Stop making sweeping statements on Poso violence

Administration Senator Robert Barbers asked the Indonesian government yesterday to stop making sweeping statements in connection with the firearms used in the attacks that killed 10 Christian villagers in Poso, Central Sulawesi province.

Barbers made the statement in reaction to earlier claims by the Indonesian government that the firearms came from Southern Philippines.

Indonesian National Police Chief General Da’I Bacthiar was earlier quoted by the state-owned Antarra News Agency as saying that "their investigation showed that the weapons used in the Poso unrest came from Southern Philippines."

"This is a very sweeping statement. The diplomatic relationship between RP and Indonesia is very strong particularly in crushing the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network. But making an immediate conclusion that the weapons came from our country without the burden of proof is an indirect attack on the sovereignty of our nation," Barbers said.

Barbers said that the violence in the Sulawesi province of Indonesia is a highly internal matter and any possible involvement of another ASEAN member country must first be investigated properly before such statements.

"When our country was in crisis over the Abu Sayyaf kidnappings in the Sipadan islands of Malaysia and the involvement of the group of Indonesian national terrorist Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi in the LRT bombing, our country followed protocol and coordinated with the Malaysian and Indonesian governments, respectively, regarding these matters. We respected their country’s sovereignty and never put the blame on them. Those events speak for themselves and were not mere speculations," Barbers said.

Barbers said that the Poso unrest is very domestic in nature involving internal Christian-Muslim dispute.

He said the Indonesian government must not link the Philippines with their domestic affairs by saying that the weapons used in the killing of Christian Indonesians came from the Philippines without substantial evidence.

Barbers, principal author of the anti-terror bill now pending in Congress, said that it is high time that his bill be passed immediately in order to strengthen the country’s laws to quell terrorism.

"The whole world recognizes that the Philippines is at the forefront in the war against terrorism in this part of Asia. We have to prove to the international community that we are serious in this advocacy by having this bill passed at the soonest possible time," he said.