JAKARTA, The government defended the controversial
purchase of US$5 6 million worth of intelligence equipment from a UK-based company,
saying the devices were not intended for spying.
Defense Ministry
spokesman Brig. Gen. SisriadiIskandar said on Thursday that the Indonesian Military
(TNI) would use the equipment, which was purchased from UK-based Gamma TSE
Ltd., to communicate with Indonesian defense attaches around the globe.
"The
devices are not for spying, but to protect communication between attaches and
the TNI's Strategic Intelligence Agency [BAIS]," he said in a telephone
interview.
Sisriadi, who
declined to specify the purchased equipment, said that the devices' hardware
and softwarewere being installed at the attaches' offices and in Indonesia,
"lndividuals, who will operate the equipment, have received training
overseas," he continued.
The purchase
sparked concern that the TNI would abuse the sawy devices, which were procured
with loans from the UK government. Politicians suspect the TNI is planning to
wiretap political parties' Communications during the run-up to the 2014
general election.
Meanwhile, five
NGOs grouped under the Indonesian Civil Society warned against the bugging of
activist and civilians' emails and phone.
"Gamma TSE
Ltd. supplied surveillance equipment for ruling regimes, such as Bahrain,
Bangladesh and Mexico. The devices have been used to spy on the public,"
Erwin Maulana from Imparsial, a member of the Indonesian Civil Society.
The latest case
in Malaysia back in March, saw documents relatingto the country's elections
infected by Gamma's malicious software (malware).
Erwin also
suspected that the Defense Ministry purchased a complete package of
intelligence equipment and not only counter surveillance, as the ministry
claimed.
"According
to our sources, the company usually sells a whole package on surveillance,
recovery, digital forensics and other sawy monitoring products," he said.
In a statement
released on Thursday, the Indonesian Civil Society called on the government
and the House of Representatives to supervise the use of the equipment.
"The House
should form a supervising team on the use of Gamma's technology. The team must
listen to the public's complaints regarding damages inflicted by the
technology," the group says.
The procurement
project was approved by the House's Commission I on defense and foreign affairs
last year.
TubagusHasanuddin,
commission deputy chairman and retired two-star Army general, previously said
that had planned to set up a special team to monitor how the military used the
wiretapping devices in the months leadingup to the 2014 elections.(YuliasriPerdani),
Sumber Koran: THE JAKARTA POST(27 September 2013/Jumat, Hal. 04)