Akmal Nasery Basral – It seems that calamity has now struck within the International Crisis Group (ICG), a worldwide institution known for its study and review of national and international flash-points, including groundbreaking work on conflicts in Aceh and Irian Jaya. ICG's problems surfaced last week in Jakarta-not at the organization's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Sidney Jones, ICG Director since 2000, whose office is on floor 14 of the Thamrin Tower, will almost certainly fail to receive an extension of her work permit from the Department of Labor. Jones, an American citizen, says she has struggled since February to obtain the routine permit extension, but that it had finally been refused. "I first heard it from the staff of the Department of Labor," Jones said.

The exact grounds of the sudden refusal to grant Jones's permit remain unclear – but any justifications appear to reference the scope and potential "threat" of her work here. "She isn't just a social worker," said one member of the DPR's defense and security commission who attended a working meeting with the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), last Tuesday. "Sidney," he said, "has given many talks that have strayed into the areas of politics, human rights, or military matters, and have the potential to divide the public."

At the security meeting last week, which was closed to the press, the items on the agenda included an evaluation of the legislature election, the post-election situation, and preparations for the presidential election.

But the final agenda item was said to concern the names of a number of non-governmental and individual organizations that BIN considered likely to "disturb" the smooth running of the July 5 election. The 20 names circulated at the meeting apparently included Elsam (based in Papua), Sidney Jones, and Max Lane, an Australian Social Democrat Party activist and also the translator of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's works into English.

Speaking about ICG, BIN chief A.M. Hendropriyono first argued that not all reports prepared by the institution, which has 13 branch offices worldwide, are accurate. "Some are not correct," he said, "and this creates a negative image of Indonesia. Our work in the end then just becomes answering questions from the international community about reports that are untrue." Criticism for alleged inaccuracies in ICG reports also surfaced from Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hassan Wirajuda.

ICG in Indonesia has gained wide acclaim for its detailed understanding of conflict areas such as Aceh, Ambon, and Papua. But Sidney Jones's name has perhaps come to greatest prominence as a result of her exclusive-and often quite sensitive-information concerning Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and the Indonesian Military. Both admirers and critics note that she has talked quite openly, in depth, and with no willingness to smother difficult conclusions. That might be part of her current problem.

In a report on JI operations, for instance-a document coded Asia Report No. 43 published December 11, 2002-ICG sets out to create a link between Acehnese close to JI and Indonesian Military Intelligence in the Christmas Eve bombing in Medan, North Sumatra. Although the report does not conclude that Indonesian Military Intelligence worked directly with the alleged terror network, ICG suggests that by sharing a dim view of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Indonesia's Military and JI may be surprising bedfellows. Material Jones used in the Medan bombing report included results from Tempo magazine's investigation some time after the tragedy occurred.

In a recommendation section at the end of the Medan bombing report, ICG suggests that the government pursue three steps to combat the national military's potential to sympathize with JI against GAM. The steps include strengthening the capacity and coordination of intelligence, with an emphasis on the police, rather than the State Intelligence Agency or Indonesian Military (TNI).

A more controversial recommendation comes with the report's third point, which suggests that the government "pay more serious attention to corruption among police, the military, and the immigration service, particularly in connection with the trade in arms and explosives."

ICG President and Executive Director, Gareth Evans, who is also a former Australian foreign affairs minister, regrets that Sidney Jones might be expelled from Indonesia. "I believe the Indonesian government ought to weigh this up carefully," he said on the Australian radio network, ABC. "This will do more damage to Indonesia's image than ICG's."

ICG has itself actually twice written to Hendropriyono to seek an explanation. "But he still hasn't replied," Jones said.

Thus far, interim Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs & Security, Hari Sabarno, said he has still not reviewed or formally responded to the proposal to reject the ICG head's permit extension. Sabarno says the question of Jones' continued stay in Indonesia has not yet been raised at the necessary politics and security coordination meeting. "The DPR should make a formal recommendation," he said.

On the other side, Golkar faction's Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, a member of the DPR's defense commission, stressed that determining the policy on whether to extend a foreign citizen's stay permit is by rights under the authority of the concerned government agency. "If we, for instance, do not get stay permits or entry visas to the US, would we then consider that to be a political issue? Please don't make such a big deal out of it," he said.

For the time being, Sidney Jones will apparently leave Indonesia by at least June 10. After that, she says she will ask again for a stay permit from one of Indonesia's representative offices abroad. As Indonesia turns inward to prepare for its second round of elections, one significant voice from abroad seems to have been extinguished.