Indonesian Embassy in the Philippines Yet to Receive Report on Indonesian Citizens’ Arrest

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Indonesian Embassy in Manila has yet to receive any official report from the Philippines police on the arrest of three Indonesian citizens in the country, according to a spokesperson. “We can’t confirm or deny this for the time being as there is not yet any official report from the Philippines police,” Indonesian Embassy spokesperson Triyogo told TEMPO by phone on Friday night (15/3). As reported by AFP News Agency, three Indonesian citizens--Agus Dwikarna, Abdul Jamal Balfas and Tamsil Linrung--were arrested on Friday. They are suspected to be members of the Jamaah Islamiyah group, an Islamic militant group allegedly connected to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda group. The three Indonesian citizens were arrested at Manila airport for having explosive materials and weapons in their luggage when they were on their way to Bangkok, Thailand. Tamsil Linrung, one of the three suspects, is a former treasurer of Indonesia’s National Mandate Party (PAN). According to Triyogo, the Indonesian Embassy will only be able to make a statement if there is an official report from the Philippines police stating that three Indonesian citizens have been arrested. This is based on an international convention that must be obeyed by every country. This is based on an international convention which states that if any foreign citizen is arrested in a foreign country, then the government of that country must inform the foreign citizen’s embassy within three days at the latest. Triyogo said,” We all have to honor the convention.” St. Ambia B. Bustam, a PAN member of the House of Representatives (DPR) denied that former PAN Party treasurer Tamsil Linrung had been arrested in the Philippines. “The information is not true,” Ambia told TEMPO on Friday night (15/3), who went on to say that according to Tamsil Linrung’s family, the former PAN Party treasurer had only been questioned because he was traveling with an Indonesian visa on a return flight between Bangkok and the Philippines.