Government Has Not Frozen Ba'asyir’s Assets
Tuesday, 20 June, 2006 | 12:47 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The government has not yet frozen Abu Ba'asyir's assets nor restricted his activities. Ansaad Mbai, Head of the Anti Terror Department at the Ministry of Political, Legal and Security Affairs, said that Ba'asyir is now a free man though the UN has listed him as a terrorist. “According to UN resolution Number 1267, those who are classified as terrorists must be stopped from doing certain activities and their assets are frozen,” Ansaad said yesterday in his office.

In addition to Ba'asyir, there are also 11 other Indonesians classified as terrorists by the UN Security Council. As a UN member, Ansaad said, Indonesia is required to carry out the mandate of the resolution.” As far as the resolution is concerned, we've taken no action yet,” he said.

Ansaad acknowledged that he does not really know the government's reason for not executing the resolution. “Though it's an obligation, it's we that determine whether or not to exercise it,” he said. Despite the absence of sanctions, he is convinced that this will affect Indonesia in its international affairs.

Meanwhile, police headquarters has stated that they will not limit Ba'asyir’s movements. “He (Ba'asyir) remains free to go wherever he likes,” Brigadier General Anton Bachrul Alam, the police headquarters' spokeperson, said yesterday.

Two months prior to Ba'asyir’s release, the US news website had on it that there were four persons suspected as the Jamaah Islamiyah members who have been forbidden to enter the country. They are Ba'asyir, Gun Gun, Abdullah al-Ansori and Taufik Rifki. Anton said that the police will not be influenced by the policy.

Ba'asyir walked free of the Cipinang Prison after serving a sentence of two years and two months as a result of the South Jakarta District Court verdict.

Dimas Adityo, Erwin Daryanto