[Kabar-indonesia] 1, 400 Police Mobilized for SBY-Howard-PM Lee Batam Meeting

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: Australia's Howard To Leave Friday For Indonesia, China

The Jakarta Post
Friday, June 23, 2006

Batam on security alert for SBY, Howard meeting 

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam

At least 1,400 police personnel will be deployed to secure the upcoming 
meetings between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Australian counterpart 
Prime Minister John Howard and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Shien Loong in 
Batam, Riau Islands.

Riau Islands Police chief Sr. Comr. Sutarman told The Jakarta Post on 
Thursday 
the island will be put on alert for four days starting Saturday. 

The President is scheduled to arrive in Batam on Sunday for the meetings, 
scheduled for Sunday and Monday, said Sutarman. 

"This event is important for Batam and Indonesia so security will be 
maximum," Sutarman said during a display of antiterror maneuvers at Barelang Police 
Headquarters on Batam. 

The police, he said, will also be backed up by military personnel as well as 
the prime ministers' personal security detail. 

Riau Islands provincial administration spokesman Muhammad Nur said the 
President would meet Lee Shien Loong to sign an agreement Sunday to develop Batam 
industrial city. 

The following day, Yudhoyono is scheduled to meet Howard reportedly to cap an 
improvement in ties after a rift over Australia granting temporary visas to 
42 people from Papua province. 

Under the plan, the meetings will be held at Nongsa Point Marina, an 
integrated tourism site some 20 kilometers west of Batam city. Howard is also expected 
to stay the night on the island. 

Apart from guarding the official guests, Sutarman said the police would also 
monitor Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's arrival in the city Friday where he is scheduled 
to preach during Friday prayers at Jami' Baitul Iman mosque in Sekupang area, 
Batam. 

The alleged spiritual leader of the militant Islamic group Jamaah Islamiyah 
was freed last week after serving nearly 26 months in prison for conspiracy in 
the Bali bombings. 

He said Ba'asyir's intended visit was announced by the leader of the 
Indonesian Mujahiddin Assembly (MMI) Abu Jibril when he was speaking at the same 
mosque on June 9. 

"We will monitor him (Ba'asyir) and his speech but he's a free man now so we 
can't prevent him from coming to Batam," Sutarman said. 

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Australia's Howard To Leave Friday For Indonesia, China

CANBERRA, June 23 (AP)--Prime Minister John Howard leaves Australia on Friday 
for talks with Indonesia's leader aimed at easing tensions between the two 
countries, but he will be without a key bargaining chip he had wanted to take to 
the country's president. 

The talks Monday between Howard and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on 
Batam island near Singapore could be testy, analysts say, due to a rift over 
asylum seekers from a troubled Indonesian province and fresh differences over the 
release from an Indonesian prison of an alleged terrorist leader. 

Howard failed to heal a split in government's ranks over legislation designed 
to placate Jakarta, which remains angry at Australia's response to the 
arrival of a boatload of West Papuan asylum seekers in January. 

Australia's Immigration Department granted visas to 42 of the 43 asylum 
seekers, a move interpreted by Jakarta as an endorsement of Papua's separatist 
movement. Indonesia recalled its ambassador in March and demanded Australia revoke 
the visas, a request Howard denied. 

"There's no doubt the issue of Papua strikes a very sensitive chord in 
Indonesia because of their concern that Australia is trying to encourage a breakup 
of Indonesia," said Allan Gyngell, executive director of the Lowy Institute, an 
independent think tank. 

"The legislation would have been a demonstration of what he (Howard) has been 
saying to Yudhoyono, that Australia doesn't have any designs on Papua." 

Howard will try to push the legislation through Parliament in August, after 
an emergency meeting in Canberra late Wednesday failed to win over a group of 
10 government lawmakers opposed to the proposed new migration laws. 

Howard also plans to discuss the release of militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar 
Bashir, a sensitive topic in Australia. 

Bashir was released from prison after serving a 26-month sentence for 
involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 
Australians. Many Australians were outraged at his release, and Canberra has said he 
should have received a longer sentence. 

Later next week, Howard is to travel to the southern Chinese city of Shenzen 
to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and attend a ceremony marking the start of 
natural gas shipments from Australia to China. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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