By Ng Tze Yong in The Riau Archipelago
The Electric News Paper, June 06, 2008
WE are standing on a ramshackle jetty, somewhere beside a murky river and thickly forested islets.
NTU associate professor Leonard Sebastian gazes out at the many islands that make up the Riau Archipelago, making it a smugglers' delight.
It looks like the middle of nowhere, perhaps somewhere in the heart of Indonesia, but it is not.
This is Belakang Padang, Batam.
It is a small village, but its significance is big.
This is just about the closest point in Indonesia to Singapore.
From here, Singapore's Central Business District looks just as far as it does from the end of Bedok Jetty.
It's 10 minutes away by rickety sampan. You feel like you might be able to swim over if you just tried.
On 27 Feb, exactly 100 days ago, terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre.
And it would not have been the nature reserves of Singapore but the dark, low silhouette of the Riau Archipelago that would have called out to him as a promise of freedom.
At least, that is what Associate Professor Leonard Sebastian believes. He is the co-ordinator of the Indonesia programme in the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
In April, he co-wrote an editorial in The Straits Times, arguing that former Jemayah Islamiah (JI) leader Mas Selamat is likely to be in the Riau Archipelago, and called for the Indonesian police to concentrate their surveillance there.
Click to see larger image
The area is ideal for those looking to squat, with no questions asked. The Riau islands have about 40,000 houses illegally built by migrant workers. Pictures: Choo Chwee Hua
The New Paper contacted him and asked if he would show us around the islands.
He agreed.
'If Mas Selamat slipped out of Singapore, Belakang Padang would likely be his first destination,' he said.
He pointed out that Mas Selamat escaped at about 4pm, just in time for dusk to fall.
'He would have tried to make it out within the first four hours,' said Assoc Prof Sebastian. But how?
Through the owner of a Batam cafe known to be frequented by the pirates who ply these waters, we met Peter (not his real name), a former sea captain with links to pirates.
'You go to Geylang? You see (contraband) cigarettes everywhere?' Peter asked us.
He smiled and clasped his tattooed fingers. It's hardly difficult, he said, to sneak in and out of Singapore by boat.
How would you escape if you were Mas Selamat, we asked him.
Two ways.
One, sneak across to Malaysia, make it to Kota Tinggi and find a boatman to smuggle him down the Kota Tinggi river to Bintan.
The cost? Between 100,000 rupiah ($14) and 500,000 rupiah ($72), according to locals.
If not, Mas Selamat could have sneaked out from Jurong Fishing Port.
Peter said: 'It is accessible to the public. He goes on a fishing boat... the dogs can't smell him.'
Once in Indonesia, things get easier.
The Riau Archipelago is home to job-seeking migrants from all over Indonesia.
Mr Adriwanto, Assoc Prof Sebastian's Indonesian research analyst, said: 'Strangers are not unusual. Mas Selamat would be able to blend in.'
On the map, the Riau Archipelago looks like splattered paint, every drop an island.
There are secret coves and isolated villages on islands too small to find on the map, beside rivers with no names.
We moved south with Terry (not his real name), a taxi-driver who also smuggles cigarettes between Singapore and Batam.
At Pulau Rempang, we lunched at a kelong restaurant frequented by tourists.
Terry pointed to a tranquil village nearby and said: 'After midnight, you will see the smugglers come in on their sampans.
The village is what locals call a 'pelabuhan tikus', or 'mouse harbour'.
These are unofficial harbours at isolated kampungs all over the islands.
Weak law enforcement has made them a haven for smugglers.
Assoc Prof Sebastian said: 'They are the perfect hiding place for Mas Selamat. In a place where people are involved in illicit activities, you do not tell on one another.'
'Ruli', or 'wild houses', can also provide refuge. These are squatter homes built illegally by migrant workers. There are about 40,000 of them in the Riau Archipelago.
Shopkeeper Mohd Antonius, 65, said: 'Anyone can come and build a ruli for himself. Nobody will ask.'
Assoc Prof Sebastian added: 'The people there are poor and may not have access to the mass media, so they may not known who Mas Selamat is.'
If Mas Selamat is indeed in Riau, will he pose a threat to Singapore?
To become a danger, he must be operationally ready. But Assoc Prof Sebastian does not think he will not link up with his old network.
'His old network is under surveillance. Mas Selamat will more likely start a new cell in Riau,' he said.
If he moves around Indonesia, he risks detection by the Rukun Tetangga, a neighbourhood watch of sorts that exists in Indonesian villages.
'To make ends meet, he could work as a labourer or a peddler. Sell keropok or chicken nuggets from a pushcart or something.'
The idea sounds ludicrous.
But Assoc Prof Sebastian pointed out that many people involved in militias hold jobs like these. It is low-profile and easy money.
He said: 'After Sept 11, the well-educated, middle-class background Middle Eastern man became the stereotype of terrorists.
'But in Indonesia, it is the poor people who are attracted to terrorism,' he said.
'We need to change our mindset so that we can address the root causes of terrorism, which are poverty and marginalisation.'
There will come a point when Mas Selamat may seek funding for his plans. The Baitulrrahaman Qur'an school, a hardline mosque in Batam, may be a contact point.
The school preaches a hardline Salafist creed and sends its students to Yemen, southern Thailand and Syria with the financial help of Muslim associations in London.
Assoc Prof Sebastian said: 'They may not agree with Mas Selamat's ideology, but neither will they turn him away.
'Among the devotees, he will find sympathisers.'
But in the end, the archipelago's allure for a terrorist may not be its hardliners, which form but a small group. It may be its indifference.
Terry said: 'People here are only interested in making money. We do not support him.
'But we have bigger criminals in Indonesia. There are gangsters and corrupt officials.
'Here, Mas Selamat is just a small fry.'
