Indon lawmakers visit jailed Rizal Day bomber

Some members of the Indonesian Parliament paid suspected ranking Jemaah Islamiya member Agus Dwikarna a visit yesterday.

Dwikarna is serving a prison term at the Camp Crame detention center in Quezon City for illegal possession of explosives. He was convicted on July 11, 2002 by the Pasay City Regional Trial Court.

Details of the visit were not divulged to the press by local authorities and the unnamed members of the Indonesian Parliament.

Dwikarna was arrested on March 13, 2002 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) by agents of the Philippine National Police Task Force Sanghali last year. Arrested with him were Tamsil Linrung Balfas.

Explosive devices and materials used in making bombs were seized from the luggage of Dwikarna, Linrung and Balfas after they were intercepted by alert immigration officers just before they boarded their flight to Singapore.

A charismatic Muslim leader in Indonesia and believed to be a ranking JI member, Dwikarna was tagged as the conduit of Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terrorist network in Southeast Asia.

"What happened during the meeting was a simple visit by some Indonesian parliament members," a ranking PNP Task Force Sanghali member told The STAR. "You know their politics also follows the padrino system."

Dwikarna commands a large following all over Indonesia and has always been a key figure in the Indonesian political arena.

Proof of Dwikarna’s influence was seen when thousands of Indonesian protesters stormed the Philippine embassy in Jakarta upon his orders – orders Dwikarna issued from inside his detention cell in Camp Crame.

Only Dwikarna was convicted of the illegal possession of explosives charge. Linrung and Balfas were both released following the intervention of President Arroyo upon the request of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

It is widely believed that Dwikarna’s arrest and subsequent conviction dealt a major blow to Al-Qaeda’s plans to sow terror in Southeast Asia and set up an Islamic state in the region covering Mindanao, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Dwikarna is believed to have been behind the Dec. 30, 2000 bombings in key areas in Metro Manila, including the Blumentritt station of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) in Manila, a deserted gasoline station in Makati City and a bus in Cubao, Quezon City killing 21 people and injuring over 100 others.