphemous, if it didn't fit with their understanding, they were considered apostates, non-believers, ungodly," Djoko said.
But their conduct did not reflect the teachings of Islam, according to Difansa Rachmani, 31. "They were just after power, treasure and women," she said.
"Don't waste your life being lied to by ISIS. Soon ISIS will be destroyed, I'm sure, God willing, they will be destroyed, because this ISIS is not about enforcing God's word. Allah hates them."
'Engineered'
The whereabouts of the group – five men, nine women and four children – is unclear, but the end of the video shows them in tearful reunions with relatives.
Some Indonesians who saw the video expressed little sympathy for the family.
"Comfy, yeah, you burn your passport and your flag, you spit on your own country, you can still go back. They all should be monitored," Bima Sudiarto wrote in the comments section of the video.
"The 'short-fused' will not believe this video ... they will consider it engineered," wrote  another commenter, using a nickname for hardline Muslim groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
About 600 to 700 Indonesians have gone to Syria, according to Ridlwan Habib, a terrorism expert at Universitas Indonesia.
"Many of them were tempted by dreams of pots of gold in another country. Other than that, poor judgment and lack of information," he told BenarNews when asked why people left for Syria in the first place.
Al Chaidar, a terrorism researcher at Malikussaleh University in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, said BNPT's quarantining of Indonesians returning from Syria was important.
"There are those who have returned from Syria and then carried out acts of terrorism. That should be prevented from happening again," he said, calling the BNPT video a positive step towards helping other Indonesians resist IS propaganda.


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BENARNEWS- A Muslim boarding school in Indonesia strongly associated with Islamic State ideology is resisting community demands that it relocate due to its radical views.
Protesters showed up Monday at Pesantren Ibnu Mas'ud, located in mountains about 120 km (74 miles) south of Jakarta, to see whether it had complied with a Sept. 17 deadline by the local government to close its doors.
"A mob came to check if their demands had been met. They got information that the pesantren has gone on break, but is not being shut down," Bogor regency police chief Dicky Pastika said.
Tensions rose between the school and surrounding community after a staff member burned red-and-white bunting that had been hung near the school as part of community festivities for Aug. 17, Indonesia's national day.
Bogor police named school staff member Muhammad Supriyadi (alias Abu Yusuf), 17, as a suspect. "He confessed to being anti-Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, and angry at seeing flags or bunting that represent the country," Dicky told BenarNews.
According to Agus Purwoko, chairman of Al Uruwatul Usro Foundation that oversees the pesantren, the young man is mentally disturbed. He claimed the incident was blown out of proportion by "certain parties" – he did not say who – to hurt the school.
"We are not going to move," Agus told BenarNews, adding that the protesters were not from Sukajaya village, on the slopes of Salak Mountain in Bogor, a regency of West Java province.
"People from around here are fine. The protesters are not people from here, they've been brought in from outside," he said.
By Friday, the school had sent its 260 students home for at least two weeks, Agus said.
"They're afraid, so what can you do? Just send them home," he said.
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Agus Purwoko talks to reporters at Pesantren Ibnu Mas'ud, Sept. 17, 2017. (Arie Firdaus/BenarNews)
'Mention them all'
Twelve people from the school departed for Syria to fight for Islamic State (IS) between 2013 and 2016, according to a Reuters report earlier this month that based the tally on court documents and interviews.
They included a 12-year-old boy who became an IS fighter but was killed in an air strike on Sept. 1, 2016. His father, jailed militant Brekele (alias Syaiful Anam), had approved the trip, according to Reuters.
Eighteen other people involved with the school have been arrested and charged with links to IS activities in Indonesia.
The figures were confirmed to BenarNews by Adhe Bhakti, a terrorism analyst with the Center for the Study of Radicalism and Deradicalization.
Several IS-linked figures are associated with the school, he said. He cited Aman Abdurrahman, the jailed founder of IS-linked Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, which carried out a terrorist attack in central Jakarta in January 2016 that left eight dead and a twin suicide bombing in East Jakarta in May 2017 that killed three.
Several of Aman Abdurrahman's followers send their children to the school, Adhe said.
When BenarNews asked about these individuals and their ties to the school, Agus replied with a laugh and an irritated tone of voice. "Mention them all," he said.
He said he did not know Aman Abdurrahman, but a former colleague had been linked to the jailed militant.
"The one who made this school is me. Then I involved others, including Hari Budiman," said Agus. Ibnu Mas'ud was founded in 2007 in Depok, then moved to Bogor in 2011.
"But I fired Hari around 2008 because of a difference in views. I also warned him, 'don't talk with people like that,'" Agus said without going into detail.
Regarding students and teachers going to Syria to join IS, Agus said this phenomoneon did not automatically mean that the school itself supports IS.
He gave the example of the son of Brekele, Haft Saiful Rasul, who died in Syria last year.
"Is it possible that a student who was here for four months was inspired by us to go to Syria? No way!" said Agus. "There must have been some inputs from home."
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The son of a staff member at Pesantren Ibnu Mas'ud stands outside a classroom, Sept. 17, 2017. (Arie Firdaus/BenarNews)
Anxiety
When BenarNews visited Ibnu Mas'ud on Sept. 16, the eve of the community's deadline for its relocatation, anxiety was palpable. The school was empty except for its staff and some of their children.
Workers were busy installing surveillance cameras around the facility, assisted by a security guard – one of four the school has hired recently.
Agus sat in a chair between a badminton court and a mosque, talking with representatives of the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) in Jakarta, strategizing on how to react if a huge crowd of protesters inundated the school and chaos broke out.
Agus claimed that outsiders had already thrown rocks at the school.
After dawn prayers the next day, a staff member set buckets of water in a corner of the school courtyard, oblivious to the chill mountain air.
"Just in case some one sets fires later," the staff member said.
The feared protests did not take place until Monday, and they were peaceful.
LBH Jakarta Director Alghifari Aqsa said his organization would arrange a meeting with local officials to discuss the school, but he did not say when.
"But the way forward is clear. We encourage the pesantren to stay here," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian activists expressed concerns Monday about fake news after a mob attack injured five police officers in central Jakarta late on Sunday.
Police fired tear gas and arrested 22 people when rioting erupted as dozens of people were staging an art performance at the headquarters of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), officials said.
The activists were presenting a performance, "Asik Asik Aksi," an artistic expression of democracy in the form of music and poetry, on Sunday evening when a violent mob gathered outside the YLBHI and LBH offices. Organizers said the performance was meant to be a protest against police who stopped their seminar a day earlier.
The seminar was tied to political and social upheaval that occurred 52 years ago when bloody anti-communist purges swept Indonesia, according to event organizers. But police officials said it was stopped because organizers had not applied for a permit.
About 50 people, who were wearing paramilitary uniforms and claiming to be Laskar Merah Putih (Red and White Warriors), from demonstrated on Saturday, accusing the performance participants of being supporters of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
The incident was triggered by fake news that went viral on social media and described the event as an effort to revive PKI, according to YLBHI chairwoman Asfinawati.
"It is clear that a hoax or fake news was published, false propaganda went viral, calls to attack the LBH were conducted systematically," Asfinawati said in a joint statement with Jakarta LBH.
"It went viral that this was a PKI event ... but in fact, it was no such thing," the statement said.
Azriana, chairwoman of Komnas Perempuan (National Commission on Violence Against Women) condemned the violence and urged police officials to hold those accountable.
"Act firmly against those who mobilized the masses to commit destructive actions, who play off one against another in the community and politicize the situation that triggered tension," she told a news conference.
Accusations that participants were holding an event to support the long-disbanded PKI were baseless, Azriana said.
Metro Jaya Police Chief Idham Azis said the incident was under investigation.
"We do not know who mobilized the masses," he told reporters.
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About 50 people who claim to be members of Laskar Merah Putih protest outside the YLBHI building in Jakarta, Sept. 16, 2017. (Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata/BenarNews)
Communism outlawed
At least 500,000 Indonesians died during a nationwide anti-communist purge that targeted suspected PKI members in 1965 and 1966, leading the government to declare communism illegal in the country.
YLBHI said police watched Sunday's performances and acknowledged they were not related to PKI.
Muhamad Isnur, chairman of YLBHI's advocacy division, said about 130 people were in the building when the performance came to an end following disruptions from hundreds of protesters.
Participants were evacuated to the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) building about 2 kilometers (1 mile) from YLBHI office.
The activists thanked Jakarta police for protecting people trapped in the building.
Other cases of fake news
Indonesia has had its share of fake news stories, including stories aimed at President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and former Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian who was convicted and jailed over comments deemed insulting to Islam.
In a Facebook posting last week, Jokowi said he had been asked by international leaders about social media in Indonesia. He said he responded by saying it was cruel, suggesting that mainstream media could be controlled but not social media.
"This is the openness we are facing and we must all be ready," he said, warning that social media could also be used to spread slander, vilify and blame others and spread fake news.
On Sunday, The Straits Times reported that a police investigation confirmed the existence of a "fake news factory" against political targets in Indonesia.
The syndicate, known as Saracen, can charge millions of rupiah to publish and spread fake news or hate speech. The going rate for a quick-hit fake news story is 75 million rupiah (U.S. $5,650), the newspaper said.


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BENARNEWS- The husband of Indonesia's first would-be suicide bomber was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in prison for his role in masterminding a failed attempt to attack the Presidential Palace in Jakarta in December 2016.
A three-judge panel of the East Jakarta District Court handed the term to Islamic State-linked militant Muhammad Nur Solikin, 27, whose wife, would-be bomber Dian Yulia Novi, 28, was sentenced last month to 7½ years for the plot to carry out a suicide bombing during a changing-of-the-guard ceremony outside the State Palace. Her sentencing on Aug. 25 was about a week before her due date to give birth.
"I had not known that she was already pregnant [at the time of the planned attack]," Solikin told BenarNews before the hearing. Dian gave birth on Aug. 29, according to Indonesian media reports.
They were arrested along with militant Agus Supriyadi on Dec. 10, 2016, on the eve of their planned attack using a pressure-cooker bomb.
Also on Wednesday, Agus was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for helping rent a car to transport the pressure-cooker bomb from Solikin's place in Karang Anyar, Central Java province, to Jakarta.
Densus 88
Indonesia's special anti-terror squad Densus 88 arrested Solikin and Agus in East Jakarta after they surveyed the location of their planned attack. Earlier, the squad arrested Dian in her rented room in the West Java city of Bekasi, located about an hour from Jakarta, and found the pressure-cooker bomb.
The court issued a stiffer sentence to Solikin, the leader of a small IS cell in Central Java's city of Solo, than his wife because he served as the mastermind. His sentence was shorter than the 15 years sought by prosecutors.
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Defendant Agus Supriyadi enters the East Jakarta District Court to hear his sentence for his role in a failed suicide bombing, Sept. 20, 2017. (Arie Firdaus/BenarNews)
At the same hearing, Agus, who received a sentence shorter than the eight years sought by prosecutors, did not react as calmly as Solikin when responding to the three-judge panel's verdict at the East Jakarta District Court.
Leaving the courtroom with his fist in the air, Agus shouted "God is Great" after Chief Judge Syafrudin Ainor Rafiek asked for his response to the verdict.
"Like it or not, I have to accept this. But I just want to remind you that whoever do cruel things will receive God's revenge," Agus said.
Kamsi, the lawyer for both defendants, said his clients accepted the verdicts.
"He [Solikin] has also admitted his act," said Kamsi, who uses one name.
Verdict
The panel found both men guilty of violating Indonesia's anti-terror law.
In addition, Syafrudin said a conspiracy charge against Solikin was proven through Telegram message exchanges with Bahrun Naim, a leading Indonesian IS leader who was believed to be in Syria. The IS leader instructed Solikin to ensure the bomb was in Jakarta on Dec. 10, one day before the planned attack.
"So, it is true that there is an evil conspiracy, and the use of violence in the terror act committed by the defendant," Syafrudin said.
Fatwa
Solikin took on Dian as his second wife because a fatwa issued by IS required women to have permission of their fathers or husbands "to carry out any activities outside their home – even for worshipping, including by becoming a martyr," according to a report published earlier this year by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), a Jakarta think-tank.
The criminal indictment stated the goal of the marriage was to allow Dian to blow herself up in a suicide attack, something she had planned while working as a migrant in Taiwan in 2015.
A second woman, Tutin Sugiarti, was sentenced previously to 3½ years in prison, less than the five years sought by prosecutors, for recruiting Dian and introducing her to Solikin.


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BENARNEWS- An Indonesian militant linked to the Islamic State (IS) group smiled after a court in Jakarta sentenced him on Monday to life in prison for a church attack that killed a toddler and injured three other children last year.
Jo bin Muhammad Aceng Kurnia (alias Juhanda) threw a Molotov cocktail at Oikumene Church in Samarinda, capital city of East Kalimantan province, in November 2016, killing toddler Intan Olivia Banjarnahor, and injuring three other children.
Surung Simanjuntak, presiding judge of East Jakarta District Court, emphasized the defendant's lack of remorse and previous conviction.
"What's incriminating is that defendant (Juhanda) does not regret his action, and he was a former prisoner convicted for 'book-bombs' terror," the judge said Monday, referring to a terror attack in 2011 where explosive devices hidden in books were delivered through the mail to activists.
"The defendant deliberately attacked the church, although he knew there were many children in the churchyard," the judge said.
Juhanda, 32, was convicted in 2011 for terrorism offenses, but was paroled in July 2014, police said.
Police said Juhanda learned bomb-making techniques in Aceh from the group led by Dulmatin, a senior figure in the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and one of Southeast Asia's most-wanted terrorist until he was killed in a police raid in March 2010.
The judge ruled Juanda was guilty of violating Indonesia's anti-terror law.
"The explosion also damaged several motorbikes and caused casualties, one of them is the (death of) a 2½-year-old toddler, so the criminal act as indicted is fulfilled legally and convincingly," Simanjuntak said.
The sentence matches the prison term sought by prosecutors.
"We are satisfied," prosecutor Yuhana Nurhisyam said.
Juhanda's attorney, Tri Saupa Angkawijaya, said he would consider whether to appeal or accept the sentence.
"I'll think about it, we will discuss it with the team," he said.
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Four of the defendants in the Samarinda Church attack case – (from left) Rahmad, Ahmad Dani, Joko Sugito and Supriyadi – leave the East Jakarta District Court, Sept. 25, 2017. [Arie Firdaus/BenarNews]
Co-conspirators sentenced
In a separate trial, Simanjuntak also sentenced four co-conspirators who were arrested on the same day with Juhanda, not long after he attacked the church on Nov. 13, 2016.
The four men, Supriyadi, Ahmad Dani, Rahmad and Joko Sugito, together with Juhanda, had pledged to IS and discussed about their terror plan in a mosque in Samarinda, according to a document read in court.
The four men received prison terms ranging from six to seven years. The verdicts were lighter than what the prosecutors sought.
Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim-majority population, has been wracked by terror attacks targeting police and houses of worship since the 1970s, but none have caused major casualty figures.
But a bomb attack on Oct. 12, 2002, killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in the tourist district of Kuta on the island of Bali.
Last year, at least 160 people with alleged ties to IS were arrested in Indonesia, according to National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian.


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BENARNEWS- President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Thursday urged the Indonesian military to keep away from politics and remain loyal to the government, amid growing controversy over recent comments made by his top general.
Jokowi's remarks followed an uproar over a recent statement by Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo, the commander of Indonesia's armed forces (TNI), that a non-military organization was trying to import thousands of firearms, along with comments from the general about a communist threat to Indonesia.
"We cannot afford to be reckless, we must unite," Jokowi said in a speech celebrating the 72nd anniversary of TNI, in Cilegon city, in the western province of Banten, as Gatot sat near him on the stage. "The TNI with other institutions in the government and with all other components in the nation have to be in synergy, solid, united and work together."
The military, Jokowi said, "should always ensure its political neutrality in the current democratic era.
"To be loyal to the state is to be faithful to the legitimate government," he added.
In September, Gatot told retired military officers that a plan had been in place to import 5,000 firearms illegally "on behalf" of Jokowi.
The statement later was clarified by the president's top security minister, Coordinating Political, Security and Legal Affairs Minister Wiranto, who said the national intelligence service had ordered only 500 nonmilitary-type firearms from PT Pindad, the state-owned firearms manufacturer, for "training purposes."
Wiranto, a retired army general, used to head TNI.
Political analysts had described Gatot's statements as a sign of his eagerness to prepare for a potential presidential or vice presidential candidacy in 2019.
"Politics is the art of possibility," said Indria Samego, a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. "We can see that from some of [Gatot's] statements, especially during the Jakarta gubernatorial elections."
Gatot is expected to retire in March 2018, but his military background and his powerful allies in the Muslim community make him a viable candidate, observers said.
The four-star general also attended an event in September hosted by an Islamic political party, where he warned that communists had become a renewed threat for Indonesia.
He also ordered soldiers to watch a Suharto-era propaganda film depicting the assassination of six army generals during an attempted military coup in September 1965. That month, the Indonesian government gave free rein to soldiers and civilian militias to kill anyone they considered to be a member of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which has since been banned in the country.
More than 500,000 alleged communists were killed during the transition between Sukarno, Indonesia's first president, and Suharto, its second. The Indonesian military took powerful roles in politics for three decades until the end of Suharto's authoritarian rule in 1998.
Gatot took step back
Recently, Gatot tried to tone down criticisms over his statements by saying that, as the TNI commander, he could not detach himself from politics.
He echoed this during his speech in front of the president and about 6,000 soldiers attending Thursday's event.
"I affirm that the TNI politics is state politics," he said. "The TNI will always obey their commander-in-chief, which is the president of Indonesia who is legally elected according to the Constitution.
"Again, don't doubt the TNI loyalty," he said.
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Indonesian soldiers perform during a ceremony marking the 72nd Indonesian Armed Force Anniversary in Cilegon, Banten, Oct. 5, 2017.[Presidential Press Bureau]
Personal politics
Activists and analysts praised Jokowi's address and saw it as a good reminder for the military to shun politics.
"In my opinion, what Gatot has done is not state politics, but personal politics in the interest of increasing his popularity," Ray Rangkuti, executive director of the a Jakarta-based think-tank, Lingkar Madani, told BenarNews.
Rangkuti said Gatot's recent statements strayed far from his military duties.
"He attended a political party event, for example," Rangkuti said. "So what President Jokowi said at the TNI anniversary was correct, for TNI to be banned from politics."


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian investigators determined that no military or police officers were linked to the transfer of assets valued at U.S.$1.4 billion (18.8 trillion rupiah) from Standard Chartered bank's branch in Guernsey to Singapore, Jakarta's tax chief said.
The government instead found that 81 private citizens, mostly businessmen, were involved in the movement of funds, Ken Dwijugiasteadi, Indonesia's director-general of taxation, told reporters in Jakarta.
"Out of the 81 Indonesian citizens, none of them are from the military, police force, law enforcement agencies or government officials," Ken said this week, adding they are "purely business people."
He declined to identify the account holders.
The assets of Standard Chartered's Indonesian clients were moved in the second half of 2015 before Guernsey adopted the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), a global agreement on exchange of tax and financial information, at the start of 2016, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported the story.
The transfer came to light after authorities in Guernsey and Singapore opened an inquiry following an internal review of the transactions early last year. Employees raised questions about the timing of transactions and flagged disparities between the earnings of some customers and balances in their accounts.
Some of the Indonesian clients, according to the bank's staff in Guernsey, had a stated annual income of tens of thousands of dollars yet held tens of millions in their accounts, Bloomberg quoted investigators as saying.
It also quoted regulators in Guernsey as saying that some Indonesian account holders "with links to the military were considered politically exposed persons and should have been subject to a higher level of scrutiny."
The report did not identify the Indonesian military officials.
Ken, the Indonesian tax chief, said his office received the financial data on the suspicious transfers a few months ago from the Indonesian Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK). Investigators determined that the accounts were owned by private individuals and were mostly linked to each other through family and business ties.
Standard Chartered, which has 87,000 employees in 68 countries, is headquartered in London but does not conduct retail banking in Britain. Most of its profits come from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The transfer of funds, Bloomberg said, occurred before Standard Chartered closed its office in Guernsey last year.
Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands near the French coast, is a British dependency that has long been used as an offshore tax haven.
Despite the investigation of the transfers, regulators in Guernsey and Singapore have not suggested that bank employees colluded with Indonesian clients to evade taxes, reports said.
Ken declined to comment on whether the Indonesian account holders had suspicious records or ties to crimes or corruption, saying that his office only handled taxation issues.
"Even if there was anything criminal, it would have to be tax-related. Other than that is not within my authority," he said.


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BENARNEWS- In his inaugural speech Monday, new Jakarta Gov. Anies Rasyid Baswedan said it was time for "native" Indonesians to throw off "colonialism" in their own country.
The remarks seemed to evoke the economic and religious tensions that helped elect him, after a bruising election season in which the ethnic-Chinese, Christian incumbent was not only unseated but sent to jail for two years on charges of blasphemy against Islam.
"For people of Jakarta, colonialism is in full view," Anies said to applause from about 1,000 supporters at Jakarta City Hall late Monday.
"All of us natives have been oppressed, pushed aside. Now is the time for us to become the masters in the country of Indonesia."
It was not clear who the Yogyakarta-born Muslim meant by "natives." In the past, economic resentment has stoked violence against ethnic Chinese Indonesians, most recently in 1998 riots in which ethnic Chinese homes and shops were targeted in Jakarta and elsewhere. Hundreds of people died and dozens of women were raped.
Anies said he would fight for fair development of the capital city and not side with any group. "Management of land, water, bay and islands must not be based on individual interests," he said to another boisterous round of applause.
He laced his speech with proverbs from various regions of Indonesia such as, from the island of Madura in East Java, "The duck lays the eggs, but the hen sits on them."
'Not invited'
Anies and running mate Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno were sworn in by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at the state palace earlier Monday afternoon for five-year terms as governor and deputy governor of Jakarta.
Speaking to journalists afterward, Anies pledged to fulfill his campaign promises for those who voted for him and those who did not.
"We want Jakarta to belong to all, not to a group of people, not just to those who have money, but also to those who are seeking prosperity," he said.
The two then went to City Hall for a handover ceremony but outgoing Gov. Djarot Saiful Hidayat was not there. He had not been invited, Djarot told Detik.com.
Supporters of Anies and Sandiaga who packed the City Hall area since morning jostled to get close to the duo when they finally appeared Monday evening and to record their arrival on their electronic devices.
The area was packed with hundreds of floral wreaths and displays congratulating the pair and a banner that read "The Anies-Sandi victory is a symbol of the native Muslim awakening."
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Deputy Jakarta Gov. Sandiaga Uno gives a speech in front of supporters at Jakarta City Hall, Oct. 16, 2017. (Arie Firdaus/BenarNews)
National ambitions?
Anies won a second round vote on April 19, soundly defeating former governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot by 58 percent to 42 percent.
That followed a Feb. 15 first round won by Ahok-Djarot with 43 percent, followed by Anies-Sandi with 40 percent and a third pair of contestants, Agus Yudhoyono and Sylviana Murni, with 17 percent.
The campaign was marked by massive demonstrations by groups like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) demanding the arrest of Ahok on allegations of insulting Islam in a speech that the ethnic-Chinese, Christian governor gave in late September.
Video of the remarks went viral on social media, although the man who edited and uploaded the footage, Buni Yani, is himself on trial for allegedly spreading hate speech.
Ahok's blasphemy trial began in December 2016 and concluded in May with a conviction and two-year prison sentence, which Ahok and his lawyers ultimately declined to appeal.
Muradi, a political scientist from Padjadjaran University in Bandung, said issues of race and religion would continue to figure in Jakarta politics, and that Anies should be careful not to lose support of conservative Muslim groups if he has presidential aspirations.
"If Anies wants to be president or vice president, he will take good care of it. Whatever they ask will be granted," he told BenarNews.
He said it was too soon to predict whether Anies would follow in Jokowi's footsteps and use his new position as a springboard for the 2019 presidential election.
Jokowi's ascension to the presidency in 2014 cleared the way for his vice-governor, Ahok, to become governor, making him the highest-ranking ethnic Chinese politician in Indonesia.
"Let's see the first 100 days, whether he has national ambitions, or wants to prove himself in Jakarta," Muradi said.
Once a campaign adviser to Jokowi, Anies was supported in his bid for governor by Jokowi's presidential rival, Prabowo Subianto, and his Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra).
Many Jakartans were surprised to see the U.S.-educated former rector of liberal  Paramadina University campaigning in mosques and meeting with leaders of the FPI and other conservative groups that participated in the mass marches, one of which led to a riot.
While campaigning, Anies and Sandi promised to expand health and education benefits, create 200,000 jobs, support small entrepreneurs, halt a massive development project in the Jakarta Bay and close a hotel with a strip club and alleged prostitution business in North Jakarta.
Supporters outside City Hall said they hoped the new city leaders would follow through on their campaign promises.
"We're waiting," said one, who gave his name as Syarif.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian extremist groups have started taking donations via social media, making it tougher for officials to track terrorist financing, government officials confirmed Wednesday.
Funds intended for Islamic State-linked terror networks were formerly channeled through nonprofit organizations, but militant groups shifted their strategy by getting online donations from sympathizers, according to a White Paper report released by the Indonesian government on Wednesday.
"This is due to the development of fundraising trends for terrorist activities and terrorist organizations," the report said. "In 2013 to 2015, they used nonprofit organizations, now they turn into using social media."
The report was jointly prepared by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN).
Before its public release, Gen. Suhardi Alius, commander of the BNPT, told a news conference on Sept. 27 that the White Paper aimed to serve as a guide for government institutions on how to counter terrorism in the county.
"The objective is to review terrorist network mapping and risk mapping," Kiagus Ahmad Badarudin, the head of PPATK, also said at the conference.
In August last year, PPATK told an international security meeting in Bali that more than U.S. $763,000 was transferred from foreign countries to fund terrorism in Indonesia, between 2014 and 2015.
"They had many ways of sending the funds, for example, through our migrant workers in Malaysia, Singapore and Middle Eastern countries," PPATK Deputy Chairman Agus Santoso told reporters. "The money can be directed to Indonesia through various countries, such as Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and many more."
Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim-majority population, prepared the report in compliance with global efforts to prevent and eradicate money laundering and terror financing, officials said.
Donations via social media and dues from terror-cell members, as well as self-funding are the current preferred financing routes for militants, officials said.
"In this case, social media is used as a means of communication to call for donations," BNPT deputy commander Brig. Gen. Hamidin told BenarNews.
The new trend of financing via social media marks a major shift from criminal activity, such as motorcycle theft and robbery, which was common in 2013 to 2014 as sources for funding militancy, the report said.
It mapped the funding sources by tracing the pattern of financial transfers and banking transactions related to terror cases that occurred between 2014 and August 2017.
"The shift in the level of risk on remittances is caused by an increase in money coming from abroad aimed at terrorist activities," the report said.
It said remittance money from Malaysia, Australia and Hong Kong was used to buy weapons from militants in the southern Philippines. It did not provide details.
Indonesia has been wracked by terror attacks targeting police and houses of worship since the 1970s.
Few of them inflicted major casualties, but a bomb attack on Oct. 12, 2002, killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in the tourist district of Kuta on the island of Bali.
Last year, at least 160 people with alleged ties to Islamic State (IS) were arrested in Indonesia, according to National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian.
In August last year, security ministers from more than 20 countries, including Indonesia, Australia, the United States, England, India and China attended a counter-terrorism meeting in Bali.
The meeting took place amid widespread fears that militant groups were expanding in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines, where a small band of militants are still locked in fighting with government forces in the southern city of Marawi.
The battle, which erupted on May 23, has left more than 1,000 people dead, including 822 militants and 164 Philippine security forces.


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BENARNEWS- About 1,000 former terrorists have participated in Indonesia's deradicalization programs during the past three years, a senior security official said Thursday at a forum marking President Joko Widodo's third year in power.
Of that number, 266 people participated in the programs while in prison and 733 did so outside of prison, Minister Wiranto said, citing data from the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT).
"We are using a soft approach that is more humane, more intelligent, namely that they are re-educated and rehabilitated, and finally reintegrated into society," he said.
Participants receive coaching and mentoring in civics, religion, life skills and small business development, he said. The government has been using this "soft approach" more frequently than a "hard approach," which often requires the use of violence, Wiranto said.
He also said 174 suspected terrorists had been tried and convicted during Jokowi's presidency, while 33 others were on trial. In addition, 69 terror suspects were undergoing investigation; 64 had been freed and 48 died during police raids.
Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim-majority population, has received praise from other nations for curtailing terrorism on its soil with a combination hard-soft approach that is being mimicked abroad, said Wiranto, chief of the coordinating ministry for political, legal and security affairs.
"Although the majority of Indonesians are Muslim and terrorism always uses the mask of Islam, the ratio is very small and the damage from terrorist attacks is even smaller," he said.
Relatively small
Ridlwan Habib, a terrorism analyst at the University of Indonesia, agreed that the "soft approach" has become more prevalent in the last three years.
"No more shootings like before, such as terrorist suspects being shot during prayer," he told BenarNews. More terror suspects have been arrested and the number of suspects gunned down while allegedly resisting arrest has declined, he said.
"The scale of attacks is also relatively small, not big like before," Ridlwan said.
But not all terrorists who participate in deradicalization programs in prison change their ideology, he cautioned, explaining that those people might still be recruiting others behind bars.
About 50 convicted and imprisoned terrorists have not been deradicalized, and they have resisted or declined BNPT programs, he said, making it necessary for security forces to remain vigilant for so-called lone wolf attacks, which are hard to predict.
They "should be trained in global terrorism trends, character evaluation and types of attacks," he said, because all that has changed considerably in recent years.
Jakarta has suffered from extremist attacks. In January 2016, four militants exploded bombs and opened fire inside a shopping mall less than two miles from the presidential palace. The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed eight people, including the suspects.
More than a year later, two suspected suicide bombers killed three police officers outside a bus terminal in East Jakarta. The attack occurred as officers were overseeing a parade ahead of Ramadan on May 24, one day after IS-linked militants seized the southern Philippine city of Marawi, where an undetermined number of Indonesians joined Filipino fighters in pitched battles against Philippine government forces.
Philippine military officials on Thursday said the Marawi fighting appears to be nearing an end, as they claimed to have killed three pro-IS leaders in fighting that has killed more than 1,000 people, including 824 militants, 162 soldiers and at least 47 civilians.
IS members resist government programs
Taufik Andrie, director of the Institute for International Peacebuilding in Jakarta, told BenarNews that while the deradicalization figure seems large, "there are former terrorism convicts who have not been touched by the program."
He cited individuals released from jail between 2005 and 2011, before the BNPT was formed.
Taufik said 266 convicts affiliated with extremist groups are behind bars. Many of them reject government intervention programs, he said.
"If the ultimate goal is a person's change of mindset from radical to moderate, the number of people who have reached that point is statistically small and limited," he said.
Still, the government's soft approach is quite good, he said.
"Humanitarian-based approaches and economic empowerment are beginning to look successful, although they have not reached all potential beneficiaries," he said.
And while suspects still die during arrest attempts, the number is decreasing, he said.
"Handling armed terrorist groups is complex, because persuasion alone is not enough. It needs a measured approach," he said. "Statistically, it's getting better. ... The use of violence that violates human rights is beginning to decrease."


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's military chief was initially stopped from boarding a flight to the United States over the weekend due to "security protocols," but he decided to cancel the trip after the issue was quickly resolved, U.S. homeland security officials said Monday.
American officials gave no further explanation about the incident at Sukarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta that caused a diplomatic spat, but U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and embassy officials apologized for it on Monday.
Still, Indonesian officials pressed Washington to explain why Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo was denied permission to travel to the United States despite an invitation from the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Monday, Indonesian officials said that an apology from the U.S. embassy to Gatot did not go far enough.
Gatot was preparing to fly to Washington via Dubai on Saturday to attend a two-day conference on countering violent extremism, as the guest of Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., America's highest-ranking military officer.
In a statement emailed to BenarNews by a spokesman, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the embassy had informed Gatot's office that "due to U.S. security protocols when he arrived at the airport he may be delayed in his ability to board his flight."
"The issue with his boarding approval was quickly resolved," the statement said. "The passenger was rebooked on another flight and cleared to board. He chose not to travel."
The statement did not elaborate on the term "security protocols," but it emphasized Washington's dedication "to ensuring that all persons traveling to the United States are screened and properly vetted."
"We regret that the passenger and his wife were inconvenienced," it said. "We are committed to our Strategic Partnership with Indonesia as a way to deliver security and prosperity to both our nations and continue working to further deepen that relationship."
'We apologize'
Gatot and his wife were set to board an Emirates flight from Jakarta, when his delegation received a notice from U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials denying them entry to the United States, despite having proper visas, according to Maj. Gen. Wuryanto, the spokesman for the Indonesian armed forces (TNI).
"We are still waiting [for an explanation]," he told BenarNews, explaining that the general did not encounter any issues during his previous U.S. visit in February last year.
The conference, organized by the Hudson Institute, a conservative think-tank, started on Monday in Washington. It featured former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former CIA Director David Petraeus, a former Army general, as keynote speakers.
On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta said that U.S. Ambassador Joseph Donovan had apologized to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi "for any inconvenience to General Gatot."
Retno summoned Erin Elizabeth McKee, the deputy U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, on Monday.
During the meeting, McKee apologized for the "inconvenience that this incident caused" but did not explain what precipitated the denial of entry, Marsudi told reporters.
"General Gatot is able to travel, there are no restrictions and the United States welcomes his participation in the conference that General Dunford invited him to and there are absolutely no issues with his ability to travel to the United States," McKee told reporters after meeting Marsudi at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry office.
"We apologize," she said. "I also apologized again to Minister Retno."
During an ASEAN-Plus meeting of defense ministers in Manila on Monday, Mattis, the American defense chief, apologized to his Indonesian counterpart over the incident involving Gen. Gatot and guaranteed there would be no recurrence of it, the Jakarta Post reported.
Humiliation
Gatot's airport experience was humiliating for Indonesia, according to Indonesian experts on foreign affairs.
"It's embarrassing. It ruins the ethic of bilateral relations," Teuku Rezasyah, an international relations analyst from the University of Padjadjaran in West Java, told BenarNews.
It was unethical, he said, considering that the information about the general's denial of entry was delivered by airline representatives, not U.S. authorities.
"If there is a good intention, it should have been conveyed directly through government institutions," he said. "From Pentagon to TNI headquarters, for instance."
Hikamahanto Juwana, an international relations expert from the University of Indonesia, questioned how a government official could be denied entry despite an official invitation from a top military officer.
"The Indonesian government must protest strongly against this incident, but the public must be patient and give the government the opportunity to take steps to safeguard the state honor," Juwana said.
Meanwhile, Fahri Hamzah, the deputy speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) called on the government to demand that Washington reveal the reasons for Nurmantyo's entry denial, saying the country should not be satisfied with an apology from the ambassador.
"The foreign minister should conduct a further investigation because it is impossible for this mistake to be solely technical and administrative," Fahri told CNN Indonesia.
"I suspect there is a certain reason [for] refusing the arrival of Gatot," Fahri said, without elaborating.
Another lawmaker, Abdul Kharis Almasyhari, told BenarNews that Indonesia should demand that the reason be made transparent.
"If he cannot enter, why was he invited?" he said. "That's totally unethical."


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian counter-terrorist police launched simultaneous raids in four provinces on Tuesday and arrested nine suspects, including several alleged members of an extremist group that was behind recent attacks in the country, authorities said.
Among the suspects picked up by elite anti-terror squad Densus 88 was Bakri Baroncong, an alleged bomb maker who was believed to have made explosives for a foiled plot to kill the governor of South Sulawesi province in 2012, police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rikwanto said.
"We had a simultaneous operation and successfully captured nine terror suspects," Rikwanto told BenarNews.
Five of the suspects were captured in the Sumatra province of Riau, two in Central Java, and one each in South Sulawesi and East Java provinces, he said. Rikwanto said investigators were still trying to determine whether the nine belonged to the same militant network in Indonesia.
"An investigation is underway," he said.
Rikwanto said the police operations began early morning Tuesday with the arrest of a 42-year-old suspected militant in East Tangkerang, a village in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau.
The suspect planned to attack a police station in the province, Rikwanto said.
An hour later, police arrested two men in a housing complex, including a man named Wawan, believed to be a local leader of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an extremist group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
JAD is led by imprisoned Indonesian Muslim cleric Aman Abdurrahman, who is classified by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
JAD has claimed responsibility for several terror attacks in the country, including shootings and bombings in Jakarta that killed eight people in January 2016, and explosions that killed five people at a bus terminal in East Jakarta in May this year.
Guntur Aryo Tejo, Riau provincial police spokesman, said all the five men arrested in Riau were members of JAD who planned to attack police stations.
He said police seized the suspects' cell phones, bank account statements and religious books during the raids, which also caught local residents by surprise.
"I have never thought that terror suspects would be living in a very safe and comfortable housing like this," Amin, a resident of Pandau Permai Housing, told BenarNews.
Arrests in other areas
On the same day, Densus 88 also arrested Baroncong, who had eluded capture for five years, in East Luwu, a district in South Sulawesi province.
"He was arrested for being involved in the [attempted] bombing of the South Sulawesi Governor in 2012. At that time he made a number of bombs," Rikwanto said, explaining that the suspect stored six bombs.
South Sulawesi Gov. Syahrul Yasin Limpo was on a stage on Nov. 11, 2012 during a celebration in the provincial capital Makassar, when a suspected terrorist threw a homemade bomb, which failed to explode, police said. A student was arrested as a suspect.
In Central Java province, police arrested two men, including one who allegedly provided funds for Hendro Fernando militant group, which has links with the Central Sulawesi-based Eastern Indonesia Mujahedeen group (MIT), Rikwanto said.
He said the ninth suspect, who was arrested in East Java, "helped process" the marriage of Dian Yulia Novi and Muhammad Nur Solikin, a couple convicted in September for a foiled plot to attack the State Palace in Jakarta in December 2016.
Dian, the nation's first female would-be suicide bomber, was sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison, while her husband, Solikin, received an 11-year prison term.
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Demonstrators display a giant banner with Arabic slogans in front of the Indonesian parliament in Jakarta, during a rally to protest a new law that gives officials sweeping powers to ban groups deemed as threats to national unity, Oct. 24, 2017. [Rina Chadijah/BenarNews]
Controversial regulation endorsed
Meanwhile on Tuesday, about 1,000 members of conservative Muslim groups protested outside the parliament after lawmakers endorsed a controversial presidential decree that allows the government to ban organizations deemed as threats to national unity.
The presidential decree, signed in July by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, has been used to ban Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the domestic chapter of a hardline international group that campaigns for an Islamic caliphate in the world's largest majority-Muslim country.
"This opens the door widely for repressive regime," Ismail Yusanto, former HTI spokesman, told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- About a fourth of Indonesia's college students support fighting for the implementation of an Islamic caliphate system in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, a survey released Tuesday showed.
The Jakarta-based Alvara Research Center and Mata Air Foundation polled 1,800 students from 25 leading universities in Indonesia and 2,400 students from high schools across Java and other islands to determine if early detection of radicalism among campus populations could predict Indonesia's future.
"We asked about the state ideology with a statement saying, 'The Islamic state is worth fighting for to implement more consistent Islamic teachings' and 23.5 percent of college students agree [with the statement], and 16.3 percent of high school students agree," Alvara CEO Hasanuddin Ali told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.
"Intolerance has penetrated students' life in schools and later grows stronger in campus life through religious studies," Hasanuddin said. "If we can start handling it on campus, radicalism will be so much easier to be erradicated among professionals."
Hasanuddin said the survey, conducted on Sept. 1 to Oct. 5, also revealed that 17.8 percent of university students and 18.3 percent of high school students preferred the concept of a caliphate ruled by a Muslim spiritual leader over Indonesia's current republic.
The survey found that 18.6 percent of university students and 16.8 percent of high school students preferred Islam over the official Pancasila foundation of five principles as the state ideology. The university and high school students also preferred sharia law at the local level, by 21.9 percent and 19.6 percent, respectively.
Pancasila, the five-pillared official philosophy that underlies Indonesia's foundation, espouses unity in diversity along with democracy and social justice.
'Red-alert'
Nusron Wahid, a prominent member of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said he was shocked by the survey's results.
"One person committing a suicide bombing in the name of religion has torn many lives apart. It's worse what those in a 20-percent group can do," Nusron told reporters. "Indonesia is facing red-alert status in ideology."
"I always believed one who can control universities will control the public," he said. "If the idea of a caliphate has its own space in the universities, it will grow bigger in the next few years."
He said he hoped that the survey would motivate the government to revive religious-affairs classes in schools and universities.
"And it's not just a huge homework assignment for the Ministry of Religious Affairs, but also for Indonesia as a nation. We need to revive the curriculum of religious affairs, because it should be adjusted with the current situation," he said.
Nusron also called on NU and Muhammadiyah, another of the country's large Islamic organizations, to step up.
"Moderate Muslim organizations like NU and Muhammadiyah need to change their style of dakwah [spreading the good messages of Islam] for millenials to understand. [The message] should be light, short yet strong," he said.
Increasing intolerance
Akhmad Muqowam, secretary-general of the Diponegoro University Alumni Association, said the survey revealed an increase in intolerance among students.
A similar 2009 survey, he said, showed that the concept of a caliphate was acceptable to less than 12 percent of respondents.
"It should be our main concern," Akhmad said, adding most students fail to understand the difference between religious interest and humanity.
"They consider going to Afghanistan and Pakistan [for jihad] is an advanced step in implementing Islam as a whole. Most of the students are too inexperienced in differentiating the concept of state and religious interest," he said.
Didin Wahidin, director of student affairs at the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, said the survey results would be used to guide his office.
"We allow universities to stage extracurricular activities to help implement the values of the state ideology, Pancasila. Meanwhile, our education in religious affairs has been focusing on mere basic teaching of Islam," he said. "The nonexistence of moderate Islamic student organizations has allowed other groups to present alien ideologies."
"We have set standards in education, research and social responsibility, but not in student affairs. It means, legally, there is no sanction to be given to any university that fails to stage student activities," Didin said.
The survey also found that 29.5 percent of university students and 29.7 percent of high school students did not want non-Muslim leaders to govern in Indonesia. The survey had a margin of error of 2.35 percent for college students and 2 percent for the high school students.
The survey was published two weeks after the new governor of Jakarta, Anies Rasyid Baswedan, took office after being elected in a bitter and tense race that divided Indonesians along religious and racial lines. In April, Anies defeated Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, who soon after was sent to prison on blasphemy charges for allegedly making public comments that were perceived as anti-Muslim.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia on Tuesday amended its rules through a court decision that opens the door for the lawful practice of faiths that had not officially been recognized in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.
The ruling by the Constitutional Court allows followers of religions outside the country's six official ones to list their faiths on their national ID cards.
"This decision will be an important milestone for the elimination of discrimination based on religion and belief," said Bonar Tigor Naipospos from the human rights group Setara Institute.
A 2013 Indonesian law has long required citizens to declare themselves as Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist or Confucian in order for them to gain state benefits, including access to education, the justice system and marriage registration.
In its unanimous ruling, the court said that the four-year-old law and a similar 2006 law were not legally binding because they contradicted the Constitution by not accommodating followers of faiths outside the recognized state religions.
"It's a relief because it has been a long journey. It is not easy to face discrimination," Dewi Kanti, a follower of Sunda Wiwitan, a religious system practiced by Sundanese in West Java province, told BenarNews.
The next challenge, Kanti said, would be to use this ruling to eliminate regulations deemed unconstitutional because of religious tests.
"There should be no more term 'recognized' or 'unrecognized religions,'" she said.
About 90 percent of Indonesia's more than 260 million people are identified as Muslim, but the country also has small but influential Christian, Hindu and Buddhist populations.
In 2016, four people representing indigenous faiths petitioned the court to review the nation's Civil Administration Law over concerns of discrimination against believers of non-regulated religions.
Plaintiff Nggay Mehang Tana, a member of the faith-based Marapu at Sumba Island in eastern Indonesia, said about 34,000 members of his community had to choose one of the six listed religions that were against their beliefs before being granted ID cards.
Another plaintiff, Carlim, a follower of Sapto Darmo inspired by Kejawen, a Javanese spiritual teaching, said he has suffered the consequences of having the religion column in his ID empty.
He said burial for a deceased family member was rejected at public cemeteries because of the missing column.
Ruling is binding
Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said the government would implement the ruling, describing it as final and binding.
"The ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Ministry of Education to obtain data on followers of faiths in Indonesia," he said in a statement.
Tjahjo said that the court's ruling would help improve the civil administration system.
"It will be adopted immediately by 514 regencies and cities," said Tjahjo, adding that his ministry would propose a revision to the civil law to accommodate the ruling.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian security forces have been ordered to peacefully persuade a group of armed separatists to leave two villages near a giant U.S.-owned mine in eastern Papua province, but would abandon "a soft approach" if necessary, officials warned Friday.
Tensions escalated on Thursday when two dozen men, including 10 with firearms, occupied the villages of Banti and Kimbeli in Mimika regency, preventing 1,300 people from leaving, police said.
About 300 of the village residents are migrant workers from Indonesia's Sulawesi island, officials said.
The villages sit near a mine owned by Freeport-McMoRan, where there have been a string of recent shootings, including one in late October that left a policeman dead and wounded at least six.
"We already asked police and the TNI [the military] to take persuasive action to overcome it," Wiranto, the government's security minister, told journalists in Jakarta on Friday.
"We will use persuasive ways first, we warn them not to act like that. We will use law enforcement," Wiranto said, explaining that if the approach to curtail the violence failed, security forces "will take action." He did not elaborate.
"Our primary priority is to rescue people taken hostage," Indonesian media outlet Tempo quoted him as saying Thursday. "If the soft approach cannot be carried out, we will take the next step."
There were conflicting reports on Friday as both sides blamed each other after police claimed initially that the separatists had taken hostages.
The military restricts journalists from entering Papua without a special permit, making it difficult to independently verify reports of shootings and violence in the province.
Last month, a state of emergency was declared and hundreds of soldiers were deployed in the remote region after violence flared, officials said.
Freeport, which has been in Indonesia since the 1960s, operates the Grasberg mine complex in Papua. It is one of the world's largest gold and copper mines.
In 2014, the company posted earnings of almost U.S. $2 billion in copper sales from its Indonesian operations and U.S. $1.4 billion in sales of gold mined in the country.
Separatist group denies military's claims
Confusion arose on Friday after military chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo issued a statement saying the villagers had been taken hostage, according to the Associated Press.
But Wiranto, who is also the country's minister for political and legal affairs, said in his statement Friday that the armed group apparently did not take hostages, but merely "isolated" the area.
The villagers, who mostly pan for gold in Kalu Kabur, a river stream where Freeport's mine tailings are dumped, were merely banned from leaving their villages, Wiranto said.
A member of the Papua National Liberation Army, an armed group that goes by the Indonesian acronym TPN, also disputed police claims that it had taken hostages.
"It's not true, it's only the provocation of Indonesian military and police with the aim of damaging our image," Hendrik Wanmang, who described himself as a TPN commander told AP. "People there are safe, both natives and non-natives are free to do activities as usual."
Villagers can't go to an area defined by the separatist group as a battlefield because it would be dangerous, but are otherwise allowed to move around as they please, Wanmang said.
In a separate interview with Reuters news service, Wanmang said that none of his group's more than 2,000 fighters was deployed in the villages near the mine.
"We cannot mingle with the community," Wanmang said in a phone interview. "That would endanger them." He denied police allegations that the separatists had raped and tortured civilians.
But he also warned that Freeport employees and security personnel could stay in the area at their own risk.
"We are at war against the National Police, Indonesian military and Freeport," he said.
A low-level secessionist movement has simmered for decades in Papua and West Papua, Indonesia's easternmost provinces, which are among its poorest and least developed.
Migrants from other parts of Indonesia now make up about half the population and dominate commercial activity, according to reports.
The region officially became part of Indonesian in 1969 following a U.N. mandated "Act of Free Choice" process that some indigenous Papuans view as flawed.
Economic motive might have led to violence
National police spokesman Setyo Wasisto suggested that an economic motive could be driving a surge of violence in the area because, he said, the armed group aimed to control its source of funds.
"So they want to maintain it. This is from the economic point of view, others we do not know yet," Wasisto told reporters.
He said the leaders of the armed group had not shown they were willing to open a dialogue with the government.
National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said members of the armed group made their livelihood by panning for gold at Kali Kabur.
"This group is about 20 or 25 people, carrying five to 10 weapons," Karnavian said, referring to the separatists, who were armed with guns, as well as bows and arrows.
Inspector-General Boy Rafli Amar, the Papua police chief, said about 200 police officers had been deployed about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the mining complex.

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This photograph, grabbed from a video sent to BenarNews on Nov. 10, shows armed separatists training in the forest of Mimika Regency, Papua. [Victor Mambor/BenarNews]

On Oct. 21, TPN released two videos claiming responsibility for the October shootings near Freeport, saying it launched the attacks to protest repression suffered by Papuans and pressure the mining company to leave Indonesia.
TPN also issued a statement vowing that the separatist group would carry out armed assaults in the Freeport area.
In one of the videos seen by BenarNews, Hengky Beanal, who identified himself as a West Papuan TPN member, denied police allegations that the militants were involved in sexual attacks and robberies.
"Media must go to the field before drawing a conclusion," Beanal said.
Because of the spike in violence, the mining company started using armored cars and helicopters to transport workers, Freeport Indonesia spokesman Riza Pratama acknowledged.
"Sorry, I cannot comment on security. So far (the shooting incident) has no impact on production," Pratama said.


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BENARNEWS- Two men who were shot dead in Indonesia's West Sumatra province after allegedly attacking police with bows and arrows belonged to a militant group affiliated with the so-called Islamic State (IS), authorities said Monday.
The pair was suspected of burning down the main building of a police station in Dharmasraya regency on Sunday, National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian told reporters in Ambon, the capital the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku.
"Based on our current investigation, we confirm that they were involved in a terrorist network, especially the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, which supports ISIS," Karnavian said, referring to IS by another acronym and JAD, an Indonesian militant group.
There were no casualties from the fire because the offices were closed at the time, police said. Dharmasraya is about 1,160 km (725 miles) northwest of the nation's capital, Jakarta.
Firefighters called the police after they saw the two suspects near the building as it was engulfed by flames, West Sumatra's police chief, Fakhrizal, told reporters on Sunday.
But the two suspects, who were dressed in black, shouted "jihad" as they attacked officers with bows and arrows after they were asked to surrender, Fakhrizal said.
Officers were not hit, he said.
"Police fired warning shots into the air. But the two perpetrators kept up the fight, so police shot them dead," Fakhrizal said. "In the pocket of one of the suspects, we found letters on jihadism, so we were able to confirm that they were terrorists."
Police recovered eight arrows, two bayonets a small knife and a note with an extremist message from the dead men, he said.
In January this year, the U.S. Department of State designated Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The designation prohibits U.S. citizens from engaging in financial transactions with the group.
JAD, which was formed in 2015, is composed of almost two dozen Indonesian extremist groups that pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the State Department said then in a statement. JAD was behind a terrorist attack that killed four gunmen dead and wounded 25 people in central Jakarta in January 2016.
About 70 suspected militants were being investigated in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, which has been praised by other countries for curtailing terrorism with a combined hard-soft approach.
More than 170 suspected terrorists had been tried and convicted since October 2014, while 33 others were under trial, officials said.
About 64 militant suspects had been freed and 48 others died during recent police raids, according to government figures.


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BENARNEWS- The man who edited and posted on social media a video-recording of a speech that led to former Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama being convicted of blasphemy will spend 18 months in prison, a district court ruled Tuesday.
The Bandung District Court in West Java sentenced Buni Yani, 48, after finding him guilty of violating a section of the country's cyber law. The section regulates actions that deliberately violate the law such as changing, adding, destroying or omitting electronic information.
"For that reason, we sentence the defendant to one year and six months," presiding judge Muhammad Saptono ordered.
The court found Buni guilty of selectively editing a September 2016 video in which Ahok warned residents of the Thousand Islands regency about people using Quranic verses for political gain. The edited video made Ahok appear like he was saying that the Quran itself deceived people.
The video went viral after it was posted online. It angered conservative Muslim groups, which then staged a series of massive street protests in Jakarta demanding that Ahok be removed from office and prosecuted for allegedly defaming Islam through the altered comments.
One of the protests, which drew some 100,000 people, turned violent. Anti-Ahok demonstrators attacked police barricades, as well as set fires and looted shops in Jakarta on Nov. 4, 2016.
On May 9, another court rejected Ahok's argument that the edited version of his speech impacted the blasphemy charge against him. Ahok, who was defeated a month earlier in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election, was sentenced to two years in prison.
Ahok's lawyers said Buni's sentence was too light.
"Buni Yani created chaos. With this sentence, Ahok should not have been punished at all," lawyer I Wayan Sudirta said, according to kompas.com.
"It should be heavier than Ahok's sentence, plus he should be sent to prison immediately," lawyer Teguh Samudra said, according to the Jakarta Post.
Before he was  convicted and sentenced, Ahok, a member of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese Christian minority, lost his bid as the incumbent in the governor's race against former Education Minister Anies Rasyid Baswedan, who was supported by Muslim groups.
Buni plans appeal
Buni, unlike Ahok, was not immediately sent to jail after his sentencing. He said he planned to appeal the verdict.
"All the facts of the trial were not considered by the judge," he said.
"I'm ready to die, this is for the sake of the truth," said Buni, who raised a clenched fist and shouted "Allahu Akbar!" as he left the courtroom. His supporters also chanted the Arabic phrase that means "God is great."
After the sentencing, Buni's supporters tried to push the guardrail that separates the bench from the visitors' seating area, forcing police officers to create a barrier in front of judges' and prosecutors' desks.
West Java provincial police and Bandung city police deployed around 800 officers inside and outside the courtroom.
"We anticipated the presence of 500 supporters," Bandung Police Chief Hendro Pandowo told BenarNews.
Among those who attended the five-hour trial were leaders of a series of protests against Ahok, including Islamic Defenders Front Secretary Gen. Novel Bamukmin, former People's ConsultativeAssembly chairman Amien Rais and Eggi Sudjana, lawyer for the banned Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia.
Judges: burden met
In considering the verdict, the judges said Buni's actions met all the elements necessary to prove that he had violated the 2011 Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law.
A witness testified that Buni edited the one-hour and 48-minute video down to about 30 seconds and posted it on social media despite being reminded of its potential consequences. In the editing process, some keywords spoken by Ahok were deleted.
"That caused data to be lost from the original," Judge Saptono said. "So, the element of altering or reducing electronic information belonging to someone is fulfilled."
Human rights group: Internet freedom declined
The verdict came on the same day that Freedom House, a U.S.-based human rights organization, reported that Internet freedom declined slightly this year even though online access had improved in Indonesia.
Freedom House pointed to government efforts to block content and punish online defamation while failing to "stem rampant manipulation and intimidation along ethnic and religious lines."
It estimated there are 43,000 news outlets worldwide, but many circulated content of questionable standards.
"Some actors took advantage of the popularity of the Internet and social media to publish an unprecedented quantity of fake reports, many disguised to look like legitimate news. Many of them sought to discredit ethnic and religious minorities," the report said, making a specific reference to Ahok.
"In what observers described as 'the Ahok effect,' religious activists traced people who questioned tenets of Islam or reputed scholars on social media, and forced them to publish written apologies, sometimes violently," it said.


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BENARNEWS- A man representing victims of massive anti-communist purges 50 years ago in Indonesia told reporters Wednesday he had informed officials about a new set of mass graves that could contain remains of up to 5,000 massacre victims.
The group recently discovered 16 mass graves in Central Java's Purwodadi town, about 517 km (323 miles) east of the capital Jakarta, and on the island of Bali and in East Nusa Tenggara, the country's southernmost province, according to Bedjo Untung, chairman of the 1965 Murder Victims Research Foundation (YPKP 65).
Bedjo said that he gave the locations of the graves to Indonesia's human rights commission, locally known as Komnas HAM.
"There are more that I have not listed yet. There are also [mass graves] in Bali and in East Nusa Tenggara. At least I noted there are 138 and many others," he told reporters after handing over his report to human rights officials and asking them to investigate.
In October 1965, following an attempted military coup against President Sukarno in which six generals were slain, the Indonesian government gave free rein to soldiers and civilian militias to kill anyone they considered a communist, historians say.
At least 500,000 people died between 1965 and 1966 in an ensuing bloodbath that victimized members of the ethnic Chinese minority, trade unionists, teachers, artists and suspected members of PKI, the Indonesian communist party, which the government outlawed in '66 and whose membership was largely wiped out during the purge.
Last month, the National Security Archive, a U.S.-based NGO promoting public transparency, released 39 documents from the American Embassy in Jakarta dating to 1965-66. The documents showed that U.S. diplomatic personnel were fully aware of the scale and savagery of the mass killings, Human Rights Watch said.
How group calculated number of graves
According to Bedjo, at least 5,000 bodies were buried in mass graves in Purwodadi.
His group came up with the figure after calculating that, at the time, at least 50 political prisoners were abducted daily from a detention area over a three-month period in one location.
Bedjo said the bodies in mass graves in Purwodadi may have also come from other locations.
At the time of the anti-communist purge, Bedjo said, anyone suspected or considered to be a PKI member would be arrested indiscriminately.
"Those who were only followers were also arrested, or if their names were mentioned (as a PKI member), they would immediately be arrested," said Bedjo, who held talks with Komnas HAM commissioner Amiruddin al-Rahab.
Bedjo said his group initially discovered 122 mass graves on Oct. 24, but recently found more in other locations.
Anti-communist group protests meeting
During Bedjo's visit, members of the Anti-Communist Youth Movement (Gepak) demonstrated outside the human rights commission's offices, urging Komnas Ham not to exhume the remains.
"Are they willing to experience the second LBH?" said Gepak leader Rahmat Imran over a loudspeaker. He was referring to a meeting by human rights activists and YPKP 65 in September that was shut down after demonstrators rioted outside the offices of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH).
After their rally, four Gepak representatives entered the commission's building and met with Amiruddin.
"We do not want the communist groups to flourish," said Ade Selon, chairman of the Jakarta Youth Movement, a Gepak affiliate


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's parliamentary speaker, who vanished for 24 hours as anti-corruption investigators issued a warrant for his arrest, turned up in a hospital emergency room Thursday, claiming he had been involved in a car accident in South Jakarta.
Officers from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) sought to arrest House Speaker Setya Novanto over his alleged role in a multi-million dollar graft scheme.
Novanto, chairman of one of Indonesia's largest political parties, was among senior government officials who allegedly received kickbacks from funds allocated for a government project to issue electronic national identification cards.
KPK announced in July that Novanto was suspected, along with other officials and several companies, of embezzling more than one-third of the 5.9 trillion rupiah (U.S. $443 million) allocated for the I.D. program known as e-KTP, between 2011 and 2012.
Novanto's lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, said he might have suffered a concussion in the crash.
"There is a big bump on his head, his hands are bleeding," Yunadi told reporters Thursday evening at Medika Permata Hijau Hospital in South Jakarta, where Novanto was admitted. "He is still unconscious."
The hospital is near where Novanto's car hit a utility pole, Yunadi said, explaining that the politician had intended to go to the KPK building.
Investigators, who had gone to Novanto's home to arrest him Wednesday night, issued a summons for him to appear at the KPK office within 24 hours. They could not locate him until learning about the crash.
Yunadi denied that the parliament was trying to run away from the charges. He said Novanto was picked up by an unknown person shortly before the KPK team arrived and he had not been able to contact him.
Previous hospitalization
In July, after being named a suspect in the estimated $175 million corruption case, Novanto spent weeks at the Premier Jatinegara Hospital in East Jakarta and did not appear before KPK for questioning.
He left the hospital in early October after the South Jakarta District Court annulled KPK's action against him following a pretrial hearing in September. On Nov. 10, KPK again named him a suspect.
Before learning of the accident, KPK Chairman Agus Rahardjo on Thursday afternoon told reporters his organization would ask police to add Novanto to its list of wanted persons.
Later, spokesman Febri Diansyah said KPK sent a team to the hospital to check on Novanto. During his previous stay, hospital officials refused to release information on the speaker's condition.
To prevent a repeat of that scenario, Diansyah said his team will discuss options with the Indonesia Doctors Association (IDI).
"We will talk further if we need to coordinate with IDI later on. It will be very important to coordinate with the doctors," he said.
Another allegation
In a December 2015 case, Maroef Sjamsoeddin, president-director of Freeport Indonesia, testified to lawmakers and submitted an audio recording of Novanto allegedly demanding company shares valued at $4 billion, in exchange for helping extend its operating contract.
Novanto was cleared of the allegations, but was forced to resign as speaker. He was reappointed last year.
Earlier this week Novanto ignored a KPK summons, claiming he was not required to meet with investigators without written consent from President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, The Guardian reported. The speaker is a key ally of Jokowi.
In response to another summons two days later, Novanto's lawyers sent a seven-page letter to the KPK claiming he had legal impunity because he is a high-level legislator, according to The Guardian.


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