Kalla links JI to Poso attacks

Kalla links JI to Poso attacks

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is looking into the possibility that Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) may have had a central role in a series of recent
attacks in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, which killed at least
13 people.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on
Tuesday that there were possible links between the violent
southeast Asian-based network and the incidents, citing the past
presence of JI training camps in the religiously divided area.

"We are investigating JI's involvement. But we are not sure
yet," he said after accompanying President Megawati Soekarnoputri
to a meeting with visiting Tajikistan President Emomali
Sharipovich Rahmonov.

"There have been reports of JI training camps in the area, and
we now gathering evidence that could make a connection between
the camps and the recently arrested attackers," Kalla added.

He added that another indication of JI's role in the
disturbances was the fact that most of the local residents were
not involved.

"It is a hard-line group that launched the attacks, while the
local people stayed out of the conflict," Kalla stressed.

However, police were more careful, not ready to link the
vicious attacks against two Christian villages with JI.

"The recent violence in Poso was committed by a group of armed
gunmen with an aim to again unsettle Poso," said National Police
deputy spokesman Brig. Gen Sunarko as quoted by DPA on Tuesday.

He said that the attacks were made by "old players" of the
sectarian fighting and it was good that none of the local people
were provoked to join in, as the attackers apparently hoped.

Poso regency was largely peaceful after the government
brokered a peace accord between Muslim and Christian leaders in
December 2001 to end the two-year conflict that killed well over
1,000 people since 2000.

Kalla was one of the key brokers of the peace deal, known as
Malino Agreement I as it was produced during talks in the hill
town of Malino, South Sulawesi.

Amid the relative peace in Poso, authorities began to redeploy
the reinforcement military troops and police from the regency
earlier this year and rotate them back to their home bases.

At around the same time, intelligence operatives revealed the
existence of JI training camps in Poso, and other parts of the
country, including Bogor, West Java.

On Oct. 12, masked gunmen launched pre-dawn raids on three
mainly Christian villages in Poso, leaving at least 10 people
dead.

Two days later a similarly described gang, in black hoods on
motorcycles using military-type rifles, killed three others and
burned more than 30 houses in Beteleme, also a Christian village,
in the neighboring regency of Morowali, Central Sulawesi.

Police have arrested 16 suspects in a regency-wide manhunt for
the mysterious attackers by a joint police and military force.
They also shot and killed five suspected members of the gang in
separate shootouts.

Though the detained suspects were not linked directly to any
terror group, the police said last week they would charge them
with Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism that carries a maximum
punishment of death.

The police said at least one of the detainees was from
Lamongan, East Java, the same village from whence convicted Bali
bombers Amrozi and his two brothers Ali Imron and Ali Ghufron
alias Mukhlas hail.

It was the first time that the antiterrorism law had been
applied for a crime other than bombings.

Meanwhile, in Central Sulawesi, the Palu District Court opened
on Tuesday the trial of suspected JI treasurer Fajri alias Yusuf
charged with the antiterrorism law, Antara reported.

Presided over by judge I Nyoman Somanadha, the court heard
charges by prosecutor Fefry Silahahi, who said the defendant
played a role as a bookkeeper for the JI cell operating in
Sulawesi.

Minister Kalla further said the government would sponsor a new
meeting in Poso this week between local religious leaders in a
bid to maintain peace after the provocative attacks.

"We will do it in both ways, through the help of religious
leaders to prevent locals from being provoked into renewed
fighting, while at the same time, law enforcement measures must
go ahead," he said, adding that he would attend the meeting.

Kalla said the dialog was also aimed at issuing a warning
against hardline religious groups in order for them not to create
more chaos in Poso.