Government told to get tougher with radicals

Muhammad Nafik and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government came under mounting internal pressure on Wednesday to take action against Muslim hardliners who other countries have linked to terrorism, saying if the government failed to do so it would spell economic catastrophe.

"It's very hard for Indonesia to avert international pressure to act firmly against radicals. We should stop the debate on evidence of their role in terrorism," Ulil Abshar Abdallah, a scholar from the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said.

"We cannot play a game any more with the international pressure because it is related to our economic recovery," he told The Jakarta Post.

International pressure is escalating for Indonesia to get tough with Muslim radicals following the bombings on the resort island of Bali on Saturday.

"The government should use the Bali attacks as momentum to show the world that it is serious in its action against extremists.

"And if it ignores the momentum and the world brands Indonesia to be uncooperative, it would be dangerous to the country," said Ulil, project coordinator of the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace.

He said security authorities should summon Muslim cleric leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir for questioning to clarify widespread allegations he is linked to a regional terrorist network.

Ulil said foreign investigators needed to be involved in questioning Ba'asyir, leader of the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI), in order to "cross-check" information on his alleged terrorist activities.

"The questioning must not mean establishing an indictment against Ba'asyir and he should be released if there is no evidence found. It's normal legal practice everywhere," added Ulil, also head of the NU-affiliated Research and Human Resource Development Institute.

Similarly, another Muslim scholar, Azyumardi Azra, suggested authorities not hesitate to act against Ba'asyir or alleged extremists if "legal indications" were sufficient.

"Any legal action against them must be in line with the presumption of innocence principles and must respect human rights, unlike what the New Order (regime) did," he told the Post.

NU leader Solahuddin Wahid, also a deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), concurred but stressed that any investigation of Ba'asyir should not be "dictated" by foreigners.

He said that instead of simply bowing to pressure from the international community, the authorities must prove it could capture the Bali bombers themselves.

"There is no need to hurry. The authorities must carry out an objective, impartial and unbiased inquiry," Solahuddin said.

National Police questioned Ba'asyir after Singapore linked him to a regional terrorist network following the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy in the United States blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group.

Ba'asyir has never been charged.

Ulil said the security authorities "lacked the vision" to handle international cases. "Apart from that the paralyzed civil government and its lenient policy are also to blame," he added.

Solahuddin urged all sides to avoid speculation that the Bali bomb blast that killed nearly 200 people was committed by local Islamic groups linked to al-Qaeda or Jemaah Islamiyah.

However, he acknowledged that the nation could face serious political and economic difficulties if it did not take tough action against terrorists.