Analysts say Indonesia in U.S. anti-terror targets

Analysts say Indonesia in U.S. anti-terror targets

Stephen Collinson, Agence France-Presse, Washington

Indonesia is about to find itself under mounting U.S. scrutiny as
the Bush administration presses home its campaign to rout out
terror havens, and analysts say the attention could prompt hard
choices in Jakarta.

Officials and observers note a growing awareness that
Southeast Asia, with widespread and often institutionalized
corruption, thriving crime, and often weak central governments is
an ideal breeding ground for terrorism.

And Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation,
ravaged by sectarian and ethnic conflicts represents an ideal
potential haven for al-Qaeda fugitives or other terror cells.

There is a growing sense among many in the U.S. foreign policy
community that President Megawati Soekarnoputri has done too
little to hunt down terror suspects, after promising to help the
U.S. campaign during a White House visit days after Sept.11.

"The only place Indonesians are not being arrested for
terrorism is Indonesia," charged Dana Dillon, an analyst at the
Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank with close ties to
the Bush administration.

Indonesia is being held up as an unflattering comparison to
the Philippines, which signed up U.S. special forces advisors in
its battle with Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who have supposed links to
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.

No one here argues that a common approach to the two countries
would work -- but Indonesia epitomizes a crucial question for the
administration -- how to solicit an anti-terror purge in a
country not naturally predisposed to Washington.

Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy US Defense Secretary gave part of the
answer in an interview in the New York Times on Friday.

He said that fearing a backlash, Washington would not seek to
send troops to Indonesia, but would work more closely with law
enforcement agencies there.

There is concern here that Megawati may be unwilling to anger
radical Islamic groups, or may be delaying action in deference to
sectors of Indonesia's politically powerful army.

Sources say that Pentagon officials have for months been
seeking ways to dilute a congressional embargo slapped on
military ties with Jakarta, after its army was implicated in the
militia rampage in East Timor in 1999.

But given the sensitivities in Jakarta, and the power of the
human rights lobby in Congress they are moving carefully.

"If we want their cooperation, and their cooperation is
essential to our success, we can't look like we are interfering
in their internal affairs," Wolfowitz, a former US ambassador to
Jakarta told the Times.

Concern apparently also extends to senior leaders throughout
Southeast Asia.

"They are worried that Megawati is not going to deal with the
internal consequences of the al Qaeda operation as forcefully as
she should," said Richard Solomon, of the U.S. Institute for
Peace, who recently met several senior Southeast Asian officials.

John Gershman, an analyst with the liberal Foreign Policy in
Focus think-tank goes further, saying there is "intense
dissatisfaction" within the administration at Indonesia's
performance.

And a senior administration official quoted in the Times on
Friday admitted : "Indonesia is infinite shades of gray right
now, and you need a more nuanced approach."

That approach has spared Indonesia the kind of diplomatic
pressure imposed on Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, who
was given a clear choice by the Bush administration at the start
of the anti-terror war -- "either you are with us or against us."

Indonesia has come under pressure from within and outside the
region to take action against alleged terrorist leaders.

Singapore named Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir,
who runs a Muslim boarding school in Central Java, as a leader of
the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group.

Thirteen alleged Jemaah Islamiyah operatives were detained in
Singapore last year for allegedly plotting to blow up U.S.
targets there. Singapore says some of them have identified
Ba'asyir as a leader.

Ba'asyir has denied any links to international terror but has
described Osama bin Laden, alleged mastermind of the Sept.11
attacks, as "a true Muslim fighter".

Singapore has also identified Riduan Hishamuddin, also known
as Hambali, as linked to international terror and the planned
attacks in the island republic.