HENDROPRIYONO

This item was somewhat buried in today's Straits Times, but it struck me that there is at least one Indonesian government figure who seems to understand the extent of that country's problems in the war on terror.

INTELLIGENCE CHIEF'S LAMENT
Indonesia's anti-terror laws are simply too weak to work

JAKARTA - Indonesia's anti-terrorism laws are too weak for security agencies to nab suspects before they carry out acts such as yesterday's bombing, Jakarta's intelligence chief said.

Mr Abdullah Hendropriyono, who has long sought tougher laws to catch operators within militant Islamic groups, said punishments meted to those convicted of terror acts were also not enough of a deterrent.

Police have said they suspect the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) network was behind yesterday's attack.

'As long as we keep following the current criminal justice system and don't change laws that do not give us a chance to dissolve radical groups and catch people who clearly are suspects, we can never prevent such a thing,' Mr Hendropriyono told reporters at a nearby hospital where victims were being treated.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri introduced anti-terror laws in the wake of the Bali bomb attacks in 2002 that killed 202 people.

But police have complained the laws do not give them enough power or political cover to detain suspects while avoiding criticism from Muslim and human rights groups who are often suspicious of such investigations in the light of Indonesia's authoritarian past.

Mr Hendropriyono said Indonesia's political elite was not unified in trying to impose a tougher legal framework.

'If they are not in one line giving us support, our nation will always be overshadowed by (terror attacks),' he said.

'How can we prevent such things if we are always late (in stopping) these incidents? Moreover, after they are caught, punishments do not deter them.'

I remembered mentioning Hendropriyono about a month back, after he said that there was a serious threat of marine terrorism in the Malacca Straits. At that time, his comments were dismissed by the country's defense chief (as in the norm for Indonesia). But they were accurate, and his statements printed today were even more so.

I've only been noticing his name recently, so my praise for his commentary shouldn't be confused with wholehearted praise for the man. That's a shame. I was hoping I'd be able to lavish a bit of praise on him, I so rarely get to do that with Indonesia's politicians.

But then I did a Google search.

He has a long history with Indonesia's military and political elite and, as such, he has more than a few skeletons in his closet and a more than a bit of blood on his hands.

Google revealed the following (I don't vouch for the accuracy of everything contained in the links, but most of it seems well researched). Hendropriyono is a slick and ambitious operator, he played a key role in the suppression of East Timor and his hands are not without blood. He was close to both Megawati and Suharto, although the latter perceived him as a threat and made sure that he was marginalized.

He was also allegedly behind the recent expulsion of the International Crisis Group's Sidney Jones, which greatly diminishes his comments today.

Although he nicely summarized Indonesia's problems in facing down terrorism, he is still emblematic of some of the country's older, lingering, problems. It's really damn hard to find a likable politician in that country. I'm still looking.

Nevertheless, in honor of his recent spate of reasonable statements, I'll refrain for now from calling Hendropriyono any insulting names.

UPDATE: After a few beer I've decided to alter my pledge not to call him insulting names. In spite of yesterday's comments, forcing 250,000 East Timorese to flee is not acceptable. I was going to call Hendropriyono a prick, but that's too much of a default insult from me. However, the beer had weakened my creativity and I couldn't think of anything else. I sought some help, the result is this: Abdullah Hendropriyono is an odious and unpleasant child herpesmonkey.