Megawati takes spotlight in antiterror drive<\/p>\n
Shingo Ito, Agence France-Presse, Los Cabos, Mexico<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, hauled to the frontlines of
\nthe global anti-terror drive by a bombing massacre in Bali,
\narrived here on Thursday hoping to convince fellow Asia-Pacific
\nleaders she is determined to fight extremists.<\/p>\n
The bomb blast that tore through a Bali nightclub Oct. 12,
\nkilling at least 191 people, mostly Australians, cast Megawati as
\na key Asian key player in the U.S.-led campaign against worldwide
\nterrorism.<\/p>\n
President George W. Bush has scheduled a meeting with her on
\nSaturday on the sidelines of this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic
\nCooperation (APEC) summit after Washington warned she could no
\nlonger pretend terrorism did not exist in her country.<\/p>\n
\"Right now the signals coming out of Indonesia are fairly
\npositive,\" a senior U.S. official said in Washington, commenting
\non a wave of anti-terror measures hurriedly unveiled by Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"As of right now, I think the message will be one of
\nencouragement.\"<\/p>\n
Six days after the bombing, Megawati, who leads the world's
\nmost populous Muslim nation, agreed emergency decrees authorizing
\nthe death sentence for some acts of terror.<\/p>\n
There are growing suspicions that the regional terror group
\nJamaah Islamiyah, thought to be linked to bin Laden's al-Qaeda,
\nmay have had a hand in the Bali bombing.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday the U.S. State Department officially designated
\nJamaah Islamiyah as a \"foreign terrorist organization\", and
\nBritain said Thursday it will add the organization to its list of
\nbanned terrorist groups.<\/p>\n
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a 64-year-old Muslim cleric suspected of
\nbeing the spiritual chief of the network, was under police guard
\nin hospital after collapsing when police summoned him for
\nquestioning a week ago.<\/p>\n
At the APEC summit, Megawati was expected to seek financial
\nsupport and ask those countries whose citizens make up the bulk
\nof visitors to Indonesia to lift their warnings against travel.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Indonesia's Industry and Trade Minister Rini MS
\nSoewandi sought Japanese support for its battle to recover from
\nthe massacre when she met Japan's vice trade minister Sanae
\nTakaichi here.<\/p>\n
\"We want to regain peace and security in Bali through economic
\ndevelopment,\" Rini told Takaichi.<\/p>\n
Anti-terrorism measures swamped the official agenda here.<\/p>\n
A hostage drama in Moscow, where Chechen separatists held 700
\npeople at gunpoint in a theater, forced Russian President
\nVladimir Putin to cancel his visit to the APEC summit,
\nunderscoring fragile international security.<\/p>\n
The hostage-taking and the Oct. 12 bombing on Bali had been
\norganized by \"the same people,\" Putin said in Moscow. He sent
\nPrime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov in his place to the APEC summit.<\/p>\n
The real test of Indonesia's resolve will be follow-up moves
\nagainst hundreds of suspected Jamaah Islamiyah members still in
\nthe country and other radical groups, said Andrew Tan, an analyst
\nwith the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore.<\/p>\n
\"We have to see how the situation unfolds because the arrest
\nof Ba'asyir is only the first step,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"He has to be prosecuted and put behind bars,\" Tan said.
\n\"There are also large numbers of people associated with militants
\nstill running around.\"<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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