Bashir Travel Ban: Jakarta, Indonesia

It seems the Indonesian Government has come to its senses and decided to impose an international travel ban on Abu Bakar Bashir according to a report in the Jakarta Post. This is because of the militant cleric's inclusion on the UN's consolidated list of terrorists.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman is quoted a saying "As a responsible member of the UN, we will obey its Resolution No. 1267 which obliged us to ban those on the list from travelling, freeze their assets and impose ban on arms possession". All well and good but it does not stop Bashir from instructing one of his cohorts to do his dastardly deeds.

Even the Vice President Jusuf Kalla voiced his opinion - "Now that Bashir is free, what assets are there to be confiscated? What assets of a free man can be confiscated? Even his Islamic boarding school belongs to the public. How can we freeze it?"

Hmm. I could think of one asset in particular and that of his freedom and return him to where he was released from for 'the term of his natural life'.

According to the report in the JP, under article 7 of its chapter on fighting terror the UN asked the Security Council to list individuals with links to the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, including his entities and associates. The UN then issued Resolution No. 1267 listing thousands of people implicated in terror acts including Bashir among the 10 Indonesians.

Indonesia had the mechanism for obeying the resolution and believed local law enforcers were aware of its contents and knew what to do. Australia and the United States would both like to see Jemaah Islamiah deregistered as an organisation but this will never happen. The Indonesian government is already in a huff about other countries dictating to them.

Oh politics, politics, the bane and pain of it all.