Govt may review security officials after bombs: SBY

Reiner Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Hanoi

Following the latest blasts that rocked the country, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Sunday a performance assessment of security officials was likely.

The performance of security officials in the field, be they from the police, intelligence agencies or the military, were subject to regular evaluations, the President said while on a state visit to Vietnam.

"I have heard (People's Consultative Assembly Speaker) Pak Hidayat Nur Wahid comment about the performance of the National Police. I cannot make a decision arbitrarily, but there could be a review of the performance of security officials in the field," Susilo said.

The President said he was currently leaving it to the existing security forces to find the group responsible for the bomb attacks in the Central Sulawesi town of Tentena, which left 20 people dead.

"But once again, if we find a component (in the forces) that does not work, we have to mend it. We need to change it," Susilo said.

In the program for his first 100 days in office, Susilo had ordered National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar to capture Malaysian fugitives Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Moh. Top, who have been wanted for their key roles in a spate of terror attacks in the country since the Bali bombings in 2002.

The President said the bombings in Tentena were the work of "a combination of elements from outside and within" the area in a bid to reignite the communal conflict that had plagued the region for years in the past.

Susilo, however, deemed that the situation in Poso was now under control. The incident had not escalated sectarian tensions thanks to the people, he said, who had long wanted an enduring peace and had not been provoked.

He would not comment on who he believed the perpetrators were. When asked whether the Malaysian fugitives were behind the attack, he said: "As a president and a decision-maker, I can't hastily confirm such a theory ... (But) there is every possibility. If it was carried out by Noordin M. Top, the Malaysian citizen who has been moving around the country and is believed to be planning a fresh (terror) act -- I want a quick and decisive investigation into this."

Susilo has been visiting heads of state overseas for the past week. He arrived in Vietnam on Saturday after visiting the United States last week. From Hanoi, he will travel on to Japan.

Susilo said he would not cut short his three-nation visit because Vice President Jusuf Kalla and top security officials were dealing with the issue in Sulawesi.