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INTERVIEW-Indonesian jail corruption stokes extremism - analyst

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:35 GMT

Source: trustlaw // Thin Lei Win

Indonesian militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir stands inside a cell before his trial at South Jakarta court June 16, 2011. REUTERS/Beawiharta

By Thin Lei Win

BANGKOK (TrustLaw) - Corruption between Indonesia’s jail wardens and prisoners is bolstering extremism and risks the emergence of new radicalist cells, a leading analyst on extremism has told TrustLaw.

Through bribing prison wardens, extremists in Indonesian jails can get mobile phones and computers with which they contact peers and coordinate attacks, said Noor Huda Ismail, founder of the Jakarta-based International Institute for Peacebuilding, which works on reforming accused extemists.

Smart phones with Internet connection are used to access fatwas – religious edicts – from the Middle East. Extremist rulings are then translated and distributed widely outside the prison walls, he said.

“Our prison system is very vulnerable to bribery, leading to more radicalisation inside the prisons,” Ismail told TrustLaw. “That’s what I’m really worried (about),”

“We have to look at it very seriously, otherwise we are going to see new configuration of terrorist cells coming out from prison.”

He pointed to the cases of Rois, who last year used 11 mobile phones to recruit members while in prison awaiting execution for his role in the 2004 Australian embassy bombing, and the 2002 Bali bomber Imam Samudra.

 “The warden smuggled a laptop for Imam Samudra – who was on death row – that led to the second Bali bombing,” he said.

Corruption in Indonesia is widespread. A string of high profile arrests improved the country’s image since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was elected on an anti-corruption platform in 2004, but the overall success has been patchy.

A recent spate of corruption scandals engulfing the ruling Democrat Party and many politicians, as well as what experts see as attempts to rein in the powerful Corruption Eradication Commission, have tarnished the archipelago’s burgeoning fight against graft.

Indonesia scored 2.8 on Transparency International’s latest corruption perception index – in which a score of one denotes high levels of corruption and 10 denotes freedom from corruption – matching Gabon and Kosovo and ranking just above Ethiopia.

POOR PRISON MANAGEMENT

Ismail is a former journalist and a graduate of Pondok Pesantren Ngruki, the Islamic school co-founded by radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir – who was sentenced last month to 15 years in jail for inciting violence and financing an extremist group – and which schooled three leading figures in the 2002 Bali bombings.

His book Temanku, Teroris? (My Friend, a terrorist?) is about his time at the school.

Since the Bali bombings, Indonesia has arrested almost 600 people on extremism charges, 100 in 2010 alone. Ismail said 17 are repeat offenders. Around 250 have completed their sentences.

Despite the arrests, governance of the prisoners have been lacking, he said.

“We have been doing excellently at arresting all these terrorists but we are still extremely weak when it comes to the prison system.”

He said prison wardens’ low pay and weak qualifications contributes to corruption, while overcrowding and lax security in Indonesia’s jail system worsens extremism.

There is no study yet to understand the level of engagement between prisoners, but extremists being locked into the same cells as less radical prisoners spreads radicalisation, he said.

“This is in the case of Urwah (Bagus Budi Pranato) who was in the periphery when he was arrested the first time (for the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing). But when he was released, he (reconnected) and was deeply involved in the second Marriott bombing.”

NEW EXTREMISM CELL

The fact that only 17 extremists have been re-arrested since 2002 could mean the level of extremist attacks is not significantly high in Indonesia, Ismail said.

“We can’t really exaggerate the problem… but the issue here is not about the numbers but the dedication of those people inside the prison after their release.”

 “To conduct a terrorist attack you don’t need a big number of people. You just need five committed individuals.”

With military training in places such as Afghanistan and Moro, in the Philippines, hindered by government clampdowns, prisons are being used to coach extremists, he said.

Unless Indonesian and regional governments do some form of social intervention in the prison systems, “the threat is very big… we’re going to see a completely different configuration of new cells,” he said.

Apart from deradicalisation programmes for extremists, one way to improve governance is to train wardens in how to deal with working in prisons where there are extremists, Ismail said.

Wardens are impressed by extremists praying five times a day and reading the Koran, and “do not know these people are not criminals or gang members but driven by completely different ideology,” he said.

Indonesia needs to improve its human resources within prison, Ismail said, and to ensure wardens are aware “they’re doing a noble job.”

“People who are qualified will apply for the army. If they’re less qualified, they apply for the police, then if you have no qualification, nothing, you’ll apply for warden,” he said.

(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)