CT UPDATE -- SBY TOUGH ON BALI BOMBERS; PATROL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 003143

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, S/CT, DS
DOJ FOR CTS THORNTON,
INL FOR BOULDIN, AAG SWARTZ,
ICITAP FOR TREVILLIAN/BARR
NSC FOR E. PHU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER EAID ID
SUBJECT: CT UPDATE -- SBY TOUGH ON BALI BOMBERS; PATROL
BOATS FOR SULAWESI; POSO COMMUNITY POLICING

REF: A. JAKARTA 3043


B. JAKARTA 2939

C. JAKARTA 2597

D. JAKARTA 2497

Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4(b,d).


1. (U) This message was coordinated with Consulate Surabaya.


2. (C) SUMMARY: In the latest counter-terrorism news,
President Yudhoyono has asserted that he will not grant the
three terrorists convicted for the 2002 Bali bombings
clemency (should they request it). The three terrorists
remain on death row, but the government has not announced any
date(s) for the executions. In the meantime, the USG has
begun delivering patrol boats for use by the GOI in the
Sulawesi Sea region. During a recent visit to Poso in
Central Sulawesi, local authorities hailed the use of
community policing, which they say has helped keep the peace
in a region which has seen inter-religious violence and
terrorism. END SUMMARY.

THE PRESIDENT'S HARD-LINE


3. (SBU) In his most pointed comments yet on the matter,
President Yudhoyono stated in a media interview on November 8
that the three terrorists convicted of the 2002 Bali bombings
"must" be executed and that he would not grant them clemency.
The three Jemmah Islamiyah (JI) terrorists lost their final
appeals in recent Supreme Court rulings (ref D). The only
possible recourse left to the three men is if they request
clemency (which--given SBY's recent comments--would be
quickly turned down). In any case, based on a recent
announcement by the Attorney General (ref B),the three
terrorists only have until late November to make such a
request or face execution.


4. (C) In a November 13 meeting with Pol/C, the Australian
Pol/C said his government was "monitoring the situation
closely." Based on his information, the GOI did not expect
the terrorists to send in clemency petitions and it was
making "administrative arrangements" for the executions. The
Australian Pol/C said he had pressed the GOI to provide the
possible date(s) of the execution, but his contacts said they
did not yet know, though they thought that "sometime in late
December was possible."

SULAWESI PATROL BOATS


5. (SBU) In other news, the U.S. Department of Justice's
ICITAP Indonesia program has delivered 15 small patrol boats
(10 meters in length) to the Indonesian National Police
(INP). Four boats in Bitung, North Sulawesi, and two boats
in the Bangka Straits on the Sulawesi Sea are now
operational. Four boats stationed on Batam island, near
Singapore, will be operational within three weeks, and five
boats in Tarakan, East Kalimantan, will be operational in
early January 2008. The boats will be used for patrolling
coastal, inter-island, and river areas for counter-terrorism
purposes and to fight transnational crime, including
interdicting vessels suspected of carrying terrorists and
arms or engaged in human trafficking and illegal fishing.


6. (SBU) ICITAP will also host five Filipino police officers
on Batam Island the week of November 20. The team from the
Philippines will inspect the five patrol boats being readied
for service, and discuss "lessons learned" regarding
procurement and transportation issues in preparation for
receiving their own small patrol boats later this year.
ICITAP understands that the GOP is interested in deploying
the boats off of Palawan Island in the Western Philippines.

POSO -- FOCUS ON COMMUNITY POLICING


7. (C) Police contacts have hailed community policing as
assisting in calming the sometimes tense situation in the

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religiously mixed Poso region of Central Sulawesi. Poso
Police Chief Mohan, who took command in March, discussed
community policing in a November 7 meeting with poloff.
Under this INP initiative, he said each of the nearly 20
villages in the Poso area had four to five police officers
stationed in the vicinity. The officers were tasked with
building a positive relationship within the communities and
were already receiving valuable information about "outsiders"
who moved into the area. According to Mohan, there was
initial suspicions that the police were there "to spy" on
communities, but the actions of the police since then had
allayed those fears.


8. (C) Poloff also met with First Police Inspector F.
Tarigan, the de facto police chief of Tentena, a
predominately Christian community adjacent to Poso (Poso is
predominantly Muslim). Tarigan also highlighted community
policing as a major reason why religious violence had given
way to social peace. He said both Muslims and Christians
were openly talking about their grievances and were working
with the police to identify radicals attempting to enter the
area and create problems.

HUME