A 'pansus' on Marriott?

Last week's bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta once again exposed a big flaw in the state's intelligence capability to anticipate and prevent a terrorist attack in this country, this time hitting straight at the heart of the nation's capital.

When Bali was devastated by three bombs last October, many were willing to forgive the police and the nation's intelligence apparatus for this lapse. After all, just over a year earlier, terrorists managed to penetrate New York and Washington D.C., outwitting undoubtedly the most sophisticated intelligence system any country in the world could ask for.

But can we seriously forgive them the second time around after their latest lapse with the Marriott bombing? Perhaps, but not that easily. Definitely not until there is an independent investigation into the police and intelligence work.

This inquiry, or pansus (special task force), whoever decides to take it up, must ask two related questions: Just exactly how much did they (the police and security apparatus) know about this impending attack, and just exactly what measures did they employ to prevent it?

A number of events in the lead-up to the Aug. 5 bombing certainly suggested that the police and intelligence community had been, or should have been, aware that something like this was going to happen.

The arrests of a number of people believed to be connected with Jamaah Islamiyah, a regional terrorist organization responsible for the Bali bombing, a month earlier, should have raised alarm bells.

Police seized a cache of explosives in the Central Java city of Semarang during one of these raids, and learned that some explosive materials had already been sent to an undisclosed recipient in Jakarta. When one of the JI suspects committed suicide, that too could have been a signal that this person knew so much of an attack plan that he decided to take his own life.

There was every reason to believe that the police and our intelligence service had done their best to uncover a terrorist plot in the wake of the arrests of suspected JI members. But sometimes, their best is not enough. Besides, this is something that an independent inquiry would be able to establish.

Remarks by a senior police officer and the top man at the State Intelligence Body (BIN) since the Marriott bombing have not helped to dispel our doubts that the authorities knew much more than they are willing to admit. This then leads to the question: If they knew so much, had they really done their utmost to prevent the attack?

There was a remark by Brig. Gen. Gories Mere, a senior officer at the National Police, given to ABC on Thursday, in which he disclosed that the police had prior information about the bombing. He told the Australian TV network that police had intercepted an e-mail message from a certain Asmar to another JI suspect in which he said he was going to "marry," the JI code word for bombing.

A police spokesman quickly refuted Gories' statement as untrue, without venturing to give a further explanation. However, a day later, the police did identify the suspected bomber, whose severed head was found at the bombsite, as that belonging to Asmar. This alone suggests that Gories had not been far off the mark when he talked to ABC.

Then, there was the statement by BIN chief Hendroprijono a few days after the bombing, as reported by Antara, in which he said: "How can we prevent a certain action from taking place if we know a suspect but cannot make an arrest?" It is unclear whether Hendro was making this statement as part of his campaign to give more teeth to BIN, or whether he was trying to signal that the authorities had known quite a lot about this terrorist attack, but lacked the power to act or prevent it from taking place.

It is also disturbing to learn that many senior government officials are now calling for the introduction of draconian legislation similar to Malaysia's or Singapore's Internal Security Act as a way of dealing with the threat of terrorism. Has it not occurred to them that the problem is not so much the lack of legislation, but more the incompetent, probably uncoordinated, work of our many intelligence agencies?

An inquiry into the Marriott bombing would reveal where the lapses in our intelligence occurred and hopefully give us clues as to the kind of remedial action that is needed to fight terrorism more effectively.

The threat of terrorism can only be dealt with effectively through better and more efficient intelligence. There is no doubt that we need to improve the capabilities of the various intelligence forces. A thorough and independent inquiry into the Marriott bombing would be a good starting point.