Policy Briefing Asia Briefing N°109 Jakarta/Brussels, 6 September 2010 Illicit Arms in Indonesia activities. Recruitment by jihadis of ordinary criminals in I. OVERVIEW prisons may also strengthen the linkage between terror- ism and crime in the future. A bloody bank robbery in Medan in August 2010 and the discovery in Aceh in February 2010 of a terrorist training There are four main sources of illegal guns in Indonesia. camp using old police weapons have focused public at- They can be stolen or illegally purchased from security tention on the circulation of illegal arms in Indonesia. forces, taken from leftover stockpiles in former conflict These incidents raise questions about how firearms fall areas, manufactured by local gunsmiths or smuggled into criminal hands and what measures are in place to stop from abroad. Thousands of guns acquired legally but later them. The issue has become more urgent as the small groups rendered illicit through lapsed permits have become a of Indonesian jihadis, concerned about Muslim casualties growing concern because no one has kept track of them. in bomb attacks, are starting to discuss targeted killings as Throughout the country, corruption facilitates the circula- a preferred method of operation. tion of illegal arms in different ways and undermines what on paper is a tight system of regulation. The Indonesian government could begin to address the problem by reviewing and strengthening compliance with procedures for storage, inventory and disposal of fire- II. GUN CONTROL IN INDONESIA arms; improved vetting and monitoring of those guarding armouries; auditing of gun importers and gun shops, in- At the national level, Indonesia takes gun control seriously. cluding those that sell weapons online; and paying more Despite this, illegally acquired arms continue to play a attention to the growing popularity of “airsoft” guns that role in extremist and separatist violence, as well as ordi- look exactly like real ones but shoot plastic pellets. nary crime.1 The problem needs to be kept in perspective, however. It Since 2003, Indonesia has reported yearly on its implemen- is worth addressing precisely because the scale is man- tation of the United Nations Program of Action to Pre- ageable. Indonesia does not have a “gun culture” like the vent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Philippines or Thailand. The number of people killed by Arms and Light Weapons.2 It has strict procedures for terrorist gunfire in Indonesia over the last decade is about registering and monitoring the use of firearms by both se- twenty, more than half of them police, and most of the curity forces and civilians. Illegal possession, sale, ex- deaths took place in post-conflict central Sulawesi and change, storage, manufacture, import or use of unauthor- Maluku. The nexus between terrorism and crime is not ised firearms or explosives is a capital offence under nearly as strong as in other countries. There have been a few cases of bartering ganja (marijuana) for guns – and one case of trading endangered anteaters – but in general, 1 narco-terrorism is not a problem. Related Crisis Group reporting includes: Asia Report Nº189, Indonesia: Jihadi Suprise in Aceh, 20 April 2010, on a terrorist Jihadi use of armed robberies as a fund-raising method is training camp in which police weapons were used; Asia Report Nº188, Radicalisation and Dialogue in Papua, 11 March 2010, a more serious issue, with banks, gold stores and ATMs includes material on insurgent raids that netted military the favourite targets. As of this writing it remained un- weapons; Asia Report Nº127, Jihadism in Indonesia: Poso on clear who was behind the Medan robbery – although the Edge, 24 January 2007, for a description of a shoot-out criminal thugs remain the strongest possibility – but ji- between police and militant jihadis using firearms from a hadi groups have robbed Medan banks before, most nota- variety of different sources; Asia Briefing Nº44, Aceh: So Far bly the Lippo Bank in 2003. Such crimes constitute a So Good, 13 December 2005, on the disarmament process in miniscule proportion of the country’s robberies, but it is Aceh following the 2005 Helsinki Agreement; and Asia Report still worth looking at where the guns come from when Nº10, Indonesia: Overcoming Mrder and Chaos in Maluku, 19 they occur. The problem may increase as the larger jihadi December 2000, for background on one conflict area that groups weaken and split, particularly those that once de- produced the biggest raid on a police armoury in recent history. 2 For the latest Indonesia country report, see www.poa-iss.org/ pended on member contributions for financing day-to-day CountryProfiles/CountryProfileInfo.aspx?CoI=91&pos=1000. Illicit Arms in Indonesia Crisis Group Asia Briefing N°109, 6 September 2010 Page 2 Emergency Law 12/1951, enacted when newly independ- ent Indonesia was feeling besieged on all sides by hostile A. CIVILIAN GUN OWNERSHIP forces. The law came into some disrepute during the Soe- By official statistics, Indonesia has one of the lowest rates harto years because it was often used against suspected 7 rebels in Aceh, East Timor and Papua when no other evi- of civilian gun ownership in the world. Any owner of a dence was available. (Since it also punishes possession of gun other than police or military must have a police per- mit, signed by the national police commander. Getting a sharp weapons, it can be used to arrest anyone carrying a 8 knife or machete.) It remains, however, the law most fre- permit is a lengthy and complicated process. Ordinary quently used today against anyone caught with illegal civilians between the ages of eighteen and 65 can own a weapons or ammunition. gun for recreation but not self-defence, and even then, permits are only issued to members of the Indonesian The Indonesian police are responsible for registering and Shooting and Hunting Association (Persatuan Menembak monitoring small arms of both its own members and ci- dan Berburu Indonesia, PERBAKIN) – and individuals vilians. The military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI) have to be members of an authorised shooting club for a has its own internal inspection system for registering year before they can even apply. The kinds of guns that and monitoring storage, distribution and destruction of civilians may use is also regulated by law and restricted 9 weapons.3 The system frequently breaks down, with in- to certain kinds of handguns and hunting rifles. spections often perfunctory and armoury guards occa- sionally involved in illicit sales.4 More guns may disappear Once obtained, the gun permit has to be extended every through negligence and pilfering than through criminal two years, with a psychological test taken each time. or insurgent raids. PERBAKIN maintains storage centres for guns, usually at the district police station; members who lose their guns Weapons taken from crime scenes also sometimes find through negligence are immediately expelled and can be their way back into illegal circulation. The disposal of prosecuted. As of August 2010, police said 6,551 people guns used as evidence in criminal trials is the responsi- had valid firearm permits for recreational use, not counting 10 bility of the prosecutor’s office at the district level: guns airsoft guns of which more below. are supposed to be turned over to the police for destruction or re-registration but some almost certainly disappear.5 One analyst cites five obstacles to carrying out mandated procedures for disposal: lack of resources; lack of equip- 7 For comparative data, see www.gunpolicy.org. Out of 179 ment for destruction; no good place to carry it out; the countries surveyed in terms of number of firearms per 100 tendency to delay destruction until many weapons have people, Indonesia and Singapore tied at 169, with 0.5 arms per been collected, by which time there has often been leak- 100 people. For other countries in the region, Malaysia was age; and bureaucratic delays in issuing the legal authority 133, Philippines 105 and Thailand 39. The data used comes for disposal.6 from government reports and thus needs to be taken with a grain of salt but the relative rankings may still be useful. 8 The procedure for obtaining a special firearm permit (Ijin Khusus Senjata Api, IKHSA) is set forth in police regulation Surat Keputusan Kapolri No. Pol: Skep/244/II/1999 and Surat Keputusan Kapolri No. Pol: Skep/82/II/2004 as follows: Appli- cants submit a request for a recommendation to the intelligence office of police headquarters in the province where they are registered, together with a c.v., letter of good behaviour from the local police, proof of employment, certification of good health and certification of shooting ability. The intelligence of- fice verifies the applicant’s address and occupation and the di- rector of the office interviews the applicant. If everything is in order, she/he issues the recommendation. This then goes to the 3 “Indonesia, National Report 2009 on Implementation of the intelligence office at national police headquarters with accom- United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and panying materials. The director there orders the office of fire- Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in arms and explosives control (Pengawasan Senjata Api dan Ba- All Its Aspects”, p. 7. han Peledak, WASSENDAK) to do a background check, ad- 4 See Section V.B below for specific examples. minister a psychological test and check the applicant’s shooting 5 See for example, “Kejaksaan Musnahkan Narkoba, Uang Pal- ability. If all checks out, the police lab then carries out a ballis- su dan Senpi”, Detik.com, 15 February 2010. tics test on the gun in question, and the permit, signed by the 6 Agus Purwanto, “Pemusnahan Benda Sitaan Yang Bersifat national police commander, is issued.