`Al-Qaeda linked to terrorist attacks in RI'

`Al-Qaeda linked to terrorist attacks in RI'

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The testimony of Malaysian Wan Min bin Wan Mat during the Bali
bombing trial has provided more evidence that the international
terrorist group al-Qaeda may have been involved in terror attacks
and sectarian clashes in the country since 1999.

"If al-Qaeda is implicated in the Bali bombings, I believe
that the international terrorist group has also been involved in
other terror acts in the country within the past four years,"
Insp. Gen. Ansjaad Mbai, the head of the anti-terror desk at the
Ministry of Political and Security Affairs, said on Friday.

Ansjaad was responding to the testimony made by Wan Min --
the alleged treasurer of the regional terrorist organization
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) -- who said that "al-Qaeda provided funds
for the organization."

JI has been blamed for the bombing of two night clubs, Paddy's
and the Sari Club, in the resort island of Bali.

Wan Min's statement, which was made via a video conference, is
supposedly the most direct evidence to link Osama bin Laden's
terrorist network and the Bali attacks.

According to Ansjaad, several suspected JI members who
currently face trial for their alleged involvement in the
bombings in Bali and Makassar, South Sulawesi, also "stayed in
Maluku and Poso, Central Sulawesi, when sectarian conflicts were
sparked there four years ago."

He reportedly referred to the location of a paramilitary
training camp in Poso and the presence of radical groups in
Maluku.

"I'm not making a rash conclusion, but the facts are that
several suspects in the Bali bombing trial are also accused of
bomb attacks in other parts of the country," Ansjaad told The
Jakarta Post.

The prolonged sectarian conflict in Maluku alone claimed more
than 6,000 lives, while some 2,000 people were killed in the
bloody clashes in Poso. The two bombings in Makassar last
December killed three people.

Thousands of security personnel were deployed but failed to
curb the clashes.

Bin Laden is also accused of responsibility for the Sept. 11,
2001 attack on the United States.

Meanwhile, terror analyst Hermawan Sulistyo of the National
Institute of Sciences (LIPI) warned that Wan Min's account
delivered the message that the war against terrorism in the
country will face a tough challenge and that the police will be
incapable of taking it on.

He said that terror attacks would continue in the country as
long as "domestic situations, including the presence of local
radical groups and the uncertainty of political circumstances,
are conducive to them."

"Such international links would not flourish here if local
radical groups were not participating in terror activities,"
Hermawan told the Post. "And I don't think that the police or
intelligence officers are adept at hunting down the clandestine
groups linked to JI and al Qaeda."

"The incompetence of security officers in handling terrorist
attacks worsens when the political elite take advantage of
radical groups to win political support," he said, referring to
heightened political tensions leading up to the 2004 general
elections.