President SBY has ordered the country's regional governors to bring back Intel or Badan Intelijen Negara (BIN), the intelligence agency that helped keep Suharto in power for so long. I have read that Intel used to have informants in every region, every district, every, city and every kampung, keeping a close eye on their neighbors. President SBY's reasons for re-invigorating Intel is his anti-terror drive. The recent bombings in Sulawesi make the government look stupid because they were out of the blue. There's a joke: What does an Indonesian village and a new PC have in common? They both have Intel inside. Intel was supposedly scraped in 1998 following the fall of Suharto.
A friend of mine living in Bali for many years told me 2 years ago that he had a friend working for Intel, so who knows. 'Indonesian intelligence' sounds like an oxymoron when you see them drive, but maybe they just use the smart ones.
Whatever their history I think most of us expats in Bali would favor a touch more control and a tad less terror. If Intel can intercept some of the maniacs and deal with them, in whatever way they see fit, I'm all for it.
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G’Day Nick,
I can well remember those days under the Suharto regime in Java when the Intel were like Gods unto themselves. Everybody was shit scared to even open their mouths in case they were arrested for treason or another act against the Government. Most foreigners were looked upon as subversive. Shit, I wouldn’t even dare let my visa elapse by even a day!.
Ika should be able to tell you about that time under the Suharto regime.
The one thing that will reallly piss me off is if this ‘group’ of misfits will start closing down free press. At the moment, the media in Indo enjoy a certain level of being able to critisise pollies.
The classic example of ‘free press murder’ was when the Government shut down Tempo magazine. Thankfully, it has re-surfaced successfully and is now more ‘hard-hitting’ than ever.
I like Tempo, and for those unable to read Bahasa Indo, the magazine produces an English print as well. Worth checking out.
Absolutely. However Bakorinda needs to be controlled and it definitely shouldn’t be put under the coordination/surveillance of TNI. What if these local informants report more than necessary (e.g. non terror related) for some compensation, thus invading our own privacy? Sooner or later each one of us will be suspicious against each other, who knows?
Yes Tempo is a gutsy magazine. They name names and quote figures. A German student I was tlaking ot last night said he also found it refreshing and unafraid to go after the truth.
Hi Tom,
Agreed on that. I think the trouble will arise when you have informants getting greedy for money. A classic example of that was during the so-called communism purge by Sukarno. So many innocent people were slaughtered.
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