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JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post / ANN) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the German embassy staff member who allegedly visited the headquarters of the Front of Defenders of Islam (FPI) in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, is not welcome in Indonesia after that he left the country shortly after a photo of the alleged visitor made the rounds on social media last week.
The FPI leadership previously claimed that an official representative of the German Embassy had paid a visit to the group’s headquarters on December 18.
But the embassy has said that the employee was simply trying to get a picture of the security situation during the so-called “1812 Protest” that FPI supporters held that day, as the demonstration would pass near the building.
The embassy has also said that the person had acted on personal initiative and not on behalf of the embassy.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the staff member had left Indonesia on December 21 and would be barred from re-entering the country.
“Since then, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been communicating with the German government through the German Embassy in Jakarta. […] The ministry broadcast the decision that the Indonesian government did not want the person in question to return to Indonesia, ”Retno said in a video statement.
The Foreign Ministry summoned German Ambassador Peter Schoof for clarification. He denied having ordered or had knowledge of the incident.
“For this incident, the chief representative of the embassy expressed his apologies and regrets for the incident,” Retno said, adding that he had also denied the assertions of the FPI leadership and assured him that the incident did not reflect government policies. German. or embassy.
The embassy also expressed the support and commitment of the German government to continue bilateral cooperation with Indonesia to combat intolerance, radicalism and hate speech, Retno added.
FPI supporters carried out what they called the “1812 protest” in central Jakarta on December 18 to demand a transparent investigation into the deaths of six FPI members and the release of the organization’s leader, Rizieq Shihab, who was arrested for allegedly violating health protocols through a series of mass meetings last month.
Animosity between the government and the FPI escalated earlier this month after an alleged clash between members of the Jakarta police and Rizieq supporters took place on a section of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road, resulting in the death of six members of the FPI.
The police and the FPI issued differing accounts of the incident, where the police argued that the officers had defended themselves from a life-threatening attack by members of the FPI and the FPI claimed that none of its members carried weapons and that the shooting had violated police protocols.
Muhammad Farhan, a member of Commission I of the House of Representatives that oversees foreign affairs, information and intelligence, suspected that the embassy official was a member of the German foreign intelligence service.
Citing information he received from his “sources in Berlin”, Farhan, who belongs to the NasDem Party, was quoted by kompas.com as saying that the person “was not a government employee registered with the German Foreign Ministry, but was registered as an employee “. at the BND, or the German intelligence agency. “- The Jakarta Post / Asia News Network
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