Growing anti-U.S. sentiment is cause for concern

The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo

The car bomb that ripped through a hotel in downtown Jakarta was set off in broad daylight, killing and injuring many innocent bystanders.

It seemed as if the terrorists were directing their fury at the lunchtime crowd in the Indonesian capital. The bomb exploded in front of a ritzy, American-owned hotel. More than 10 people, including a Dutch citizen, were killed. About 150 people were injured. The scene was one of utter carnage.

It occurred while memories are still fresh of the terrorist bombing in the resort island of Bali last October. The toll there exceeded 200.

Indonesian authorities believe the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), an Islamic militant organization, was behind both blasts. There are suspicions the Jakarta attack was timed to coincide with the Aug. 7 sentencing of one of the perpetrators of the Bali carnage.

Indonesia is a mishmash of diverse ethnic groups, religions and languages, and hot spot of all sorts of unrest, including the escalating separatist movement in Aceh, northern Sumatra.

We earnestly hope the Indonesian government will be completely thorough in its investigation. At the same time, we believe the government must review its terrorist countermeasures as a matter of urgency. After Bali, the government adopted a hard-line policy of rounding up individuals suspected of having anything to do with terrorist activity. The government should carefully examine where flaws existed in the system that allowed the attack to take place.

JI is thought to be linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. The vice president of Indonesia noted the Jakarta blast was intended to sabotage U.S. interests.

One cause for concern is that it occurred against a backdrop of mounting anti-American sentiments in Indonesia. The hotel in question is owned by a major U.S. hotel chain, and patronized frequently by U.S. Embassy staff.

The Iraq war has made the United States an even more inviting target of terrorist attack. This is really alarming.

Lately, there have been a spate of bomb blasts across Southeast Asia, in the Philippines and Malaysia, for example. And with the arrests of JI members in Thailand and Cambodia, the region has come to resemble a front line in the international war on terrorism.

Some sources point out that terrorist groups have begun to tie up with Asian drug and smuggling rings to facilitate the flow of funds and weapons from the Middle East and other regions. These criminal organizations are believed to have ties to certain corrupt military officers. The problems run quite deep.

To crack down on these activities, law enforcement must be coordinated most carefully around the world. A foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has labeled counterterrorism a priority agenda for the region. Among steps considered, the meeting has proposed sharing investigative information and establishing a counterterrorist center. These steps should be strengthened.

But also not to be forgotten are medium- and long-term plans to address the problems that give rise to terrorism, such as poverty and the intensification of antagonism between outlying communities and the national capital.

These developments are as much Japan's business as anyone else's. Quite definitely, Japan must cooperate fully with its Asian neighbors in fighting terrorism.