[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Indonesia raises terror tempo
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- Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 01:39:02 +0100
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**http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GK11Ae01.html
Indonesia raises terror tempo
By Bill Guerin
JAKARTA - One of Southeast Asia's most-wanted suspected terrorists has blown
himself up - or been gunned down - only days after it was revealed that
al-Qaeda's former Southeast Asian chief had escaped from US custody.
Azahari bin Husin, a Malaysian-born electronics expert and apparent master
bomb-maker for Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), triggered a bomb on Wednesday, killing
himself and two others, after an elite police counterterrorism unit, known as
Detachment 88, moved in on a villa in the East Java hill resort of Batu on the
southern flank of the volcanic Mount Arjuna. (Some reports say he was killed in
police gunfire.) JI is considered a loosely connected regional arm of al-Qaeda.
Accused by Indonesia of being behind the Bali bombings in 2002 that killed 202
people, mostly foreigners, Azahari, with his fellow Malaysian Noordin Top, had
evaded a police manhunt ever since. Pictures of the suspects had been posed in
public places across the country, including shopping malls, office buildings
and gas stations. Police had also offered a Rp 1 billion (US$111,100) reward
for any tip leading to the arrest of the men. Noordin is still at large.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the arrest of both within 100 days
of his inauguration last year.
Unlike other JI cadres, who mostly come from villages and have little training,
Azahari was highly educated. In 1999, he was sent to Mindanao in the southern
Philippines for weapons training and to learn how to produce explosives. On his
return home in 2000, Azahari, along with Hambali (Riduan Issamudin), the JI
operations chief, for three months took advanced lessons in bomb-making in
Kandahar, Afghanistan. A Reuters report said he held a doctorate degree from
the University of Reading in England.
One gets away
Meanwhile, the Pentagon confirmed this week that Umar al-Faruq, also known as
Mahmud bin Ahmad Assegaf, had escaped in July from Bagram Airbase, a US
military compound north of Kabul in Afghanistan. News of the escape emerged in
a military trial in Texas against a sergeant accused of torture.
Faruq, a Kuwaiti-born Iraqi, also holding a Pakistani passport, had entered
Indonesia as a refugee and married an Indonesian woman. He was arrested in
Bogor, West Java, on June 5, 2002 and handed over to the US three days later.
Jakarta was widely criticized at the time for "caving in" to American pressure.
Faruq was suspected of being al-Qaeda's point man in Southeast Asia, and in
1999, like Azahari, he is believed to have gone to Mindanao for weapons and
bomb-making training.
He is accused of training militants in Mindanao and involvement in
anti-Christian violence in the Indonesian province of Maluku. Years of bloody
fighting between Muslims and Christians there have spawned support for groups
such as JI and the radical new militant group of fighters known as Thoifah
Muqatilah, or the Combat Unit, thought to have been headed by Azahari and
Noordin.
Faruq also allegedly played a key coordinating role between al-Qaeda and the
JI, including the setting up of financial networks. While in custody, Faruq is
reported to have warned of a serious attack in Indonesia just months before the
Bali bombings.
What he told US interrogators prompted the US ambassador in Indonesia to meet
then-president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, warning that JI was set to launch a big
attack on a "soft" Western target.
Hambali was born in West Java and was accused by officials of being a senior
figure in the JI and a veteran of the Afghanistan war. He was said to have had
close links to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the presumed mastermind behind the
September 11 attacks, who was captured by the United States. Washington claims
Hambali was responsible for organizing the meeting in Malaysia in January 2000
between Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmii, two hijackers in the Twin Towers
attack.
Hambali was arrested in Thailand and handed over to the Americans in 2003.
Washington steadfastly refused to allow either Faruq or Hambali to return to
Indonesia to testify against JI spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who in
March was sentenced by an Indonesian court to two-and-a-half years in jail on
conspiracy charges related to the 2002 Bali bombings.
Missteps in the 'war on terror'
Such lack of coordination in the "war on terror" is startling, but in terms of
success in arresting and convicting terrorists, Indonesia is far ahead of most
countries.
During the past three years, since the first Bali bombing (a second attack on
October 1 this year killed 20 people), police have made 270 terrorism-related
arrests and secured 170 convictions. They have repeatedly chased down
operatives and the people who help them.
Last month, Indonesia and the US inked an agreement to develop their capacity
for cooperation in the "war on terrorism", covering law enforcement,
intelligence and agency cooperation, but still the US Congress plays hard to
get over the resumption of military-to-military relations between the
countries.
Last week in Washington, a Congressional conference agreed to maintain
restrictions on foreign military finances and on exports of lethal military
equipment to Indonesia until Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice certifies that
the Indonesian armed forces, which have been accused of human-rights abuses,
have met certain conditions
"I see there is no legal basis to accuse Indonesia of not doing anything to
meet all requirements for the restoration of military cooperation," Minister of
Defense Juwono Sudarsono said on Sunday, at the same time reminding Washington
that Indonesia was a US ally in the "war on terror".
The hunt goes on
The hunt will continue for Noordin, but planned new measures will lead to
concerns about human rights.
Indonesia's top anti-terrorism chief, Major-General Ansyaad Mbai, warned that
although the events had reduced the capability of the terrorists, "a movement
with ideological and political motives won't die, even if the leading figure
dies".
On human rights, Mbai noted: "The existing [anti-terrorism] law gives limited
room for the state authorities to work, partly because of our concerns about
human rights. But there must be a common understanding that we cannot protect
the human rights of individuals to such an extent as to sacrifice the rights of
the public at large."
Legislative amendments, if passed, would permit preemptive measures, even
against people suspected of promoting radicalism, said Mbai.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said, "Like it or not, the government must take
measures which are tough and resolute, no different from what was done during
the New Order era [of former president Suharto]."
Given the abuses of power and rights violations during the 33 years of the New
Order, activists fear a military that has too much power, but the president
himself wants the military to play a strategic and technical role in fighting
militancy.
Commander in Chief General Endriartono Sutarto has reportedly ordered the
revival of the once-feared community-based intelligence system, the military's
territorial command, Koter, that covers the country right down to village
level. Non-commissioned officers (babinsa) monitor local communities and report
on "suspicious" residents to the intelligence authorities.
National police chief, General Sutanto, also wants tougher anti-terror
legislation, to "give room to the police to move quickly and effectively"
against terrorists.
Ultimately. Jakarta, fired up by Wednesday's success, will continue to do
things in its own way, not in response to dictates from the West, particularly
from the US, which continues to exert pressure over past issues rather than
commit to the fight against clear and present dangers.
Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has
worked in Indonesia for 20 years as a journalist. He has been published by the
BBC on East Timor and specializes in business/economic and political analysis
in Indonesia.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us
for information on sales, syndication and republishing .)
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