A 'pansus' on Marriott?

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.