Govt acts to cope with terrorism
Yogita Tahil Ramani and Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In an unprecedented move security authorities here have summoned a Muslim cleric to question his alleged links to Islamic militant networks, including al-Qaeda.
The move comes despite the government's previous denials any Indonesian links to international terrorism here.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf said the police had sent a summons to Abu Bakar Ba'asyir to question him on Thursday at the National Police Headquarters.
"We have summoned Abu Bakar Ba'asyir for questioning on Thursday at 10 a.m. We want to clarify the accusations that he is linked to Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) militants and possibly even al-Qaeda," Saleh told The Jakarta Post.
He added that police did not currently have any evidence to indicate that Ba'asyir had any links to the al-Qaeda network.
The Malaysian police reportedly detained Ba'asyir, 64, along with 12 other men in December for allegedly trying to push for the establishment of an Islamic government, and having ties with a suspect now on trial in the U.S. who was allegedly involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Ba'asyir, who heads the Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI) and runs an Islamic boarding school in the Central Java town of Sukoharjo, has denied any links to al-Qaeda or Osama bin Laden.
But he told the Post on Monday that he knew some of the detainees in Malaysia as his former students when he lived in the country in 1980s after serving four years of a 19-year sentence for challenging the Soeharto regime.
Separately, National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said a special team of detectives had been sent to the Philippines to collect more information on an Indonesian man, Fathur Rohman al- Ghozi, who was arrested there for suspected links to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Da'i said the man is from Indonesia and his father is a member of the legislative council in Madiun, East Java representing the Crescent Star Party.
Confirming Da'i's statement, Saleh said al-Ghozi carries many fake passports, from, among other places, Indonesia and the Philippines, and has at least five aliases. Previously Saleh said al-Ghozi was a Canadian citizen.
Saleh added that the National Police Intelligence office had received several reports on al-Ghozi and his alleged links to al- Qaeda.
"Our team of detectives went to Manila to find out crucial information about him. If the Philippine police will not mind, our detectives would like to question him," Saleh said.
"Otherwise, we hope the Philippine police will share what information they have on Fathur with us. We must find out exactly what citizenship he carries."
Saleh added that there was a possibility that the detectives would also make stops in Malaysia and Singapore, to investigate possible terrorist links al-Ghozi might have in those countries.
Da'i acknowledged the sluggish move by the security authorities in coping with terrorism compared to Malaysia, Singapore or the Philippines due to the absence of an "internal security act". Indonesian law, he said, requires adequate evidence before making an arrest.
His arrest led to the arrest of four of his Filipino associates and the seizure of a cache of weapons in the southern Philippines.
They added that al-Ghozi had given funding and bomb components to a principal suspect in the bombings of Manila in December 2000 that claimed more than a dozen lives.
Manila police added that al-Ghozi is believed to be a top member of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiya, which they described as an Islamic "terror group operating in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia."
"He is the main man here. This guy, I would say, is in charge and the link for other (terrorist groups in other) countries to the Philippines," army spokesman Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta said as quoted by AFP.
"Within the next few days we will be filing charges against al-Ghozi," he added.