Bali suspect apologizes to victims, says bombings were wrong

Bali suspect apologizes to victims, says bombings were wrong

Umar Patek, on trial for his alleged role in Indonesia's deadliest terror attack, said he was sorry "from the bottom of my heart".

Speaking at his trial on Monday (May 7th), terror suspect Umar Patek made a dramatic apology to victims of the 2002 Bali bombing, saying he was sorry he had not reported the plot to police

"From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely apologise to all the victims, victim's families, the Bali community, the Christian community in Jakarta, the Bali government and also the Indonesian government," he said, his voice breaking with emotion.

Patek, 45, is alleged to have played a key role in building the car bomb that killed over 200 people at a nightclub in Bali's Kuta area in October 2002. He faces terrorism charges that could bring him the death penalty should he be convicted.

"I was very sad and regret the incident happened, because I was against it from the start. I never agreed with their methods," said the defendant, clad in a white shirt.

He told the West Jakarta District Court that the bombings were a total failure as far as he was concerned, and that he had objected to plans drawn up by the ringleader, Ali Ghufron, also known as Mukhlas.

"Mukhlas said that their intention was to enact revenge for the massacre of Muslims in Palestine, but they targeted the wrong people," he said, adding that the Westerners and Indonesians killed by the bombings had no connection with the Palestinian issue.

Asked by presiding judge Encep Yuliadi why he did not report the plot to the police if he disagreed with it so strongly, the defendant said he was unable to leave the group and feared harassment if he turned them in.

"I could not leave because I did not have enough money to go back," Patek said. "[Senior Jemaah Islamiyah militant] Dulmatin paid for my travel expenses and I only had Rp 10,000 (around $10) in my pocket as I had left my money with my wife before I went."

"Apart from that, if I reported the plan to the police, there would be a great slander against me among the Muslim activists," he added.

Patek was arrested in January 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan – the same city where bin Laden was hiding out at the time of his killing in May of last year. Although many have speculated that the Java native was hoping to meet the late al-Qaeda leader, Patek has denied knowing he was there.

During the course of his trial, two former associates testified that al-Qaeda sent the Bali bomb plotters as much as $30,000 – money which paid for the Mitsubishi used in the attack.

Patek insisted again Monday that he had never met bin Laden in person. While acknowledging that he helped mix the explosives, he insisted that his participation was minimal and occurred under duress.

"As [Bali plotter] Sawat knew that I was really against the idea, he said to me that it is better for me to do what they said because I was just a slave and I could not push them to change their plan," Patek said.

"I think this is my destiny that I have been captured and I am ready to take all the responsibility for my involvement," he told the court. "Once again, I apologise to all the victims and their families."

"I also thank the Indonesian government for bringing my wife and me back to Indonesia so the legal process could be conducted here," Patek said.

The trial proceedings will resume on May 21st.

Witness: Patek said terror attacks were against Islam

Witness: Patek said terror attacks were against Islam

Bali bombing suspect Umar Patek was concerned that violence against civilians went against Islamic teachings and created a bad image for Muslims, according to a fellow militant who testified at his trial

Umar Patek disagreed with the extremist programme of carrying out violent attacks because he felt it represented a misinterpretation of jihad and would create a bad image for Muslims, an ex-militant told the West Jakarta District Court on Thursday (April 3rd).

Patek, alleged to have played a key role in building the car bomb that killed 202 people at a nightclub in Bali's Kuta area in October 2002, faces terrorism charges that could bring him the death penalty should he be convicted.

According to a court document, Patek fled to the Philippines after the 2002 blast and joined the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has been waging an armed campaign for autonomy. The Philippines insurgents, who deny being connected to al-Qaeda or Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), are currently in peace negotiations with the Philippines government.

"I did not know if Patek was involved in the 2002 Bali bomb attack because he never told me about it," testified Iqbal Huseini, an Indonesian jihadist, who joined the MILF in 2003.

"But he always said that he disagreed with all the attack programmes in Indonesia because Indonesia is not a war zone and it is against the message of jihad," he said.

Moreover, Iqbal said, Patek on one occasion quarreled with JI cell leader Sayid Ali, nicknamed Dulmatin, over the latter's plan to explode bombs at several locations as a form of revenge against Indonesian security forces.

"Although Sayid was the leader, Patek was strongly against the idea. It was because those targeted points are Islam-majority areas and he reminded us that our enemy is not civil society," he continued.

Mass casualty attacks by al-Qaeda-linked extremists jolted Indonesia during the past decade, but the capture or killing of key JI leaders as well as public revulsions against the carnage has blunted the trend.

Al-Qaeda itself is believed to be in disarray, suffering the loss of personnel and a steadily deteriorating reputation among Muslims. Thursday's testimony came amid revelations that Osama bin Laden himself was deeply concerned about the trend during the months leading up to his death in May 2011.

A selection of memos found at the bin Laden's Abbottabad hideout was released Thursday by the US government. In one document, dating from 2010, bin Laden expresses alarm that al-Qaeda has become stigmatised because of its role in killing thousands of Muslim civilians.

A 2006 letter addressed by a "loving brother whom you know and who knows you" complains that the word jihad has fallen into disrepute due to al-Qaeda's tactics, and calls for bin Laden to change his ways.

Although Patek was captured in Abbottabad in January 2011, not far from bin Laden's compound, it has not yet been established whether or not he had tried to contact the al-Qaeda leader.

Thursday's testimony provided possible insights into the shadowy world of militant extremists, who cross borders to wage religious warfare. The MILF fighters he met included Malaysians as well as Indonesians and Filipinos, Iqbal told the court.

He said he was taught to use many kinds of weapons after arriving at the MILF camp.

"While I was there, I was trained to use arm guns such as M16 rifles, long rifles and also mortars, to read a map and also about war strategy. MILF provided all the arm guns with a registration number. Therefore if we left the camp, we had to return it back to them," he said. "However, we were not trained to build any bomb at all."

Patek often gave briefings to Indonesian volunteers with the MLIF, especially on the topics of war strategy and the purpose of jihad. He believed jihad should only be carried out in areas of conflict, Iqbal said.

The trial proceedings will resume on Monday.

Muslim leader: terrorists must stop undermining Islam's image

Muslim leader: terrorists must stop undermining Islam's image

A witness at the trial of Umar Patek said extremists have taken the lives of innocent Muslims and are undermining Islam.

Attacks by radical extremists have cost the lives of Muslims and tarnished the image of Islam, a Muslim community leader from Kuta testified Thursday (April 24th) before the West Jakarta District Court during the trial of Umar Patek.

Speaking of his emotions following the 2002 bomb attack in Kuta that cost the lives of over two hundred people, he recalled the story of one victim, Mohammad Taufik.

"Taufik was such a genuinely nice, religious man and he had actually planned to perform umrah [pilgrimage] in 2003 with his wife. They had already paid the expenses. But unfortunately he was killed in the 2002 Bali bomb attack," Agus Bambang Priyatno, the community leader, told the court.

He said such acts of violence have undermined Islam's reputation as a religion of peace.

"The 2002 Bali Bomb attack has been destroying my religion's image across the globe. It has been creating a bad image that Islam is identical with terrorism and violence," he said.

"Therefore I'm demanding to all the radical Muslims to stop any violent action and terror attacks conducted in the name of Islam," Agus said.

"It will destroy Islam’s image as if Islam is a religion, which is identified with terrorism and violent actions."

"Besides that, this is also destroying Indonesia’s credibility as a moderate Muslim nation internationally."

Patek, alleged to have played a key role in the bombings, faces terrorism charges that could bring him the death penalty should he be convicted. He appeared to listen attentively to the testimony by Agus.

Patek then briefly responded, saying that he too regretted the incident's impact.

Also testifying was Ruqqayah, Patek's wife. She said she knew nothing about Patek's relations with the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and was in the dark about her husband's alleged role in the Bali bombing or the Christmas Eve bombings two years earlier, in which 18 died.

"My husband did not tell me anything about it," she said, describing herself as an obedient wife who always did what she was asked to do.

Even when the couple fled to Pakistan, using aliases to conceal their identities from authorities, she did not know why they were using false names and did not ask her husband to explain, Ruqqayah said.

"I just did what I was asked by my husband and I did not question anything about it," she said, describing Patek as a genuinely nice man who loved her.

"When we arrived in Pakistan, we were picked up by a man whom I just met for very first time, and we went to Lahore then continued the trip to Multan. And I did not know where we went next and we just lived there for couple months until we were arrested," she continued.

"In that city [Abbottabad], we were told to not leave the house at all by the person, whose name I did not know. So we just stayed inside to study the Qur'an and pray a lot," Ruqqayah testified. Following her testimony, Presiding Judge Encep Yuliadi allowed the couple to embrace each other.

The trial proceedings will resume on Thursday.

Witnesses: Loopholes in system helped Patek flee

Witnesses: Loopholes in system helped Patek flee

A former immigration officer who approved Umar Patek's passport said no red flags came up in his application.

Terror suspect Umar Patek was able to flee Indonesia in 2009 because he went unrecognised by immigration authorities, witnesses testified Monday (April 23rd) before the West Jakarta District Court, citing deficiencies in communication and the fact that he was using an alibi.

“Our travel-ban list system is only in the form of a name list and identification without any photograph," said former immigration officer Asni Redani Suandi, who interviewed Patek when he applied for travel papers in 2008.

"As long as they meet the entire requirements and they are not listed on the travel-ban name list, any Indonesian citizen could be granted a passport," she said.

Although a police most-wanted list was placed in her office, Suandi said, she did not recognize Patek – who was going by the name Anis Alawi.

His application was complete and he passed the interview. As a result, her office issued a passport, which he then used to leave the country.

Patek is charged with participating in a succession of terrorist attacks, including the 2002 bombing of two nightclubs in Bali. A total of 202 people died in that incident, for which he faces the death penalty if convicted.

Nine years later, he was captured in Pakistan. Indonesian authorities, whose counterterrorism efforts have largely reined in the Jemaah Islamiyah extremist group, have been struggling to pin down the sequence of events that allowed Patek to make it so far.

Monday's trial proceedings largely focused on vulnerabilities in the passport system, with judges saying procedures must be tightened and communication improved.

Asni told the court that, according to standard operating procedure, a passport applicant must submit a copy of his or her identity card, family card, and birth or marriage certificate. Once all the required material is provided, he or she will be called in for an interview and asked to bring the original documents for verification.

During the interview stage, applicants are asked several questions, she said. They may be asked to give their name, address and birthday, as well as to state their purpose in applying for a passport.

"If I was not mistaken, the defendant told me that he would use the passport for Umrah [pilgrimage to Mecca]," she told the court.

Muhammad Marsudi Rasyid, who heads the intelligence department at East Jakarta Immigration Office, told the court that the name Anis Alawi did not appear in the travel ban list in connection with terror activities. But the name Umar Patek did appear, he said.

"Our travel-ban list system only takes the form of a name list without photograph. If somebody has a different name, they can just pass through immigration and we cannot verify based on their pictures," Marsudi told the court."Even today, the travel-ban list system is only in the form of a name list without photograph."

According to the panel of judges hearing the case, Monday's testimony shows the need to improve co-ordination from ward level to immigration level.

In particular, they said, it is crucial to make sure that key documents cannot be falsified any more.

"What would the world say if this kind of thing keeps happening in Indonesia?" judges said as the hearing closed. Proceedings will resume on Thursday.

Mob damages minority sect mosque

Mob damages minority sect mosque

Responding to last week's ransacking of an Ahmadiyah mosque, Indonesian authorities warn that violence will not be tolerated.

Government officials are promising a thorough investigation and legal action after a mob attacked and ransacked a mosque used by the minority Ahmadiyah sect just before Friday prayers (April 20th)

Co-ordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto said West Java police were handling the case and that legal action would be taken against those responsible.

"Violence is not allowed. Whoever did this will be dealt with," Djoko told reporters outside the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday, according to a Kompas report.

Separately, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi ordered local police to thoroughly investigate the attack.

At least 80 people broke into the Baitul Rahim Mosque in the Singaparna subdistrict of Tasikmalaya, West Java, about 260 km southeast of Jakarta. They damaged the roof, broke windows, and burned the carpet and prayer mats, police said.

No one was reported injured in the attack, which took place around 10 am on Friday and lasted 20 minutes.

Firdaus Mubarik, an Indonesia Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI) spokesman, told Khabar Southeast Asia, that the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) carried out the attack.

"This is actually not the first attack that happened to Ahmadiyah Mosque in Singaparna because they also did it on April 12th," Firdaus said."The attack began when they handed a letter of objection regarding use of the mosque," he said.

Although Muslim-majority Indonesia is a secular country where freedom of religion is protected under the constitution, some religious minorities in recent years have been targeted by hardline Islamist groups.

Such groups say the Ahmadiyah sect, which follows the teachings of a 19th century religious figure from India, should be banned. Regional governments have placed restrictions on the sect, and the central government in 2008 issued a decree restricting Ahmadis from spreading their beliefs.

A spokesman for the West Java Police, Senior Commander Martinus Sitompul, denied allegations by the JAI that the local authorities failed to step in.

"It is not true we let it happen without any prevention," he told Khabar. "As a notification [of plans to deliver the letter] had been given to us, we deployed our officers to prevent any violence that might occur. But during the handing of the letter, [the] Ahmadis said something which was provocative and we tried to prevent the violence which occurred," he said.

Awid Mashuri, deputy secretary general of the FPI, denied the group's involvement amid reports some mob members were carrying FPI flags or dressed in the group's trademark white and green.

"It was Singaparna neighbouring residents that attacked the Ahmadiyah mosque. It is because the Ahmadiyah congregation has broken the agreement for not holding any activities anymore in their mosque," he told Khabar.

"If there were FPI accessories worn by any of the mob, it does not mean that they are FPI members because they might just buy accessories from the shop," he said.

If FPI involvement is proven, the group could be banned, because it has already been warned twice over use of violence, Home Minister Gamawan said.

"Another [incident of] big-scale violence by the FPI would meant that the organisation is eligible to be frozen," The Jakarta Post quoted him as saying.

Lawmaker: Police must do more to protect religious minority groups

Lawmaker: Police must do more to protect religious minority groups

Indonesian police ask minority groups to "give up" to avoid conflict, rather than protecting their rights, legislator charges

The National Police force has not sufficiently improved its ability to protect religious minority groups, experts agreed at a recent Jakarta panel discussion.

Although Muslim-majority Indonesia is a secular country where freedom of religion is protected under the constitution, some religious minorities in recent years have come under attack by hard-line Muslim groups.

Reform measures tend to focus on expanding the central police administration rather than strengthening the capacity of local forces to handle violence against minority groups like Ahmadiyah and GKI Yasmin, said Eva Kusuma Sundari, a member of House of Representatives (DPR) and its legislative committee overseeing legal affairs.

In handling such violence, police often emphasise preserving social order over protecting the minority groups, Eva told a meeting at the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club on March 28th.

"Instead of providing protection, police often asked the minority group to give up, to prevent a physical conflict," she said. "They argue that they cannot guarantee [a] radical group will not come back to attack again, as they cannot mobilise and provide protection all the time.

"However, as a law enforcement agent, police must focus on providing a protection of human rights [rather] than accommodating a social order." The Islamic minority sect Ahmadiyah has been a target of deadly attacks in Indonesia, and members of a small Christian parish in Bogor, GKI Yasmin, have been prevented from worshipping in their church.

Congregants celebrated Easter in secret this year, and did not notify police of the location, since police presence did not stop dozens of hard-liners from the Reform Movement (Garis) and the Muslim Communications Forum (Forkami) from disrupting their Christmas services, GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging recently told The Jakarta Post.

"The police were there, but they did not do much to help us. Ever since, we have found no point in telling the police about our activities," Bona said.

Eva said she was frustrated that her colleagues in the House of Representatives often view violence against minority groups as a local matter rather than a law enforcement issue.

"However, it is a must for the police to change their policy and strategy to improve the community police," she said.

Responding to the criticisms, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said police are committed to enforcing Indonesian laws and to pursue anyone who violates them.

Indonesians have the right to form mass organisations, he pointed out, also noting that police investigated Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leaders in 2008.

Known for raiding bars, clubs and gaming halls during Ramadan, the FPI reached a new level of visibility in January when its members threw rocks at the Home Affairs Ministry to protest its decision to annul local laws banning alcohol sales.

"Even nowadays, we are still communicating with FPI leaders to guide them to not violate the law anymore," Boy said, adding that "the FPI are no longer conducting sweeps in night clubs."

He said the police had to work to educate segments of the population who remain unaware of some aspects of the law and human rights within the still-developing country.

Johnson Panjaitan of Indonesian Police Watch urged national police to train local forces in handling religious conflict, especially in regions where the potential for such conflict is high.

Police intelligence must be strengthened to prevent religious conflict in the first place, he said.

Beyond that, the police are hobbled by a lack of action from the government, in his view.

"Sadly enough the state is actually not brave enough to disband a hardline group such as FPI," he said.

"Therefore it needs to be understood that this is not only a police problem but the government's problem as well. And we need to support the Indonesia National Police," he added.

Research conducted by Jakarta's Paramadina University and Gadjah Mada University shows that police were present only 25% of the time in 718 violent incidents between 1990 to 2008.

In 1999, shortly after the end of the Suharto regime, new laws formally separated the Indonesian National Police from the military, which had controlled the force for decades.

Witnesses detail impact of Bali bombings

Witnesses detail impact of Bali bombings

The attacks that killed 202 also dealt a massive blow to the region's economy, Balinese officials said Thursday.

Testifying Thursday (April 12th) in the trial of accused Bali bomber Umar Patek, Balinese officials spoke of the impact the 2002 attacks had on the island's tourism industry, while a forensic doctor recalled the horrific aftermath.

"At the very beginning, we could not identify the victims because many of them were damaged and could not be recognised anymore," said the doctor, Ida Bagus Putu of Denspasar's Sanglah Hospital.

"After three months of identification processes, we could identify 199 out of 202 people."

The bodies had burns as well as wounds showing that objects had penetrated them at high speed, he said.

"Other than that, we also received 325 body parts from the victims, but we could not identify 140 body parts because they had become rotten," he told the court.

Doctors were able to distinguish 78 women and 117 men among the victims, but others could not be identified by gender, the doctor testified.

The twin bombings on the night of October 12th, 2002 – one carried out by a suicide bomber wearing an explosives-laden vest, the other a massive car bomb detonated outside a crowded nightclub – are considered Indonesia's worst-ever terror attack. According to Balinese officials who spoke during Thursday's trial proceedings, they also increased poverty on the island by disrupting a vital sector in its economy.

"Compared to the hotel occupancy in October and November 2001 and 2002, the number dropped significantly [after the bombings]. The bomb attack was really an impoverishment process for Bali," testified I Gusti Ngurah Oka Darmawan, the former head of the tourism department in Badung.

Eighty percent of district revenues come from the hotel and tourism industries, which also have an economic impact on surrounding localities, he said.

"It took us two years for recovery," he added.

Ngurah Mas Wijaya Kusuma, an immigration officer from Ngurah Rai Airport, told the court that the bombings had significantly affected the number of tourists coming from abroad.

"According to our data, the number of foreign tourist dropped 70% compared to 2001. Before the attack, the number of foreign tourists stood at around 100,000 to 159,000 visiting Bali every month," he said.

As of September 2002, the number stood at 153,000. But the figure dropped to 81,063 in October and 31,477 the following month, Ngurah said.

Patek, the defendant in Thursday's proceedings, is the last Bali bombing suspect to go on trial and faces the death penalty if found guilty. His trial began in February and is expected to last four months.

The main actors in the bombings – Mukhlas, Amrozi and Imam Samudra – were convicted and executed in 2008.

Prosecutors on Thursday called to the stand two men convicted for their supporting roles in the attack, hoping to shed more light on how much Patek knew about the plot. He has acknowledged mixing the bombs but insists he was in the dark concerning the actual plans for their use.

One of the men, Sarjiyo, confirmed that he and Patek attended a military training camp in Pakistan, where they studied war strategy, bomb making, and mapping.

In September 2002, as Sarjiyo was busy mixing 700kg of explosive materials, he requested Patek's help, the witness said.

Patek's role in the bomb preparation was minimal and limited to the final stages, he explained.

"When Patek arrived, I was about to finish mixing the material and there were 50kg of explosive material left over. So I asked him to help me to finish it because I knew that Patek has similar knowledge," Sarjiyo said.

The trial proceedings will resume on Monday