Da'i rues failure to catch terrorists

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar apologized on Thursday for his failure to capture the country's two top fugitive terrorist suspects as he bid farewell in advance of his replacement by Comr. Gen. Sutanto.

The two fugitives, Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohd. Top, both Malaysians, have been blamed for masterminding a series of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings and the 2003 blast at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel.

"We're still trying to track them down and ascertain their whereabouts so that we can find out what they are planning next," Da'i told a news conference ahead of the National Police's 59th anniversary, which falls on Friday.

He said that a special team formed to hunt the two fugitives continued the search for them and other members of terror group Jamaah Islamiyah, which has been linked to Osama bin Laden's Al- Qaeda network.

He claimed that the police had come close to catching them on a number of occasions, but they always managed to escape in time, and managed to launch further attacks, such as that on the Australian Embassy last year.

"We once managed to track them down to a rented house in Cengkareng (western Jakarta). As we got within spitting range of their hideout, a blast suddenly went off and they made good their escape."

The police chief said that some Indonesians might be harboring Azahari and Noordin given that it was proving so difficult to capture them.

"We know they have often gone to the southern Philippines to communicate with groups there. They normally went by sea through North Sulawesi, but when we posted our men at the port, they switched to Nunukan (East Kalimantan), and traveled to Sabang before arriving in the Philippines," Da'i said.

He stressed that capturing Noordin and Azahari was not an easy task. A lot of time and effort had gone into tracking them down so that if the two fugitives are caught sometime in the future, this would represent the culmination of a long process.

In his farewell address, Da'i referred to the police's achievements under his four-year leadership, including what he claimed was a successful operation against illegal logging in Papua, in which a number of senior police and government officials were arrested.

"We know that we are lagging far behind the expectations of the public. But we have tried to do our best with the 305,456 police officers that we have," he said.

Da'i is to be replaced soon by Comr. Gen. Sutanto, the current National Narcotics Agency (BNN) director, who has been nominated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

However, Sutanto has yet to pass the screening process in the House of Representatives, with a selection hearing being scheduled for Monday. However, it is likely that the House will endorse the President's choice.

Under Da'i's leadership, the National Police have completed the construction of a new police training center in Cikeas, Bogor, West Java, which will host a ceremony marking the anniversary of the founding of the National Police on Friday.

Da'i said the new facility, covering a total area of around 50 hectares, would serve as a multifunction training center for detectives, traffic police and intelligence personnel.