| THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017 | THE STRAITS TIMES |
Suspects
deny Batam
rocket plot
Duo accused of planning Marina Bay attack
say Indonesian anti-terror unit made it up
Francis Chan
Indonesia Bureau Chief
and Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja
Indonesia Correspondent
In Jakarta
Two suspects including the lead-
er of a Batam terrorist cell who
are accused of planning to fire a
rocket at Marina Bay have denied
having any part in the foiled attack.
The alleged leader, Gigih Rahmat
Dewa, and his accomplice, Hadi
Gusti Yanda, were back in court as
the trial against them which start-
ed on Feb 1 resumed yesterday.
Speaking to The Straits Times,
Gigih said there was no such plan,
while Hadi claimed it was a
trumped-up charge. That is a sto-
ry made up by Densus, Hadi said,
referring to the Detachment 88
counter-terrorism police unit,
known as Densus 88.
The two Indonesians, and three
other members of the cell, were ar-
rested in Batam last August in con-
nection with the terror plot target-
ed at Singapore.
Follow-up raids by Densus 88 at
their homes found weapons such
as a bow and arrow and an airsoft
gun modified to resemble an
AK-47 assault rifle but no rocket.
A sixth member, Leonardus Huta-
julu, was arrested in September.
Among his possessions seized
were an airsoft replica of an assault
rifle, two mobile phones, an Indone-
sian passport and a travel itinerary
The alleged terrorist cell leader, Gigih Rahmat Dewa, conferring with his lawyer
in the East Jakarta courtroom yesterday. ST PHOTO: WAHYUDI SOERIAATMADJA
Spore, Jakarta target
cyber threats jointly
Singapore and Indonesia, which
have long cooperated on defence
and counter-terrorism, are also
working together in tackling cyber
threats, said Deputy Prime Minis-
ter Teo Chee Hean yesterday.
We had many positive and good
exchanges in counter-terrorism,
and I thanked our Indonesian coun-
terparts for helping arrest groups
in Indonesia who may be thinking
of causing Singapore harm, he
added.
DPM Teo was speaking to report-
ers in Jakarta where he was attend-
ing the Indian Ocean Rim Associa-
tion Leaders Summit, which end-
ed on Tuesday.
He also met Indonesias Coordi-
nating Minister for Political, Legal
and Security Affairs Wiranto, and
Defence Minister Ryamizard Rya-
cudu, separately on the sidelines of
the summit on Monday.
During those meetings, they ex-
changed views on regional security
issues, including the terrorist
threat posed by the Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the impor-
tance of enhancing regional coop-
eration in cyber security.
We are sharing our experiences
in how to run a cyber security agen-
cy and the Indonesians are interest-
ed in setting up one as well, said
Mr Teo.
He had announced in January
2015 that Singapore will set up the
Cyber Security Agency (CSA) to co-
ordinate public- and private-sec-
tor efforts to protect national sys-
A21
with Singapore as the destination.
Gigih and Hadi, as well as Tarmid-
zi, Eka Saputra and Trio Syafidro,
pleaded not guilty when they were
charged in court on Jan 24 in connec-
tion with the terror plot. They were
also charged with harbouring mili-
tants and funding terror activities.
The police did not reply to queries
regarding Gigih and Hadis claims
about Densus 88 by press time.
Thecase drew much attention ow-
ing to the audacious nature of the al-
leged plan and how quickly Densus
88 managed to round up the mem-
bers of the cell behind it.
The progress of the trial, howev-
er, has been slow, noted East Jakar-
ta District Court Judge Tarigan Mu-
da Limbong, who was presiding
over the sixth hearing of the case.
He took issue with the prosecu-
tion, after only two witnesses out
of 16 who were scheduled to testify
showed up. He also criticised the
prosecutors for turning up four
hours late for the hearing yesterday.
Counter-terrorism analyst Adhe
Bhakti, from the Centre for Radical-
ism and Deradicalisation Studies,
said the hearing must be complet-
ed six months from the date the
case was presented to the court,
which was Jan 24.
If there is no verdict within that
window of time, the defendants,
by the law, must be released, he
added.
tkchan@sph.com.sg
wahyudis@sph.com.sg
tems from cyber threats.
Indonesia announced last month
that it will also set up its own Na-
tional Cyber Agency to deal with cy-
ber crimes in the country.
Mr Wiranto had said earlier that
even though Indonesias Defence
Ministry, State Intelligence Agen-
cy, police and Communications
and Information Ministry have de-
veloped their respective cyber divi-
sions, there were still security gaps
that needed to be plugged. He add-
ed both countries could cooperate
further and share experiences.
DPM Teo yesterday stressed the
importance of building strong peo-
ple-to-people ties between Indone-
sia and Singapore as the two coun-
tries mark 50 years of diplomatic
relations later this year.
This year will be the 50th
anniversary for the Republic of In-
donesia-Singapore relations so
our embassy has dubbed that as
RI-SING 50, or Rising 50, he add-
ed, noting that a key event to com-
memorate the milestone will be a
Leaders Retreat that is set for Sep-
tember.
DPM Teo said Singapore is close-
ly monitoring the diplomatic row
between Malaysia and North Ko-
rea, and the latters very active
launching of missiles, in the last
few days. North Korea on Monday
fired four ballistic missiles, three of
which landed in Japans exclusive
economic zone.
Francis Chan