ASEAN to set up task force to crack down on terrorism

ASEAN to set up task force to crack down on terrorism

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta/Denpasar

The National Police said on Tuesday they would set up a joint
task force with their counterparts from other members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to solve the
terrorist problem in Indonesia, including unraveling the
connection between the Hambali-led Jamaah Islamiyah and the Oct.
12, 2003 Bali blasts.

"It is time to forge cooperation among ASEAN countries by
setting up a joint task force to arrest terrorists suspected of
involvement in terrorist acts in the region," National Police
chief Dai Bachtiar said after receiving a donation from the State
Minister for People's Welfare, Jusuf Kalla, in Bali.

He added that he suspected Hambali and his terrorist
confidants, the other main suspects in the Bali blasts who are
still at large, had already escaped overseas. Thus, it looked
like it would be impossible for the Indonesian Police themselves
to arrest them.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Bali bombing investigating team
Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis said that it was still uncertain whether
Hambali was already abroad or not, and that the joint task force
plan was not specifically aimed at hunting him.

"We're setting up a joint task force to seize Malaysian
terrorist suspects like Azhari and Noordin Moch Top," he said.

The police have so far focused their attention on
interrogating the suspects, preparing their case files and
hunting the other suspects who are still at large.

At least 30 suspects have been arrested for their involvement
in the deadly blasts in Renon, and at Paddy's Cafe and the Sari
Club, where almost 200 people, mostly Australians, were killed.

Of the 30 suspects, five are prime suspects, and 21 are
accomplices.

The police have obtained an important confession from key
suspect Ali Imron that the Bali bombers were closely involved
with JI, which has already been blacklisted by the UN.

Ali conceded that Hambali, Malaysian citizen and JI secretary
Zulkifli Marzuki, Muchlas, Azhari and Noordin attended a meeting
in Bangkok in February 2002 to discuss preparations for a series
of bomb attacks in Indonesia and Singapore.

The police are scheduled to submit the file on prime suspect
Amrozi to the government prosecutor's office in Denpasar for
further processing with the files on the other main suspects to
follow.

In addition, the delegates to the ASEAN police meeting also
sought to implement an extradition treaty to help them crack down
on terrorist cells in the region. However, it appeared that this
suggestion would face problems as the countries had different
legal systems.

A Malaysian delegate said that the police in Indonesia would
have difficulties in seeking the extradition of Wan Min bin Wan
Mat, a prime suspect in the Bali blasts, to Denpasar as this was
not allowed under Malaysian law.

"We are not allowed to lend him to the Indonesian police.
However, we might be able to facilitate a video-conference for
him to testify before the court. But I don't know whether
Indonesian law permits such a procedure," he said.

Like Malaysia, a Singaporean delegate said that it also looked
impossible to enter into an extradition treaty with Indonesia as
the two countries had very different legal systems.