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.