Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday ordered the lifting of a one-year-ban on US terrorism researcher and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) expert Sidney Jones, his spokesman said.
Analysts had warned that Jones' expulsion was a setback for human rights and democracy in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, which has been transitioning to full democracy since former president Suharto's downfall in 1998.
Immigration authorities turned away Jones, an expert on the al-Qaeda-linked JI extremist group, when she tried to return to Indonesia after a brief trip to Taiwan on Thursday last week.
"The reasoning is that the reason for the ban is no longer relevant," presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng told reporters at the palace after announcing that Yudhoyono had ordered the ban lifted.
"The president made this conclusion after asking the minister for justice and human rights [for comment] and after looking at existing files."
Jones had only returned to the country in July after being expelled 13 months earlier by the previous government for apparently upsetting high-ranking officials over her reporting on JI, a sensitive subject here.
"Isn't it great? ... I'm absolutely delighted. I'm trying to get rid of all these phone calls so I can book an airline ticket back," Jones said from Singapore.
"They asked me to wait a couple of days to make sure that all the messages get through to immigration. So I expect to be home shortly but definitely this week," she said.
An official had called to inform her she could return, she added.
No explanation was given to Jones for the ban, but Home Affairs Minister Hamid Awaluddin reportedly said on Monday that she was deemed capable of swaying public opinion on terrorism and thus was a security threat.
Top security minister Adisucipto Widodo said that she was denied entry because of her "attitude," the Koran Tempo reported yesterday.
Activists and politicians had been rattled by Jones' expulsion, fearing it would pave the way for other repressive action by the government.
"This is a yellow light for democracy in Indonesia," Muhammad Hikam, a former defense minister and member of parliament representing Indonesia's third largest party, said just prior to the lifting of the ban.
Jones is Southeast Asia director for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), which researches the causes of conflicts worldwide.
The ICG has reported extensively on JI, and Jones was widely quoted by international media outlets after the suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali last month, which left 20 dead.
Jones suggested that those responsible had splintered from JI -- the existence of which the Indonesian government refuses to formally acknowledge -- to create their own hardline group.
Several analysts said that instead of being a threat, Jones' comprehensive studies had provided much insight into local militant networks.
Yudhoyono has repeatedly pledged a more transparent and clean government since coming to power in October last year, and the retired general had in fact sided with Jones during her previous exile.
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