REPORTER: David O’Shea
At 10:30am on September 9 last year a powerful bomb exploded in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. In the chaos that followed it was impossible to gauge what the impact would be on Australia's complicated relationship with its giant neighbour.
Misinformation being broadcast on local TV wasn't helping at this difficult time.

NEWSREADER, (Translation): I repeat that some Indonesians now in Australia will be rounded up and forced to return home in a reaction to the bombing of their embassy.

But Australia was happy when, late last year, Indonesian police caught six men they said were responsible. By March police had completed their investigation. They named Iwan Dharmawan, alias 'Rois', as the key intermediary with the men who ordered the bombing.

POLICE PRESS CONFERENCE, (Translation): Rois is the one who brought the perpetrators from Cikande, from Serang. Then they escaped to Cikampek with the ringleaders, who have yet to be arrested - Azahari and Noordin Top.

Dr Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammed Top are the most wanted men in Indonesia today. Both Malaysian-born, they stand accused of a series of bombs across Indonesia over five years, including involvement in the Bali bomb.
On the first day of the embassy bomb trial there is a huge security presence but I'm surprised to learn the police are out in force for another case - a gangland murder.
The men charged in relation to the embassy bomb are transferred to the holding cells behind the court ready for their trial. Amidst the gangsters, corruptors and drug dealers, the terrorism trials attract very little interest.
Iwan Dharmawan, alias 'Rois', is said to be the one who selected the suicide bomber for the embassy attack.

REPORTER, (Translation): He was your friend, wasn't he? So you're sad he's dead?

ROIS, (Translation): If he died for the jihad then I am not sad.

REPORTER, (Translation): And do you think...are you sad?

ROIS, (Translation): I hope it's true he died a martyr. Why should we be sad? He is happy up there.

Rois and the others are affiliated with Darul Islam, an old movement that wants to make Indonesia an Islamic state. They are veterans of jihad with well-developed terrorist connections.

REPORTER, (Translation): I read that you said that you regretted there were no Australian victims?

ROIS, (Translation): That's not what I regret. I regret that the victims were Muslim and Indonesian.

REPORTER, (Translation): But as I asked, do you hate Australians?

ROIS, (Translation): I don't hate Australians. I hate people anywhere who oppress Islamic people. I don't just hate Australians but anyone who oppresses Muslims.

REPORTER, (Translation): But you chose the Australian Embassy. Was that because of Iraq or Afghanistan or what?

ROIS, (Translation): There were many factors. One reason is that Australia is the main supporter of every step America takes to oppress Muslims. In every country there are good and bad people, we don’t hate Australians...we hate is the Australian government, which rides roughshod over Muslims.

REPORTER, (Translation): If you get the death penalty, are you ready for that?

ROIS, (Translation): We'll see if I am ready or not. I don't know what sentence I'll get, this is my first time.

Irun Hidayat is another important member of this terror cell.

IRUN HIDAYAT, (Translation): I think other religions would react in the same way. I think Australians would react the same if their people were continually downtrodden.

REPORTER, (Translation): Perhaps, but not to the point of bombing as a protest.

IRUN HIDAYAT, (Translation): If you are talking about bombs, they're just the instrument. The instrument depends on the situation. In the olden days we might have used swords but these days it is bombs. So when Muslims have problems today, like Afghanistan and other places, Muslims stick together.

Over a 2-month period I filmed the accused on trial. It gave me a first-hand look at how Indonesia's judicial system handles terrorism. The prosecution's case relies heavily on statements taken by police after the men were arrested.
As the trial gets under way a prosecutor reads a statement signed by one of the defendants, Ahmad Hasan. It records him saying that Noordin Mohammed Top had told him the embassy was a legitimate military target.

PROSECUTOR, (Translation): Don't consider the Australian Embassy as being civilian. It is a symbol of the Australian military. Attacking the embassy is the same as attacking the country itself.

But the statements they supposedly gave to police are frequently disputed.

JUDGE, (Translation): I am asking you, is it true or not?

WITNESS, (Translation): No, it's not. It's like this... When we made our report there was no talk about the target.

JUDGE, (Translation): This crime is a serious one - determining the target for a bombing - and the Australian Embassy was attacked as a military symbol.

WITNESS, (Translation)It's like this, sir... I'll explain. It was one of his targets but he didn't say directly that Australia was the target, only that Australia had helped... Australia had helped Indonesia in the war on terror.

Noordin Mohammed Top, who chose the alias 'Cholid', apparently ran a typical terrorist cell structure, keeping each person in the dark about the others' role.

WITNESS, (Translation): Well, like I said before - when someone was told to do something, to do a job, I wasn't allowed to ask about it. Cholid said not to ask too much.

A year since the blast the road in front of the embassy is still closed because of the extensive security work under way on the building.

DAVID RITCHIE, AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR: I think you'll understand I won't go into the detail of that, but that has taken quite a long time to do. The construction work, we hope, will be finished in a few months time.

On the day of the explosion Australian ambassador David Ritchie had a lucky escape.

DAVID RITCHIE: I was sitting at my computer, ironically tapping out a message on security and how everyone need to be careful about their security, when the bomb went off.
Of course, all hell broke lose at that point. Windows of the whole embassy blew in, the light fittings and everything came in, the whole building was filled with dust and everything. And one of the pieces of metal off the fence came through my window about that far above my head. It didn't make it all the way through, so it was alright, but nevertheless it focuses the mind wonderfully.

Dr Azahari was apparently standing by to watch the result of their work, but he got away again. Local media reported that in the chaos just after blast police caught Azahari but then let him go.

REPORTER: It's a little unfortunate, though, that Dr Azahari was able to bribe police out the front here on the day?

DAVID RITCHIE: Well, so I am told, I don't know whether that is true or not, but I have certainly read it in the media. I think there have been a lot of opportunities to have caught Dr Azahari and Noordin Top. The police, I know, have come close on several occasions but I guess you can slightly understand it. I don't know if he bribed them or not, or whether it was a policeman who let him go, there are many, many stories.
But it was chaos on the day, outside the embassy, thousands and thousands of people involved and these people are notoriously able to change their appearance and I don't blame anybody for that.

This wanted poster is pasted all over Indonesia and shows the men as masters of disguise. After watching the explosion and fleeing to safety, Dr Azahari, who the group knew as Ali, provided each of them with pistols and a lunch box containing a bomb. They then each went their separate ways.

JUDGE, (Translation): Why were you carrying these?

WITNESS, (Translation) I was doing it for Ali.

JUDGE, (Translation): What did he tell you to do with them?

WITNESS, (Translation) He said it was a small bomb.

JUDGE, (Translation): A small bomb? I mean, why were you carrying them?

WITNESS, (Translation): He told us to commit suicide.

It is unclear where, how and why they were supposed to commit suicide. Surprisingly, this important issue wasn't followed up with further questions.
In 2001 when Tommy Suharto, the former president's son, was on the run, senior policemen helped him evade arrest. Many Indonesians are now asking whether the police are doing the same for Azahari and Top. The conspiracy theory is that while they remain free, international funding pours in to boost the fight against terrorism, so why catch them?
Last year in West Java police had them surrounded, but, again, they got away.

JOHN MEMPI, DIRECTOR OF CEDSOS (Translation): Usually when the security forces surround a suspect they form three concentric circles. Even a dog would find it difficult to escape. So how did Azahari manage to get away?

John Mempi is director of CEDSOS, a Jakarta-based foundation conducting research into terror and security issues. He says a policeman in the counter-terror team 'Detachment 88' told him he didn't believe the search for the Malaysians was serious.

JOHN MEMPI, (Translation): So he resigned from the anti-terror team and became a regional police chief. I don't know his exact rank - on an island, that's what he said.

With the embassy bomb just one of many terror attacks over the past few years, there are constant rumours here of shadowy links between the security forces and terrorists.
Djoko Susilo is an influential member of the Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Affairs and Defence. He is also concerned about the quality of the police investigations into the Australian Embassy bomb.

DJOKO SUSILO: The police have not done their job professionally, on that case, so there is some question on the issue of dealing with terrorist activity.

REPORTER: But they have arrested a series of people that they say coordinated the attacks. You don't believe Rois is the right man?

DJOKO SUSILO: So far we have not yet been given substantial fact which we can believe this is the real perpetrator of the terrorist activity.

The military used to handle terrorism in Indonesia. Now the police do, with the full support of the Australian Government, which provides assistance worth millions of dollars.

DAVID RITCHIE: We are very satisfied with the police officers. The nature of our assistance, which I won't go into much detail on, involves a lot of technical assistance and forensic assistance and assistance in those sorts of areas. We have done very well to catch the two bombers, the bombers we have caught so far.

The new police counter-terrorism squad, Detachment 88, has powers to detain and interrogate for one week, but according to all the defendants, during this period their statements were taken under great duress.

JUDGE, (Translation): I am asking you, who was it that threatened you?

WITNESS, (Translation): The detective.

JUDGE, (Translation): Did they say, "I'll kill you, torture you?"

WITNESS, (Translation): Of course.

JUDGE, (Translation): Yes? Please explain. You remember now. Tell us so we can write it down.

The defence team, too, want this recorded because it is their best chance of getting a reduced sentence for their clients.

LAWYER, (Translation): So, some things you confessed aren't true?

WITNESS, (Translation): Yes.

LAWYER, (Translation): Because you were tortured?

WITNESS, (Translation) Yes.

JUDGE, (Translation): What did they hit you with?

WITNESS, (Translation): Their hands.

JUDGE, (Translation): Left hand or right hand?

WITNESS, (Translation): I didn't notice.

The accused men admit helping Azahari and Nordin Top purchase, transport and store the bomb-making materials and conduct a survey of the location, but back in the holding cells Rois is much harder to pin down. He's adamant that the police version of events isn't true. He then tries to maintain he's innocent.

REPORTER, (Translation): What was your role in all of this?

ROIS, (Translation): My version or the police version or...?

REPORTER, (Translation): Your version.

ROIS, (Translation): I say I had no direct involvement. I already told you last week, I don't feel I am involved.

Clearly they were involved but it seems police may have resorted to torture to seal the case. Agus Ahmad says he had electrodes attached to his penis to get him to sign his police statement.

AGUS AHMAD, (Translation): They gave me electric shocks.

JUDGE, (Translation): They gave you shocks? That's physical. Where exactly?

AGUS, (Translation) Excuse me - my helmet.

Revelations that the police extract confessions by torture are nothing new in Indonesia, but in the West they are enough to have a case thrown out of court. It's hard to tell what the impact will be here as this serious issue turns into a courtroom joke.
The judge loses his patience with another defendant, Irun Hidayat, when his claims of torture are not backed up with detail.

JUDGE, (Translation): If you make objections they have to be clear. We need a reason. For example, they pointed a gun at your head or you were tortured to get your statement. Then I'd deem it inadmissible. Were you at gunpoint when making your statement? Were you threatened like that?

WITNESS, (Translation): I wasn't at gunpoint.

JUDGE, (Translation): You weren't?

WITNESS, (Translation): No, but I was intimidated.

The Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, David Ritchie, doesn't want to get involved in messy questions about police brutality, especially since Australian police work very closely with Detachment 88, the unit accused of this torture.

REPORTER: Are you concerned that the people now on trial the embassy bomb all claim confessions were tortured out of them.

DAVID RITCHIE: Look, I'm not going to enter into that because that's a matter for the Indonesian police. Let me just say, from an Australian point of view, that we are fairly confident that the people who are being put in front of the courts are the people who were responsible for the bombing. And further than that I don't really want to go because these are matters that are in front of the courts at the moment.

Dateline asked the Department of Foreign Affairs about the torture allegations. Their response was, "we are advised that allegations of torture have never been put to the Australian Federal Police by any of the Jakarta bombing suspects. The AFP have not interviewed these individuals."
There are more curious aspects to this case, for example, it is possible the bomb was set off by remote control. So did suicide bomber Heri Golun know he was going to die? Police say he wrote an incriminating farewell note for delivery to his parents after his death. John Mempi says the police could have written it themselves to sow up the case.

JOHN MEMPI, (Translation): It could be that the police faked the letter, wrote it then said Heri Golun wrote it before he died.

Again, there is no way Dateline can confirm this.

JOHN MEMPI, (Translation): Heri Golun's hatred of Australia, his hatred of foreigners, his Islamic radicalism was never obvious before - he was a petty crim at the market. So why, suddenly, he became radical we don't know.

Another question arises out of this police reconstruction of the event. Police claim that the suicide bomber, Heri Golun, had to be taught to drive and his lack of skill prevented him turning further into the driveway of the embassy, to maximise damage and casualties, but in this exchange in court Ahmad Hasan completely rejects the accusation that he taught him to drive.

AHMAD HASAN, (Translation): I don't know if Rois taught him.

JUDGE, (Translation): So where do these words come from?

AHMAD HASAN, (Translation) I've told you - when I went to the market Said always came too. But now they say I taught him to drive. I never did.

Perhaps the most intriguing detail of all to emerge in court was that Noordin M Top funded the bombing of the embassy with Australian dollars.

AHMAD HASAN, (Translation): We were told to change Australian dollars. Australian dollars?

JUDGE, (Translation): How many - millions, thousands?

WITNESS, (Translation): 9,700.

JUDGE, (Translation): How much was it converted to rupiah?

WITNESS, (Translation): 63 million.

This is highly unusual because throughout Indonesia the US dollar is the currency of choice, so apart from who supplied the money, where did it come from and why Australian dollars? Again this tantalizing piece of information is not followed up.
After two months observing this trial I am left with the impression that Indonesia's justice system just isn't capable of finding the whole truth about the Australian embassy bomb.
On my last day at South Jakarta Court, Rois repeats his mantra.

ROIS, (Translation): Only this - don't make problems for Islamic people. That's all.

REPORTER, (Translation): To whom are you saying that?

ROIS, (Translation): To all those enemies of Islam because the result will be even bigger.

REPORTER, (Translation): And your comment on the bomb?

ROIS, (Translation): The trial is still going on. I have no comment until after the trial is finsihed

Rois is facing the death penalty and a verdict is imminent, but whatever the decision he will reject it.

ROIS, (Translation): I am Islamic. If I have done something wrong then I want to be tried in an Islamic court. That's enough - turn it off.