Police asked no question about al-Qaeda: Ba'asyir

Police asked no question about al-Qaeda: Ba'asyir

Yogita Tahil Ramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir stated that police had not
asked him any questions about his alleged links to the al-Qaeda
network during his police questioning on Thursday, despite having
been summoned by police to clarify those alleged links.

Emerging for a brief break from questioning at the National
Police Intelligence office, Ba'asyir said the police had focused
their questions on the Islamic teachings in which he was
involved, his activities during the time he had spent in Malaysia
and his current duties as a cleric.

"They asked me what I had been teaching ... the content of my
courses, but have not asked me any questions about al-Qaeda as
yet. I have said before, I have no connection with al-Qaeda," the
chief of the Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI) told reporters
on Thursday.

Ba'asyir's claim came as no surprise and clearly reflected the
police's apparent lack of concern about the reported presence of
alleged terrorist groups and individuals in Indonesia.

He has often said that he stressed crucial matters like "jihad
and mati syahid (to die fighting to uphold Islam)" in his
teachings to his students both in Malaysia and Indonesia, and
greatly respected the al-Qaeda network and terrorist prime
suspect Osama bin Laden for fighting to uphold the teachings of
Islam.

Ba'asyir was detained by Malaysian police last month, along
with 12 other militants, for allegedly trying to establish an
Islamic government and having ties to a suspect of the Sept. 11
attacks in New York and Washington.

He soon returned to Indonesia after Malaysian police
reportedly found no evidence against him.

Flanked by bodyguards on Thursday, Ba'asyir and his army of
lawyers appeared briefly before waiting reporters at the National
Police Headquarters before being escorted by police for
questioning, which began at about 9:30 a.m.

After a break, the police resumed questioning him at 2:30 p.m.

Having once been jailed here for setting up a paramilitary
force to fight for an Islamic nation and later spending years
reportedly teaching in Malaysia, Ba'asyir is suspected by
Indonesia's neighboring countries of being a leader of the al-
Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said on Thursday the
government would continue its attempt to prevent foreign
terrorist groups from entering the country via a series of
cooperative measures with neighboring countries.

He denied speculation that the move was being taken after
increasing pressure from the United States.

"We exchange intelligence information and monitor weapons-
smuggling with authorities in Malaysia and the Philippines,"
Hassan said, following a hearing with House Commission I for
international affairs here.

He emphasized that Indonesia had worked on efforts to combat
terrorism long before the Sept. 11 attacks in Washington and New
York.

"We have long had the mechanism to deal with cross-border
terrorism and crimes, especially weapons-smuggling," he said.

Concerning speculation that groups or individuals linked to
the al-Qaeda terrorist network were allegedly present in
Indonesia, Hassan simply said that concrete results had still to
be produced from an investigation conducted by authorities.

On possible links between Ba'asyir and suspected militants,
teachers at an Islamic boarding school which Ba'asyir had founded
in Surakarta, he said that an Indonesian, arrested for suspected
links to al-Qaeda in the Philippines, had studied and graduated
from the school.

The Philippines police earlier said that Fathur Rohman al-
Ghozi, 30, had been an explosives expert with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist group that has since
started talks with Manila.

On Fathur, Hassan said that the Indonesian government would
respect the law of Indonesia's neighboring countries, including
those of the Philippines.

Fathur is of Indonesian origin, but carries at least five
passports, including those from Indonesia and the Philippines,
and has five different aliases.

Hassan confirmed the matter of the five passports, saying that
three had been issued by Philippines authorities.

"The latest passport was issued by Indonesian authorities last
year," said Hassan, adding that Fathur had entered the
Philippines in 1996.

He added that the government had already requested Philippines
authorities to allow Indonesia to send a representative to
accompany Fathur and give him legal advice.