Rilek1Corner

Tag: Indonesia

  • Bintan Travel Agency Used As Front For ISIS

    Bintan Travel Agency Used As Front For ISIS

    Indonesian militant suspect Gigih Rahmat Dewa had specific orders – set up a travel agency in Tanjung Pinang on Bintan island as a cover to facilitate the safe passage of others to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

    Seed money of 27 million rupiah (S$2,800) to start the business was sent to Gigih from his handler Bahrun Naim, a senior Indonesian counter-terrorism official told The Sunday Times last week.

    Bahrun is an ISIS operative in Syria known to have had a hand in several terror plots in Indonesia.

    The ruse could generate revenue or launder money for their cause, Bahrun told Gigih in text messages sometime in 2015, said the official. But Gigih’s cover did not last long, according to details from an ongoing trial against him and five suspects from Indonesian sleeper cell Katibah Gonggong Rebus.

    Within a few months after the travel agency was set up, Gigih and his men were nabbed by Indonesian counter-terrorism police Detachment 88 for planning an attack on Singapore. Gigih, Hadi Gusti Yanda, Tarmidzi, Eka Saputra and Trio Syafidro were rounded up on Aug 5 last year in Batam. The sixth member, Leonardo Hutajulu, was arrested last September.

    Indonesia’s National Counter-terrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Suhardi Alius had said the foiled plot involved plans to fire a rocket at Marina Bay from a hilltop in Batam.

    The order to mount the strike also purportedly came from Bahrun.

    Security analysts such as Institute for International Peace Building executive director Taufik Andrie say using travel agencies as fronts is a throwback to how Al-Qaeda used to operate in Indonesia before the 9/11 attacks in the United States in 2001, and the Bali bombing the following year.

    But the trend of late, starting in 2010, also included the use of businesses selling airsoft guns to launder money from overseas to fund domestic terror activities, they said. Airsoft guns, which shoot off pellets, are often made to resemble assault rifles.

    “All these are hard to detect because they are run as legitimate businesses,” added Mr Taufik. “In the past, Bahrun Naim also taught people how to buy and sell goods online using another person’s identity to avoid the authorities.”

    Gigih, 31, and his five men have since been charged with harbouring militants and funding terror activities. All have pleaded not guilty.

    A former information technology manager at a Batam factory, Gigih has yet to take the stand to defend himself at the trial.

    The hearing, which started on Feb 1 at the East Jakarta District Court, continues this week .

    Evidence presented by prosecutors, along with details from sources close to the investigation, indicate that Gigih’s travel agency was a front for other illicit activities traced to Bahrun.

    They include helping to arrange for militants to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS, or to Poso, Central Sulawesi, to link up with the East Indonesia Mujahideen terrorists.

    Last week, a police source told The Sunday Times that Gigih allegedly helped two Uighurs from a Muslim separatist group in Xinjiang, China, escape from Malaysia to Indonesia. One of them was nabbed last year in Bekasi in West Java with plans to mount a suicide bombing.

    These activities were allegedly funded by Bahrun, whom the US had placed on a terrorist watch list two weeks ago.

    According to the US Treasury Department, Bahrun has transferred nearly US$72,000 (S$100,600) “to an associate in Indonesia, purportedly to conduct attacks on his instructions”.

    The US authorities did not identify the associate, but prosecutors in Jakarta said a bank account used by some Indonesian militants with ties to ISIS was found in Gigih’s name.

    Money drawn from the same account also funded terror plots in Indonesia, added the prosecutors.

    According to Indonesia’s anti- money laundering agency PPATK, fund transfers into the country allegedly linked to terrorism amounted to more than 10 billion rupiah in 2014 and 2015.

    General Alius confirmed that terrorists have been using virtual payment gateways such as PayPal and bitcoin cryptocurrency to move money across borders. He spoke last Wednesday after the BNPT and PPATK signed a pact to trace and block fund transfers to terrorists.

    “The use of Paypal and bitcoin is high-tech, therefore we need a breakthrough to detect and prevent the flow of funds (to terrorists),” he said.

     

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/

  • Khan Osman Sulaiman: Rising Islamophobia, Are Muslims In Singapore Walking On A Tightrope?

    Khan Osman Sulaiman: Rising Islamophobia, Are Muslims In Singapore Walking On A Tightrope?

    Ahok got 2 years jail in Indonesia for blasphemy and the world cries foul. Yes its jail time. Not murder.

    When The Rohingyas were persecuted, not many were outrightly denouncing the Myanmar government for its crimes against humanity.

    Islam got slammed instead for bigotry. Clerics are ridiculed. Judges chastised. The press also solidifies the hatred/prejudice some people have for the religion by pushing out articles to make the religion look bad instead of correctly pointing the atrocities of humans, using religion to promote their political agendas.

    Shanmugam recently has called on the United States (and the world) to pay attention to the rise of “political Islam” and radicalism in Southeast.

    Instead, I say we should also pay close attention toward islamophobia.

    With rising islamophobia across the world and Singapore, the Muslims in Singapore are walking on a tightrope. We get scrutinized even for raising fundamental issues.

    The government’s distrust on the Malay/Muslim community dates back to LKY’s era. It has continued with the current administration led by his son Lee Hsien Loong but with a new dimension added to it. ‘Radicalization’

    With radicalization on the rise, and the effort to look into its emergence in Singapore, rightfully, the government may have fail to also give due consideration towards an emerging trend in Singapore. Islamophobia.

    I’d came across many postings on social media to kill the Muslim. To incarcerate anyone with the slightest differences of opinions. To remove citizenships of Singaporean Muslims and ship them ‘back’ to Saudi/Pakistan etc etc.

    It’s a growing trend if left unchecked, may rip apart the delicate social fabric currently maintained.

    Radicalization is a problem. So is Islamophobia. Deal with it concurrently without further aggravating the growing pressure my community faced from the gov and public.

     

    Source: Khan Osman Sulaiman

  • Jakarta Governor Ahok Sentenced To 2 Years Jail For Blasphemy

    Jakarta Governor Ahok Sentenced To 2 Years Jail For Blasphemy

    Jakarta’s Christian governor has been sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy, a harsher-than-expected ruling critics fear will embolden hardline Islamist forces to challenge secularism in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

    Tuesday’s guilty verdict for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama comes amid concern about the growing influence of Islamist groups, who organized mass rallies during a tumultuous election campaign that ended with Purnama losing his bid for another term as governor.

    President Joko Widodo was an ally of Purnama, an ethnic-Chinese Christian who is popularly known as “Ahok”, and the verdict will be a setback for a government that has sought to quell radical groups and soothe investors’ concerns that the country’s secular values were at risk.

    As thousands of supporters and opponents waited outside, the head judge of the Jakarta court, Dwiarso Budi Santiarto, said Purnama was “found to have legitimately and convincingly conducted a criminal act of blasphemy, and because of that we have imposed two years of imprisonment”.

    Purnama told the court he would appeal.

     

    Source: www.reuters.com

  • Najib Warns Uneven Growth Could Fuel Extremism, Instability

    Najib Warns Uneven Growth Could Fuel Extremism, Instability

    Prime Minister Najib Razak on Friday warned that Southeast Asian countries needed to ensure their economic growth was inclusive, or risk marginalised populations turning to violent extremism or even overturning political systems.

    Speaking at an event for entrepreneurs during the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Manila, Najib said the region was posting strong growth that could see Asean become the world’s fourth-largest economy, but that growth needed to be equitable.

    “We do not want our citizens to be marginalised in the age of extremism and radicalisation,” he said.

    “We know that those who see no hope in their own societies are more prone to the siren calls of terrorists who can and will exploit their vulnerability and fill them with their lies.”

    Islamist extremism is expected to be high on the agenda during this week’s meetings, with fears for Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines about piracy and the rising threat of Islamic State.

    Of particular concern is the ease in which militants can acquire weapons, seek refuge with existing rebel groups and move between the many islands between the three countries.

    Najib lauded the success of Asean, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, in expanding its collective GDP to about US$2.7 trillion now, from US$87 billion four decades ago.

    Asean has 10 members: Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

    He warned that economic disparity was dangerous at a political level too, fuelling anger and populism that was causing problem in Western Europe.

    “The neglected underclass of those who felt left behind by economic growth, prosperity and globalisation can overturn elections and political systems,” he said.

    Economists frequently point out huge income gaps among the 620 million people of Southeast Asia, a region that has one of the world’s largest concentrations of billionaires, according to Forbes Magazine.

    Najib said awareness of Asean needed to be better promoted among its citizens to “make it feel real, relevant and tangible”. Trade integration was lagging, he said, with too many trade tariffs still in existence.

    Their removal, and harmonised customs standards, needed to be “vigorously pursued”, he said.

    Philippines Vice-President Leni Robredo echoed Najib’s call for leaders to pay more attention to their poor.

    “For many years, many thought income inequality was alright. But the voiceless and the powerless are now raring to be heard, and with technology and social media, their frustrations are being felt on a global scale,” she said in a speech.

    “They are rejecting globalisation, democracy, traditional media.”

     

    Rilek1Corner

    Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com

  • Six Singaporean Youths Rounded Up In Raid By Batam Police At Batam Nightspots

    Six Singaporean Youths Rounded Up In Raid By Batam Police At Batam Nightspots

    JAKARTA – A group of six Singaporean youths were among 35 foreigners rounded up by Indonesian authorities during random raids on nightspots in Batam over the weekend.

    The operation, which started on Saturday (April 22) and ended in the early hours of Sunday, was led by local immigration authorities and supported by navy personnel.

    The Singaporeans included a 16-year-old and at least three youths, who were on holiday in Batam.

    They were among a total of 27 men and eight women – all foreign nationals – who were detained because they could not produce their passports during the raid at Kampung Bule, an entertainment area in Batam where foreigners are known to frequent.

    Most of the revellers were released after they were able to retrieve their travel documents from their hotels for verification. A few remain in custody as investigations continue.

     

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com