Activists warn govt of sluggish bombings probe
Activists warn govt of sluggish bombings probe
JAKARTA (JP): Activists questioned on Friday the government's
sluggish pace in probing the Christmas Eve bombings, saying that
better cooperation was needed between the state and the public to
uncover these terrorist attacks.
Asmara Nababan who heads the Indonesian Forum for Peace
(FID)'s fact-finding team on the bombings, said they were still
waiting for the government's reaction to the forum's work.
The forum is a voluntary council set up by activists soon
after the Christmas eve bombings to help the government identify
the perpetrators.
"We have laid out our hands...but then the question is will
the government reach out to them? Initially, we did see the
government's willingness to cooperate with us, but now...?" he
told a media conference at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute
Foundation (YLBHI) when announcing the findings of the team's
investigation.
"Based on our investigation, we are sure we can uncover not
only the perpetrators but also the masterminds behind the
bombings. But we can only succeed if the state and the society
cooperate."
"We don't need more rhetoric. We want the government to give
us an answer tomorrow," Asmara added
Earlier this week, FID submitted a proposal for the
establishment of a commission consisting of seven high-ranking
security officers and representatives of the forum to oversee the
investigation.
The government said they agreed with the proposal but has yet
to follow up on the initiative.
The secretary of the forum's investigating team, Munir,
vaguely described the mastermind of the bomb attacks on the nine
churches in seven provinces as an organization that has wide
access to all societal elements.
"The suspected perpetrators do not come from the same
political grouping or community...a big political power would be
needed to link them to commit this terror," he said.
Munir argued that the attacks were not religiously motivated
but designed to destabilize the country by creating communal
conflicts.
Munir also alleged that those who placed the three grenades on
a railway track in Bekasi were also linked to the Christmas eve
bombings.
Separately in Bandung, prosecutors returned the dossiers on
the suspects of the Christmas eve bombings in the city to police
investigators because the description of the crime and charges
were inadequate.
The suspects, Roni Milyar, 21 and Agus Kurniawan, 23 are still
being treated at Sartika Asih Hospital for burns.
The other suspects, Aceng and Iqbal are still at large.
(25/bby)