Anti-terror fight in Southeast Asia far from over

Wong Chun Wai and Lourdes Charles, The Star, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia

They have been contained but certainly not destroyed. In fact, Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) remains dangerous with many of its senior leaders, including several Malaysians, still at large.

Intelligence agencies in the region continue to focus their resources on hunting these key operatives despite the arrest of Hambali, the link man for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda movement.

Across the region, more than 200 people, linked or suspected to be linked to JI, are now in custody in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

More information on the operations of the shadowy group has emerged from the interrogation of the suspects.

The findings are disturbing -- the JI is a much bigger organization than the intelligence agencies previously thought.

It has strong communication and financial links with al-Qaeda and is still capable of carrying out attacks.

In Malaysia, the police have destroyed the threat posed by the militant network with the arrest of 27 Kumpulan Militan Malaysia (KMM) and 93 JI members.

The police cracked down on the group even before the Sept. 11 attacks.

But said Special Branch director Mohd Yusuf Rahman: "A big group of them are preserving their strength while reorganizing themselves."

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Southeast Asia was winning the war against terrorism but "it is not completely over."

Malaysia, he said, managed to contain JI but it "has yet to be destroyed."

There are plenty of reasons to be cautious.

In Indonesia, the pesantren (religious boarding schools) of Ngruki in Solo and Al-Muttaqien in Semarang, regarded as the breeding grounds of Islamic extremism, continue to send teachers to preach throughout Indonesia.

"They are regarded by the Indonesian authorities as 'sleepers' who will one day wake up and spring into action when the need arises," said Mohd Yusuf, whose job includes tracking down the JI leaders.

The International Crisis Group (ICG), which has carried out extensive research on the JI, claimed that these schools, founded by suspected JI leader Abubakar Ba'asyir, propagated jihad teachings.

It acknowledged that not all of the 14,000 schools are carrying out militant work but many JI members sent their children to these schools.

Chief among the schools is Pesantren al-Mukmin, better known as Pondok Ngruki.

Abubakar, now under detention in Indonesia, is said to have been the JI amir or top leader between 1999 and 2002.

He founded the Lukmanul Hakiem school in Johor.

It has since been shut down.

Abubakar also held meetings with regional terror suspects in Malaysia to form the Robitatul Mujahidin (International Mujahidin Association).

Among those suspected of attending the meetings were Nik Adli Nik Aziz, the son of the Kelantan Mentri Besar.

Nik Adli is being held under the Internal Security Act.

The ICG said another key institution was the Al-Ikhlas Institution Foundation based in Gading, Solo, central Java, which runs an Islamic university called Mahad Ali al-Ikhlas.

One of its directors, known as Abu Dujanah, is the secretary of the JI central command, said terror suspect Ali Imron in an interrogation deposition.

Abu Dujanah helped hide Singapore JI members accused of planning attacks on US interests in Singapore.

Ali Imron is the younger brother of Amrozi, who lived for eight years in Malaysia.

He reportedly drove the van used in the Bali attack in 2002.

Expressing similar sentiments, the ICG said the JI "remains dangerous" despite the arrests of Hambali and others because "this is an organization spread across a huge archipelago, whose members probably number in the thousands. No single individual is indispensable."

Regional authorities also admitted that while much information had emerged, several leaders in the central command had not been identified.

The list of key fugitives included names such as Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohd Top.

Azahari taught at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Skudai.

Noordin, a UTM graduate, was an accountant and a company director.

Both were said to be involved in the bombings in Bali and at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta.

Then there is Zulkifli Hir, brother-in-law of Malaysian bomber Taufik Abdul Halim.

Zulkifli, an engineering graduate from an American university, was active in KMM and held a markaziyah (central command) post in the JI.

These are three of the many highly dangerous JI leaders who have yet to be arrested and are said to be waiting for the right time to "announce" their presence.

Recently, The Star reported that Noordin sent a will to his wife, the sister of Bali bomber Mukhlas Ali Gufron, that he was ready to be a suicide bomber and die for jihad.

Mukhlas, who has been sentenced to death, was a graduate of Ngruki and also a founder of the Lukmanul Hakiem school.

He reportedly took over JI operations in Malaysia and Singapore from Hambali.

The intelligence authorities have continued their watch on former JI detainees like Muhammad Iqbal Abdul Rahman Abu Jibril, who was arrested by Malaysian police on June 30, 2001, under the Internal Security Act. He was suspected of wanting to use militant means to set up a pan-Islamic state but was released in August last year.

He was re-arrested by immigration authorities and deported to Indonesia.

There are other concerns -- recently, Indonesia's top court ruled that the country's anti-terror laws were unconstitutional.

It ruled that a subsidiary law which made the main anti-terror law retroactive -- to cover the Bali attack -- violated the constitution.

It immediately raised the possibility of Abubakar walking away free while prosecutors were in the midst of preparing a case against him.

The decision also reportedly threw into doubt the conviction of 52 suspected terrorists charged under the law.

The fight against Jamaah Islamiyah is certainly far from over -- the remnants are still out there, waiting to strike again.