Language skill helps Noordin<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja and Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta\/Semarang<\/p>\n
Although the National Police are exerting their best efforts
\nin trying to hunt down the country's most wanted terrorist
\nNoordin M. Top, it is going to be difficult to find him now that
\nhe can speak the local language.<\/p>\n
Noordin and bombmaker Azahari bin Husin, both Malaysian
\nnationals, are believed to be the masterminds of a series of
\nterrorist bomb attacks in the country in the last few years.<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Malaysia, the police have always believed
\nthat Noordin could not switch from his native Malaysian to Bahasa
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
However, National Police chief Gen. Sutanto revealed on Friday
\nthat Noordin was able to master Javanese and Sundanese as well as
\nspeak Bahasa Indonesia fluently.<\/p>\n
\"He still uses some Malaysian slang but he can speak the local
\ndialects very well,\" Sutanto said in a press conference held at
\nthe National Police Headquarters.<\/p>\n
Azahari was also able to speak Javanese fluently. He was
\nkilled on Nov. 9 during a police raid in East Java. But,
\nunfortunately, Noordin, whose expertise is in recruiting young
\nmen to become terrorists and even persuading them to carry out
\nsuicide bombing, managed to escape during a raid on the same day
\nin Semarang, Central Java.<\/p>\n
\"We're doing our best to catch him. We're working with the
\nmilitary and we're also counting on the public to inform us if
\nthey notice any suspicious-looking people living in their
\nneighborhood,\" Sutanto said.<\/p>\n
The police elite antiterror squad is still hunting down four
\npeople who are allegedly members of Noordin's group in Central
\nJava following the arrest of terrorist suspect Dwi Widyarto or
\nWiwid. They managed to escape the recent raid in Semarang.<\/p>\n
Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Chaerul Rasjid said that
\nhis investigators were still questioning Wiwid intensively to
\ngain more information about the terror network.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Jakarta Police have also named three people as
\nsuspects for harboring Azahari and Noordin. The three people were
\narrested on Nov. 17 in Pekalongan, Central Java province.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Sutanto also refuted a statement in an article
\npublished by The Australian on Friday saying that the group of
\nAzahari and Noordin initially planned to bomb a memorial service
\nheld in Bali for those killed in the 2002 Bali attacks, but was
\ndeterred by high security, and instead launched three suicide
\nbomb attacks on Bali, that killed 23 people. The report was said
\nto be based on documents recovered from Azahari's last hideout.<\/p>\n
\"From the documents we recovered at Azahari's rented house in
\nMalang, we found no such evidence. The documents only outlined a
\ndetailed plan of the Oct. 1 attack but nothing on bombing the
\nmemorial service,\" Sutanto said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/language-skill-helps-noordin-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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