Self-confessed Bali bombers map out a sinister trail<\/p>\n
Lawrence Bartlett, Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Evidence from two self-confessed bombers has mapped out a
\nsinister trail from the peace of a Malaysian village and the
\npiety of a rural school to the carnage of the Bali massacre.<\/p>\n
Each new link that falls into place in the investigation of
\nthe blast which killed more than 190 people leads back to the
\nvillage, the school and relationships developed by Indonesians
\nliving in exile in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
At least four of the main characters so far identified as
\ncentral to the probe share the Malaysian connection, a bitter
\npill for the government of this moderate Islamic country.<\/p>\n
It was in Malaysia that the two who have admitted involvement
\nin the Bali attack, Amrozi and Imam Samudra, came in contact with
\npeople and projects linked to the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist
\norganization.<\/p>\n
JI was allegedly being nurtured by two of their countrymen,
\nMuslim clerics Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali, and Abu Bakar
\nBa'asyir, who had fled the Indonesia of former dictator Soeharto,
\nseen by fundamentalists as an oppressor of Islam.<\/p>\n
Hambali arrived in Malaysia in 1985, left to fight in the
\nanti-Soviet campaign in Afghanistan from 1987 until 1991, and
\nreturned to settle in the quiet village of Sungai Manggis about
\nan hour's drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
There he and fellow villager Ba'asyir built the JI
\norganization into a terrorist network inspired by what Hambali
\nhad learnt from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, says
\nsecurity analyst Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside Al Qaeda.<\/p>\n
Imam Samudra, described as a leading figure in the Bali
\nbombing, told Indonesian police this week he was a neighbor of
\nHambali's in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Amrozi, a self-confessed lower-level operative, attended a
\nreligious school run by Ba'asyir, Luqmanul Hakiem, near Ulu Tiram
\nin southern Malaysia.<\/p>\n
The isolated school, set among palm oil plantations, was
\nclosed down by Malaysia in January, but by then the key
\nIndonesian suspects had returned home after the fall of Soeharto
\nin 1998.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir, Samudra and Amrozi are now all in detention, with
\nBa'asyir held on allegations of involvement in a series of
\nbombings of Indonesian churches on Christmas Eve 2000. Hambali is
\nat large.<\/p>\n
Some analysts have suggested that suppression under Soeharto
\ngave rise to the militancy which grew among Indonesian exiles in
\nthe Malaysian village and school and exploded violently in Bali.<\/p>\n
But Gunaratna, dismisses this. "It is a fact that Soeharto was
\nhard and these people left Indonesia and developed the
\norganization outside.<\/p>\n
"But it was not a response to his oppression. I believe in any
\ncase these people would have developed this kind of structure
\nbecause al-Qaeda is a very violent organization and infected
\ngroups like JI.<\/p>\n
"Malaysia's role was a passive one, not active. It was
\nIndonesians who developed JI in Malaysia. All key leaders of JI
\nare Indonesians."<\/p>\n
That is of little comfort in a country which winces every time
\nMalaysia is mentioned in connection with the Bali killers.<\/p>",
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