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Indonesia Security Officers Arrest US Infiltrator
Indonesian Defense Minister Mohammad Mahfud M.D. Sunday said that security officers had recently apprehended in Irian Jaya an "infiltrator" of United States citizenship whom he believes could have been involved in espionage in Indonesia's easternmost province.
"The US citizen, Aaron Ward Maness, was arrested on October
21, but he was taken by the US ambassador to Jakarta (Robert Gellbard) when he was about to be deported at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport," Mahfud remarked without elaborating on how the US ambassador was able to "take" someone who was about to be deported by immigration officials.
Mahfud would not elaborate further on the deportation debacle, saying the issue does not involve the Ministry of Defense.
"That's the immigration and police's business," he told reporters in Yogyakarta in Central Java.
The minister admitted that the Indonesian security authorities did not have any concrete evidence that Maness had been engaged in espionage.
But materials in Maness' possession indicated that he had been engaged in something which may cause national disintegration in Indonesia, such as the separation of Irian Jaya from the Indonesian Unitary State.
"I have data showing that Maness met with leaders of the Papua task force just a day before the bloody riots in Wamena," he was quoted by the Jakarta Post Monday as saying.
The Wamena riots erupted on October 6 when pro-independence supporters ran amok after clashing with police for forcibly lowering the Morning Star separatist flags. Most of those who died were migrant settlers.
Mahfud said that among Maness's activities were taking pictures of riot victims from the indigenous population only and circulating the pictures abroad with a note saying the dead were victims of brutality of the Indonesian Military.
"Maness did not take pictures of the other victims. He was on a tourist visa but he was working as a journalist," the minister added.
Mahfud believes that Maness' ultimate objective was to prompt a United Nations' intervention.
Speaking on US and British military embargo imposed on Indonesia, Mahfud said that if the embargo is maintained for a long time, Indonesia would consider a joint defense pact with fellow Asian countries like the People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea or India.
"This does not mean that we will treat the US as our enemy. But if the US continues harassing us, we will have to do something to defend the sovereignty of this nation," he said.
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