Govt gets thumb-up over terrorist network bust

Govt gets thumb-up over terrorist network bust

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government's crackdown against an alleged terrorist network
operating in the country has won praise from analysts and the
United States.

Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) said the recent arrest of 18 alleged Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) members and the ongoing trial of JI leader Abu
Bakar Ba'asyir, as well as the impending trial of suspected
terrorists responsible for the Bali bombings, proved that the
administration of President Megawati Soekarnoputri was serious in
combating terrorism.

"The government should maintain its current measures against
terrorism in the near future as the action has increased its
credibility," said Kusnanto.

"As long as the measures against terrorists are taken with
solid proof like has been the case so far, the people and the
political parties will support rather than reject the
government's actions," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell also praised Indonesia's
moves against terrorism, including the trial of Ba'asyir for
treason, saying that Indonesia had finally woken up to the threat
of terrorism within its borders.

The United States pressured the government to crack down on
terror suspects after launching its antiterror war, which was
triggered by the Sept. 11 attacks.

Indonesia has "finally awakened to the threat of terrorism
within its own borders and has worked hard and arrested many of
the perpetrators of the terrible Bali bombing and brought to
justice the leader of one of the terrorist organizations that
claimed responsibility," Powell was quoted by Agence France-
Presse as saying in a speech to the United States Asia-Pacific
Council.

According to Kusnanto, although the political atmosphere would
heat up next year amid the election campaign, with its good track
record so far, the government should not hesitate to strengthen
its efforts to combat terrorism.

Following the deadly Bali bombing on Oct. 12, which killed
over 200 people and injured more than 350 others, the government
drafted an antiterrorism regulation providing for the death
sentence for the perpetrators of terrorism. The regulation was
later incorporated into the terrorism bill by the House of
Representatives, and has since been passed into law.

The police have also arrested dozens of the suspected
perpetrators of the Bali bombings, including those from JI. Their
trials are expected to start next month in Denpasar, Bali.

On Wednesday, Ba'asyir went on trial in Jakarta on charges of
treason, which is punishable with life imprisonment.

On the same day, the police announced the arrest of 18 JI
members as part of its counterterrorism measures.

JI is also implicated in a string of other attacks, and has
been linked by some observers to the al-Qaeda network of Osama
bin Laden.

Hermawan Sulistyo of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(LIPI) concurred with Kusnanto.

"The government gained the opportunity to crack down on
terrorism at home after the Bali bombing, and looks likely to
continue these efforts," he said.