Antiterror agency to have regency offices

Antiterror agency to have regency offices

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A planned new antiterror agency is expected to have branches in
regencies throughout the country gathering crucial information
for the agency's counterterrorism work.

Minister of Home Affairs M. Ma'ruf said the antiterror agency
would be supported by so-called "terror desks," which would be
integrated into regional administration units called National
Unity agencies. These agencies normally deal with political
affairs at the regional level.

"The desk will be incorporated into the National Unity
agencies. We hope these agencies will play a key role in the
prevention of terror attacks. But the desk will definitely have
no authority in detaining or probing terrorist suspects," Ma'ruf
said at the State Palace on Wednesday.

Ma'ruf said the regional agencies would supply information to
security authorities and to the national antiterror agency for
further action.

"Our country is so vast. It requires close cooperation with
provincial administrations to coordinate efforts to combat
terrorism in their respective areas," said the retired three-star
Army general.

The government announced on Tuesday it would form a special
antiterror agency aimed at overcoming the lack of coordination
between authorities and different agencies in trying to prevent
future terrorist attacks.

The agency, which will be an expansion of the current
antiterror desk managed by the Office of the Coordinating
Minister for Security and Political Affairs, will be supported by
"terror desks" set up at the provincial level.

The planned agency will coordinate all of the agencies related
with the fight against terrorism, including the National Police,
the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Intelligence
Agency (BIN).

This new plan comes after the recent bombing in a market in
Tentena, near Poso, Central Sulawesi. Twenty-one people died in
the attack and dozens of others were injured, making it the
deadliest bombing in the country since the Bali bombings in 2002.

Meanwhile, AFP quoted the police as saying on Wednesday they
had arrested a Muslim preacher and a Christian man in connection
with the Tentena bombing.

The pair, identified only as Abu Halmas and Andreas, were
arrested separately in connection with the May 28 bombing in the
mainly Christian town of Tentena, said police spokesman Ariyanto
Budiharjo.

Detectives found "traces" of explosive material on Halmas'
fingers, the spokesman said.

He also said that so far a total of 17 people, including this
recent pair, had been taken into custody for questioning.
Previously police had detained more than 20 people.

Police have blamed last weekend's attack on Islamic militants
with possible links to the Jemaah Islamiyah organization, the
alleged Southeast Asian arm of the al-Qaeda network, who they say
were hoping to revive religious tensions in the area.

Central Sulawesi has been dogged by violence between
Christians and Muslims after a 2001 peace deal ended almost a
year of fighting in which more than 1,000 people died.

But local officials have also said the bombing could have been
politically motivated to justify a strong military presence in
the area or an attempt to divert attention away from a corruption
scandal.