Govt not doing enough to fight terror

Govt not doing enough to fight terror

M. Taufiqurrahman and A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An analyst and legislator blamed the government on Tuesday for
the deadly blast in front of the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel,
which killed at least 13 people and injured 149 others, saying
that it had not taken sufficient preemptive measures to counter
the threat of terrorism.

Hermawan Sulistyo, an expert on terrorism from the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that despite the enactment of
the antiterrorism law, the government lacked initiative in taking
concrete measures.

Following the deadly Bali bombings in October 2002, the
government issued antiterrorism regulations that were later
enacted into law.

Hermawan said the government had not made concerted efforts to
deal with the terror threat.

"As far as the counterterrorism task force under the National
Police is concerned, I don't see that the government has provided
enough resources for it," Hermawan told The Jakarta Post on
Tuesday.

He said the antiterrorism team set up by the police was short
on funding and skilled personnel.

Furthermore, the antiterrorism desk at the Office of the
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, and the
antiterrorism law would not be able to help much in the fight
against terrorism, he said.

Hermawan added, however, that even with the existence of a
professional antiterror team, the terrorist threat would still
loom large until the government uprooted the real causes of
terrorism.

"The government must in the first place deal with the problems
of religious fanaticism, acute economic inequalities and
hostility to the American presence here," Hermawan said.

Legislator Ibrahim Ambong, meanwhile, said the National Police
were powerless to prevent terrorist attacks in the country.

"They don't have enough personnel to confront the terrorist
threat," he told the Post.

The car bomb that exploded and ripped through the front of the
JW Marriot hotel in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta, is the latest
terrorist outrage to hit Indonesia.

The blast comes just weeks after police in Central Java
discovered thousands of rounds of live ammunition and arrested
several members of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional terrorist
network blamed for the Bali bombings. There were also unconfirmed
reports that large quantities of explosives were being
transported to Jakarta by terrorists.

Police have arrested over 30 alleged JI members for their
roles in terrorism, and some of these are currently standing
trial at the Denpasar District Court. The verdict against one of
the key suspects in the Bali bombings, Amrozi, is due on
Thursday. He may face the death sentence if found guilty.

The trial of the alleged spiritual leader of JI, cleric Abu
Bakar Ba'ashir, is also underway.

Last month, Indonesian JI member and expert bombmaker, Fathur
Rohman al-Ghozi, escaped from jail in the Philippines.

A number of blasts have rocked the capital over the past year.
The first came on Feb. 3 at a public assembly hall at National
Police Headquarters in south Jakarta. No one was injured.

The second blast caused slight damage near the UN mission in
Central Jakarta on April 25. Again there were no casualties.

Three days later another bomb exploded in a restaurant at
Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta international airport, injuring two
people.

A low explosive device damaged part of the national
legislative building early on July 14, but once again there were
no casualties. The legislature was on recess ahead of the Annual
Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which began
last Friday.

The capital has been rocked by at least 21 bomb blasts since
January 1998, which have killed 21 people and injuring some 250
others.

The most serious attack -- until Monday's hotel explosion --
claimed 10 lives and injured 90 others when a bomb exploded in an
underground parking lot of the Jakarta Stock Exchange building on
September 13, 2000.