Government told to get tougher with radicals

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.