Australia wants Jemaah Islamiah on UN terror list
Australia wants Jemaah Islamiah on UN terror list
Andrea Hopkins, Reuters, Canberra
Australia said on Tuesday Southeast Asia's al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI), suspected in the Bali bombings which killed nearly 200 people, should be listed by the United Nations as a terrorist group.
"There is, Mr Speaker, mounting evidence of al-Qaeda involvement, together with Jemaah Islamiah, in the attack," Prime Minister John Howard told parliament.
"We will be moving...as a government to have Jemaah Islamiah listed as a terrorist organization in the United Nations as soon as possible, and we have received indications from other countries, including at least one P5 (Security Council) member, that move will be supported," Howard said.
The U.S. embassy in Canberra said the United States would support Australia's push to brand Jemaah Islamiah, believed to be led by an Indonesian cleric, as a terrorist group even if the move risks stirring anti-Western sentiment in Indonesia.
"We feel that JI should have been listed as a terrorist entity for some time now, based on their activities and the suspicion that they were involved in this Bali attack. I think the U.S. wants to see that justice is done," embassy spokesman Matt Conoley told Reuters.
U.S. President George W. Bush has said he assumed Saturday's bombings on the Indonesian island, which killed scores of holidaying Australians and other Westerners, was the work of the al-Qaeda network.
The assets of organizations on the UN list of proscribed terrorist organizations can be seized or frozen as part of the international response to international militants.
Jemaah Islamiah has been linked to al-Qaeda -- the network run by Osama bin Laden and the chief suspect in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States -- but has not yet been included on the proscribed list.
A leader of Jemaah Islamiah has been identified as militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who runs a religious school in Central Java. He has denied involvement in the Bali bombings.
Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines have been demanding for months that Indonesia crack down on Jemaah Islamiah, which is believed to want to establish a regional Islamic state, but Jakarta has said it lacked evidence.
The Philippines, fighting a Muslim insurgency in its south, also said it supported Jemaah Islamiah being branded a terrorist group.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye told reporters after a cabinet meeting chaired by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo: "The Department of Foreign Affairs was tasked by the president to convey the Philippine government position supporting a proposed UN resolution...declaring Jemaah Islamiah a terrorist group."
Australian National University analyst Greg Fealy said such a move would put pressure on Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who risks being seen by the moderate Muslim majority as acting on Washington's whim.
"I think the Indonesian government has a task ahead of it to persuade mainstream Islamic organizations that Jemaah Islamiah is a genuine terrorist threat," Fealy told Reuters.
"If they don't believe the evidence is there, then they will be criticizing both the U.S. and Australia, as well as their own government for ceding to these demands."
But U.S. embassy spokesman Conoley said the risk of stirring anti-U.S. sentiment could not overrule the pursuit of justice.
"While some in Indonesia may not agree with the United States, and we take note of that, clearly in this fight against international terrorism I think you have to do what's right."
Howard also warned Australians on Tuesday they were more at risk than ever from extremist groups after the Bali bombings. "It can happen here. We are more at risk than we were," Howard told a news conference.
"We're not as at risk as other countries but we can't afford to be complacent. Now that has been the government's position for a long time and obviously that is reinforced and heightened as a consequence of what occurred on October 12."