Indonesia becoming fertile soil terrorists: Experts
JAKARTA (JP): With an unstable security situation and well- entrenched separatist movements, Indonesia has become fertile soil for international terrorist groups to sow seeds of violence, experts said on Wednesday.
Military analyst Hasnan Habib said the country's prolonged economic crisis, resulting in increasing unemployment, had enticed local people to join terrorist groups.
"A country with a high rate of unemployment like Indonesia is undoubtedly a fertile place for terrorism to grow," he told The Jakarta Post.
Hasnan, a retired Army lieutenant general, added that low- intensity separatist campaigns in Indonesia, such as those being waged by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Aceh and the Free Papua Organization in Irian Jaya, could also encourage the emergence of overseas-linked terrorism.
He said the recent bomb explosions that rocked various parts of the country may have involved separatist groups, and also their supporters overseas.
"We know that many supporters of GAM live in Malaysia. Also there are several organizations in Australia which support separatism in Irian Jaya," he said, noting that such support, however, had nothing to do with either government.
The increasing terrorism has only served to prove that both military and police intelligence personnel were incapable of taking adequate countermeasures.
"We see it from the fact that they were caught unaware by most of the bomb blasts, which claimed many lives, and also from the fact that they could not reveal the facts behind the bombings," Hasnan said.
Their inability to anticipate terrorist acts may be rooted in their inexperience with terrorism in the past, especially during the 32-year rule of former president Soeharto.
"During the New Order era, they had far from difficult jobs. They are now shocked by the current situation," added Hasnan, also a former Indonesian ambassador to the United States.
Meanwhile, former defense minister Juwono Sudarsono blamed the poor performance of the intelligence services on financial constraints.
"Whereas, training is very important so that the intelligence teams can anticipate terrorist attacks. Funding is also important to improve the welfare of our intelligence officers.
"Adequate funding for the training of intelligence personnel is a minimum requirement for creating a professional intelligence team," Juwono said.
Moreover, stopping terrorism was not an easy job, Juwono said. "Even the police and military in advanced countries frequently could not prevent terrorist attacks."
When asked how Indonesia could prevent international terrorists from entering the country, Juwono, who now teaches at the University of Indonesia, said the relevant authorities should strengthen security at all points of entry, like airports and seaports.
Supporting Juwono's suggestion, Hasnan stressed that combating terrorism should be pursued in line with the overall effort to solve the problems faced by the nation, including restoring the economy and resolving the problem of separatism.
Meanwhile, Munir, a human rights activist and founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, said the efforts to end terrorism must begin with the solving of internal problems, especially the unhealthy political situation, as all acts of terrorism were rooted in such problems.
"Terrorism has become an option to intimidate other political groups. Therefore, it's not difficult to imagine that the country's security forces are among the players. I don't buy the statements that the intelligence services have nothing to do with the recent bombings.
"It could all be curbed if we had a healthy political culture where no groups used violence to attack others," he told journalists. (02/07/bby)