'Indonesia must initiate anti-terror drive'<\/p>\n
The policy statements coming from the United States amounts to
\n\"unilateralism\" in the ears of many outside the country. Former
\ndefense minister Juwono Sudarsono shared his thoughts on the
\nissue with The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Question: What are your thoughts on President George W. Bush's
\ncurrent unilateral foreign policy?<\/p>\n
Answer: President Bush is riding high in the polls at home
\nsince Sept. 11 and the successful military campaign in
\nAfghanistan, averaging 80 percent approval ratings. He has just
\ngot Congressional support for a US$2.3 trillion defense budget
\nfor the next five years. He wants to carry this momentum well
\nover to the presidential elections in 2004.<\/p>\n
The big question is whether he can carry this stance long
\nenough to overcome possible hurdles in the U.S. economy. American
\npublic opinion is behind him now, but whether this unilateralism
\n-- in speechmaking if not always in the nuances of actual policy
\n-- can be sustained throughout the next two years is an open
\nquestion.<\/p>\n
Q: Critics have said that the U.S. hard-line on anti-terrorism in
\nSoutheast Asia will create more problems than resolve them. What
\ndo you have to say?<\/p>\n
A: Governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have
\nexchanged intelligence about region-based terrorist groups since
\nthe mid-1970s and especially after 1993. September 11 heightened
\nthe concern over global terrorism, compounded by high profile
\nmedia reports about U.S. demands for a world-wide concerted
\neffort.<\/p>\n
The more relevant issues are: First, pinning down
\nincontrovertible legal evidence of terrorist activities -- the
\nplanning, financing, abetting, executing of terrorist acts by
\nindividuals or groups in Southeast Asia that are manipulating
\nperverted Islamic precepts \"linked to\" or \"associated with\"
\n(suspected terrorist) Osama bin Landen and his cohorts.<\/p>\n
Secondly, defining and delivering appropriate responses so
\nthat governmental action will be perceived as being fair,
\naccurate and measured, not based on a knee-jerk stance easily
\nmisperceived to be against the interests of the larger Muslim
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
This has nothing to do with whether a country has internal
\nsecurity acts or not; it is a simple matter of political acumen.
\nThird -- and most important in the case of Indonesia -- any
\nAmerican assistance should be carefully calibrated so that the
\nscope of anti-terrorist policies and actions should first and
\nforemost be an Indonesian government initiative rather than
\nperceived as being conducted at the behest of American pressure.<\/p>\n
Recent agency reports that U.S. intelligence plans to initiate
\na campaign to slant international media coverage in favor of
\nU.S. policy can only work against the interests of the government
\nassisted, as well as against the interests of American foreign
\npolicy in the long-term. It would be unfortunate if the U.S. Safe
\nHarbor Act, for example, be held against Indonesia \"for not being
\ncooperative enough.\" Nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n
Indonesian authorities have questioned and arrested several
\nsuspected terrorists and there are any number of moderate
\nIndonesian Muslims, including those in the Muhammadiyah and
\nNahdlatul Ulama (largest Indonesian Muslim organizations) who
\nopenly oppose groups who hijack and manipulate Islamic precepts
\nto justify violent and radical change, Al Qaeda or no Al Qaeda.<\/p>\n
Q: What about the response of Indonesian officials to the
\ncomments of Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew recently?<\/p>\n
A: If you read Lee Kuan Yew's comments in context, there really
\nwas no need to react in the way some Indonesian officials have
\ndone. Lee was concerned about reported Al Qaeda cell operatives
\nin Southeast Asia being \"loose around\" in Indonesia and
\nendangering the security of Singapore. In my reading, Lee was not
\nbeing provocative.<\/p>\n
Rather, Indonesian officials and media made it out to be
\nprovocative. If they had been consistent, they should have
\nprotested (U.S. Ambassador to Singapore) Frank Lavin's comments
\nthe week before when he claimed the Indonesian government was not
\ndoing enough in the campaign against international terrorism. Or
\nthe Singapore Straits Times report from Jakarta about an
\n\"intelligence finding\" on the triangular link of terrorist
\nIslamic groups working together in Singapore, Malaysia and
\nIndonesia in October last year.<\/p>\n
In any case, time will tell whether Lee Kuan Yew's voiced
\nconcern was right or whether the Indonesian government's response
\nwas the more appropriate.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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