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BIN wants Din's amnesty processed quickly
Former rebel Din Minimi (center) talks to local people in Ladang Baro village, East Aceh regency, in Aceh on Jan
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Former rebel Din Minimi (center) talks to local people in Ladang Baro village, East Aceh regency, in Aceh on Jan. 2. Following his surrender to the Indonesian government last week, Din and his followers want to assimilate with society. (Antara/Syifa Yulinnas) (center) talks to local people in Ladang Baro village, East Aceh regency, in Aceh on Jan. 2. Following his surrender to the Indonesian government last week, Din and his followers want to assimilate with society. (Antara/Syifa Yulinnas)
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span class="inline inline-center">Former rebel Din Minimi (center) talks to local people in Ladang Baro village, East Aceh regency, in Aceh on Jan. 2. Following his surrender to the Indonesian government last week, Din and his followers want to assimilate with society. (Antara/Syifa Yulinnas)
National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Sutiyoso has said he will send a letter to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo asking that amnesty be quickly approved for former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) combatant Din Minimi, who recently surrendered to the government.
Sutiyoso said on Monday that he would submit the letter to Jokowi on Monday in the hope that that the Justice and Human Rights Ministry would quickly process the amnesty application and send a letter to the House of Representatives requesting that it follow up on the amnesty request.
"The ministry might send a letter to House Commission III [overseeing legal affairs] to ask that the amnesty be approved. We will just wait and see," he told journalists at the State Palace as quoted by Antara news agency.
The former Jakarta governor believed that the government would grant amnesty to Din.
"I had to be certain that the [request] could be processed further and then offered it to him. If I was not certain, then I would not have gone ahead [with the offer]," he said.
He also welcomed a plan by the National Police to press ahead with criminal charges against Din and his followers while they were on the run.
Coordinating Legal, Political and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government would need to thoroughly study the amnesty requests of Din and his group before deciding.
"[The amnesty] is not as easy as clicking your fingers. We will study it first just as President [Joko "Jokowi "Widodo] suggested," he said on Monday.
Sutiyoso witnessed Din and about 120 of his followers surrendered to the government last week.
The former rebels made a few demands of the government prior to their surrender. The demands included amnesty, honoring of the Helsinski peace agreement between the government and GAM, that government take care the welfare of former GAM combatants, widows and orphans. They also demanded that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) probe the alleged misuse of Aceh's regional budget and that the government to assign independent monitors for the 2017 Aceh gubernatorial election.
Aceh Police chief Insp. Gen. Husein Hamidi said last week that the police would still charge Din and his group for their criminal activities.
The police also put them on their wanted list in the past year for the illegal ownership of guns and criminal activities such as the murder of two Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel, attacks and kidnapping.
Husein said the police would wait for the government's decision on the amnesty but would still proceed with the legal process against the group despite their surrender. (rin)
