Anti-terror fight in Southeast Asia far from over

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.