'Attempts at terrorist crackdown could backfire'

'Attempts at terrorist crackdown could backfire'

Ian Timberlake, Agence France-Presse, Jakarta

Repressive attempts to crack down on terrorists in Indonesia
could backfire and lead to a rise in militancy, a report released
Thursday said.

Such tactics had already help spawn the so-called Ngruki
Network co-founded by elderly Islamic teacher Abu Bakar Ba'asyir
and which had sought training in Afghanistan, the report, by
political analysts of the Brussels-based International Crisis
Group (ICG) said.

Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew has said Ba'asyir is
the leader of Jemyaah Islamiah, a "terrorist cell" allegedly tied
to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

But while the ICG report said that some members of the group
could be involved in criminal activities, it cautioned against
arbitrary arrests.

"Repression helped give birth to the network, and it would be
a major mistake to encourage the Indonesian government, or other
governments in the region, to re-institute the kind of arbitrary
practices that Soeharto's resignation was supposed to bring to an
end," it warned, referring to the former dictator.

Indonesian authorities are currently drafting an anti-terror
law and the ICG report said some officials wanted to bring in an
Internal Security Act similar to those used in Malaysia and
Singapore to carry out preventive arrests.

"The danger is that in Indonesia it could well create more
terrorists than it stops," the report warned.

It said Soeharto's use of the now repealed Anti-Subversion Law
had hardened the determination of some Ngruki members to bring
down his government.

Ba'asyir, who established a religious boarding school in
Java's Ngruki village almost 30 years ago, was arrested by
Soeharto's regime in 1978 and later sentenced to nine years in
prison for subversion. He was released early in 1982.

The government's case against Ba'asyir rested "more on the
content of statements urging disobedience to secular authority
than on any evidence of an underground organization," ICG wrote
in its report.

When the Supreme Court summoned Ba'asyir complete his full
sentence it prompted him in 1985 to move to Malaysia until after
Soeharto's fall.

"It was determination to get the funds and training to fight
the Indonesian government that first led members of the network
to Afghanistan in the mid 1980s," ICG wrote.

The report said Ba'asyir took a more radical stance after he
became close to Gama Islami, a core group of al-Qaeda, in 1995.

Ba'asyir is now chairman the Indonesian Mujahedin Council, an
umbrella organizations advocating Islamic law in the sprawling
archipelago.

The group's executive includes Agus Dwikarna, a native of
Indonesia's South Sulawesi province jailed in July in the
Philippines on explosive charges.

"The evidence was almost certainly planted," ICG wrote.

"Such tactics are likely to backfire -- Agus Dwikarna has
already become a hero to many in South Sulawesi, to the point
that local and national politicians vie to get him released."

Amid international pressure earlier this year for Indonesia to
do more against alleged terrorists, authorities attempted to
revive the old subversion charges against Ba'asyir but then
dropped the attempt.

Ba'asyir unsuccessfully tried to launch a court action of his
own in Jakarta after Singapore's Lee's allegations against him.

During a visit to Indonesia on Thursday, visiting Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the two countries "have the
same understanding" about how to deal with terrorism.

Last week, visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged
more than 50 million dollars to Indonesia for counter-terrorism
activities and said he had "full confidence" in Indonesian
authorities to deal with threats.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim nation but most
residents practice a moderate brand of the religion.

"Indonesia is not a terrorist hotbed," ICG said.