Tony Sitathan – The latest crackdown by the Indonesian government, just one month before presidential elections on July 5, is not being aimed at rebel forces in Aceh, but rather at the International Crisis Group (ICG) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Indonesia.

ICG's Southeast Asia director Sidney Jones and analyst Francesca Lawe-Davies were given the marching orders to leave Indonesia "immediately" on Wednesday and could depart before the weekend is over. Almost overnight they were made persona non grata and have since been treated more like dissidents than international activists.

The move is strongly reminiscent of actions taken during the rule of former dictator Suharto. But perhaps there were higher motives of nationalism involved in expelling Jones and Lawe-Davies from Indonesia, as many government officials believe ICG's reports on terrorism and separatist movements have only fanned the seeds of discontent in the country. The ICG was among 20 NGOs named by the head of the state intelligence agency (BIN), retired general A M Hendropriyono, as potential security threats to the upcoming presidential elections.

Since its establishment in 2000, the Brussels-based ICG, which researches the causes of conflicts worldwide, has published critical reports on Jakarta's handling of separatist conflicts in Aceh and Papua provinces. It has published 37 reports and briefing papers on conflict related issues and has reported extensively on the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist movement, communal violence and the transition from military to civilian rule.

It comes as little surprise then that ICG's independent reports, circulated both inside and outside of Indonesia, were ruffling a few feathers in certain quarters of the government, as well as the Indonesian military.

"It was clear that her [Jones'] reports were creating some embarrassment to the government since it was later revealed that the National Intelligence Agency head, general Hendropriyono felt that her reports were not all true and it damaged the country's image overseas," said Agus Marjoedi a former human rights activists in Jakarta.

The first sign that trouble was brewing for ICG occurred in February when Jones' visa extension was denied approval by the Labor Department. The BIN is empowered by Presidential Instruction No 5/2002 to coordinate all intelligence activities and has the authority to review foreigners' work permits. Many see this directive as a way for the all powerful government machinery to expel anyone it deems dissident as there is no legal recourse in place to dispute decisions made by the BIN.

Although several officials have reacted to the expulsion – national assembly speaker Amien Rais, a candidate in the presidential election, said that the expulsion "will have a negative impact" – no government official has taken responsibility for the decision to expel Jones, who remains largely in the dark about the causes for her expulsion. "We haven't even been told directly what we've done wrong – the officials concerned won't meet with us. We have not been able to respond to any charges, and there is no legal mechanism to challenge the expulsion," Jones said.

ICG's president, former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans, said "the expulsion order is outrageous and indefensible, utterly at odds with Indonesia's claim to be an open and democratic society, and is bound to damage Indonesia's reputation far more than ICG's. We urge the government to allow us to resume our activity. To shoot the messenger doesn't say much for the state of political liberty in Indonesia under the Megawati [Sukarnoputri] government," he said in a press statement.

ICG's reports have been labeled as counter-subversive to the Indonesian republic and are seen by the government as having the potential to divide the public. An excerpt from ICG's most recent report on new violence in Ambon reads: "The response of the Indonesian government at both local and national levels has been poor, from the short-sightedness of the police to the unhelpful portrayal of the violence in some quarters as Christian independence supporters against Muslim defenders of national unity.

"What is needed now is a thorough, impartial, professional and transparent investigation into the causes. ICG discounts the government's quick presumption that the gun men belonged to FKM or radical Muslim groups. The former have no sniper capacity, the latter would not have aimed at members of their own community. Much speculation has focused on members or ex-members of the security forces, who would have the necessary marksmanship. But no hard evidence at this stage supports any of the conspiracy theories that link the killings to the national presidential elections later this summer or local police-military rivalry."

This report seems like hardly enough of a reason to expel Jones, particularly after the earlier release in December 2002 of a controversial ICG report on JI operations and the Christmas Eve bombing in Medan. Although the report did not conclude that Indonesian military intelligence worked directly with the alleged terrorist network, ICG did suggest, although not conclusively, that the Free Aceh Movement, Indonesia's military (TNI) and JI may be surprising bedfellows. In addition, it recommended that the government strengthen the capacity and coordination of intelligence, with an emphasis on the police rather than the BIN or the TNI, and also pay serious attention to corruption among police, the military and the immigration service, particularly in connection with the trade in arms and explosives.

This inflammatory report would seem to have been a more compelling reason to expel Jones two years ago rather than now with the start of presidential campaigning. The real motivations behind expelling Jones, and possibly curbing NGO activity in Indonesia, are unclear, but putting an end to criticism from groups such as the ICG could promote the ruling faction led by President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Democratic Party of Struggle and give her added leverage in the run up to July's elections, the first in which voters in the world's largest Muslim nation will choose their leader directly.

In hindsight, the ICG reports largely look at how the violence started in the troubled provinces such as Ache and Papua, discuss the missteps, if any, made by officials in addressing the violence and the different theories that have emerged to explain it. However, according to Todung Mulya Lubis, a human rights lawyer and chairman of ICG's board in Indonesia, the reports are based on analysis and are not loaded or sensationalized. "We feel that these reports were fair, objective and balanced," he said, adding that BIN's assertions that the ICG's reports damaged the country's reputation are too simplistic.

In addition to the ICG, another NGO that has come under the close scrutiny of BIN is Elsam, a human rights organization. Its chairman, Ifdhal Kasim, said in an earlier interview with the Jakarta Post that he had no idea why his NGO was included on the watch list, as no government or security officials had ever complained about its activities.

"Our reports are mostly about government policies on human rights and legal reforms. And our criticisms are based on scientific analysis and are intended for policymakers, not for the general public," he said. Being censured by the government now seems to Ifdhal like a return to the days of Suharto, when acts of intimidation and public censure were used as a powerful tool to control objective views and opinions. Elsam has published reports on violence in East Timor and the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre, assisted in human rights tribunals and legal reform and formulated recommendations on the establishment of a reconciliation commission.

For now, with elections on the horizon, it will be interesting to see whether Indonesia chooses to stay the democratic course and be committed to reforms in light of its earlier reformasi period, or go the other way and adopt the very policies that in retrospect it tried to overturn during the Suharto era. Perhaps the need to strengthen national unity comes at the expense of the Indonesian republic, and officials such as Hendropriyono see giving a hand to NGOs like ICG as fanning the seeds of discontent that are fast brewing in the Indonesia archipelago.

But Indonesia would do well to take a page from its history and realize that a closed society only breeds closed minds. Taking a bit of criticism could go a long way toward repairing its international image as the largest, democratic Muslim country in the world. Perhaps the next president, whoever that may be, will start to look at things differently and put a stop to Indonesia's falling foreign direct investments instead of stopping its foreign nationals.