ASEAN's stand on terrorism

The recent explosion in a car park at a mall in Central Jakarta underlines the worrisome fact that acts of terrorism have indeed become a part of the Indonesian scene. As a matter of fact, although it may appear that in these last few years acts of terrorism have escalated, such acts have occurred since the 1950s, albeit on a limited scale.

It should be remembered, for instance, that the current President of Indonesia, Megawati Soekarnoputri, almost became a victim herself of a terrorist act in 1957 when grenades were lobbed in the direction of her father, president Sukarno. He was visiting a primary school in the Cikini area in Central Jakarta, attended by his children, among others Megawati, which was organizing a bazaar for fund-raising purposes.

Given such a historical context of terrorism in this country, it is needless to say that Indonesia did not have to make the choice, as posed by President George W. Bush in his recent speech before the United States Congress, that "either you are with us or you are with the terrorists." For obvious reasons, Indonesia has always been against acts of terrorism. The question now is how to better coordinate these measures and make them more effective.

We know that an interdepartmental taskforce has already been established for this purpose. However, given the current critical situation and Indonesia's proneness to terrorist acts, whether of an indigenous nature or instigated and assisted by outside elements, we think that a more unified body needs to be set up.

Sayidiman Suryohadiprojo, the former governor of the National Resilience Institute has frequently proposed, through his writings and in seminars, to set up a national agency to combat terrorism. He suggested that the agency should be of a cross- sectoral nature and manned with experts from the national police, the immigration service, the intelligence community, the Attorney General's Office, the central bank and even from the Ministry of Health for the eventuality of a biological terrorist attack. Logically, such a national agency should reside under the jurisdiction of the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs.

Given the urgency of the situation, not too much time should be wasted in preparing the setting up of such an agency. However, considering the unique geography of the Southeast Asia region, Indonesia should also speed up its efforts to coordinate its antiterrorist program with neighboring countries. The President of the Philippines, Gloria Arroyo Macapagal, recently stated her support for the proposal to set up a regional coalition to combat terrorism. But it was the speaker of the Philippines parliament, Jose de Venecia, who suggested that such a coalition should initially comprise the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, noting that each of those countries faces grave domestic problems related to terrorism.

We might also note that President Megawati, on her recent tour of ASEAN capitals, visited Kuala Lumpur and discussed the matter with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The prime minister has on a number of occasions warned of the danger of terrorist acts spreading from Malaysia to neighboring countries. It has been reported that in the upcoming informal meeting of ASEAN heads of government, scheduled to take place in Brunei Darussalam later this year, the subject of coordinating progress in the fight against terrorism will be discussed.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda's statement (made in New York on Monday on the occasion of the ratification by Indonesia of the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism) that Indonesia would increase coordination of intelligence information with fellow member countries of ASEAN and other countries, should be a sign that Jakarta is indeed driven by a sense of urgency in developing an effective program to combat terrorism, on both national and regional planes.

We should be aware that for countries such as Indonesia, which are in a delicate stage of developing and maturing their democratic institutions, unbridled acts of terrorism could nip the process of democratization in the bud.