Chaidar's testimony 'useless'

Chaidar's testimony 'useless'

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police have gathered no new leads after interviewing Darul
Islam (DI) spokesman Al Chaidar, as he failed to provide evidence
supporting his statements regarding the group's involvement in
several bombings, a senior police officer said on Friday.

"Al Chaidar, thus far, has provided no information which could
be useful to police investigations as he did not offer new
evidence or witnesses," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton
Bachrul Alam said.

The police summoned Al Chaidar for questioning on Friday to
explain statements made to the media last Saturday claiming three
Darul Islam factions were responsible for the recent bombing of
Petra Church in North Jakarta and a grenade explosion at the
Australian International School (AIS) in South Jakarta.

Darul Islam is a former separatist group based in West Java
that fought to establish a Muslim state in the 1950s.

Anton said Al Chaidar stammered when police posed several
questions regarding how much he knew about the bomb attacks.

He said Al Chaidar might become a suspect should certain
parties consider his statement to be defamatory.

During questioning, Al Chaidar admitted that he knew nothing
either about the suspects of the bombing at Petra Church or the
AIS, nor did he know any basic details about the incidents.

"I just made a "post-factum" analysis over the bomb attacks
which led to the possible involvement of three DI factions,"
Chaidar said after his six-hour interview.

He identified the three factions as Abu Jendal, Abu Haris and
one other group. He said his allegation was only based on talks
with DI members at the DI office on Jl. Batu in Pasar Minggu,
South Jakarta.

Chaidar also requested police protection, saying that he had
received threats to his safety. He did not provide specific
details regarding the threats.