Islam has no link to terrorism: Mega
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia condemned terrorists on Friday for abusing Islamic teachings to justify their acts of violence and vowed to fight it out against acts of terrorism.
Speaking before the People's Consultative Assembly, President Megawati Soekarnoputri said in spite of statements from the captured terror suspects who defended their activities in the name of Islam, it was clear that the religion and its followers had no connection at all with their acts.
"Their blind fanaticism toward an extreme religious teaching, ignoring human lives and property and setting indiscriminate targets, and their ability to use explosive materials... all have made the domestic branch of international terrorism a terrifying threat," she told the MPR Annual Session.
Megawati was presenting her progress report on how far her administration had implemented the state guidelines over the past year.
She reminded the Session that the discovery of an international terrorist network in the country should raise public awareness that Indonesia was not only a target of international terrorism, but the hotbed for terror planners, perpetrators and supporters.
In order to safeguard the public from the clear and present danger, the government had to act to unravel the terrorist network, she said.
The President's statement came amid fears of intensifying terror attacks in the predominantly Muslim country, following a series of bomb blasts over the past few years.
The latest attack took place on July 14 inside the MPR compound in Senayan, Central Jakarta, just two weeks before the start of the Annual Session. Although it did not claim any lives, the blast provided proof that even such a vital and secure venue was prone to terrorist attacks.
The nation is still licking its wound from the worst act of terror that rocked the resort island of Bali on Oct. 12, 2002, killing 202 people, mostly foreign holidaymakers.
The National Police said regional terror network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) was behind the Bali bombings and alleged that JI had links to al-Qaeda, the international terrorist network blamed for the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
Police have arrested more than 30 people allegedly involved in the Bali blasts.
Later in the day, United States Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce said that after a string of terrorist attacks, the security condition here was improving.
However, he warned that people in the country should remain on the alert as future terror attacks would not elude Indonesia.