Police challenged to work harder after Azahari's death

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Following the death of Azahari bin Husin during a raid at his hideout in East Java, the next two weeks could be a crucial period for the security and intelligence apparatus' long struggle to curb terrorism in this country, intelligence experts say.

"The raid (and Azahari's death) has encouraged security personnel, especially from the National Police and the intelligence agencies to work harder to dig up more information on Azahari's terror network to break it up for good. The police are racing against time to find Azahari's compatriot Noordin Moh. Top and his group members," former chief of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) A.M. Hendropriyono told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Azahari, a Malaysian citizen and one of the most wanted terrorists in Southeast Asia, along with Budi, alias Arman, a local operative, were killed during a shootout on Wednesday in East Java. One of their main cohorts was arrested in Malang, while several others were nearly caught in Semarang, Central Java.

Giving a thumbs-up to the police, Hendropriyono said security officers and BIN agents now had the challenge to arrest Noordin and his local operatives. "The capture of this big fish will show the world Indonesia's seriousness in the war on terrorism and return the people's confidence in the government."

Asked whether Azahari's death would eliminate terror threats in the future, Hendropriyono said it depended on the performance of the police and BIN over the next few weeks.

"Terror threats will be getting more intense if security forces fail to find the remaining members of their terrorist network, because Azahari's death could provoke his followers to become more militant and set up new cells. The threat will weaken if security forces and BIN make a significant achievement," he said, while speculating that for the time being, terror activities would remain dormant because the operatives had been put into a corner.

Terrorism was essentially psychological warfare and the security forces should use this crucial time to win that war, he added.

Separately, Insp. Gen. (ret) Ansja'ad Mbai, who heads the antiterror desk at the Office of Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, said the death of Azahari was a bit of shock therapy for the members of his terror cells, but he warned that this could also drive them "to launch triple- strength attacks as part of the psychological war."

"After the death of Azahari, maybe we'll see bomb attacks taper off for quite some time, but another kind of terror can be just starting. The terrorist groups can pursue the terror threats in so many ways: bomb attacks, vandalism, assassinations or anything to create psychological trauma among the public," Ansja'ad explained, while referring to the recent beheadings and shooting attacks on female students in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

"If we understand more about the 'terrorist triangle', from Sulawesi to Maluku to the southern Philippines, we can clearly see how the network has worked so far. Each group within this network has developed another cell that works independently, and the death of one of its leaders won't stop their movement," Ansja'ad said.

Local antiterror experts predicted that there are about 300 men categorized simply as "Islamic militants", who are still roaming about freely in this country.

Ansja'ad said that most of them had graduated from paramilitary training camps either in Afghanistan or the southern Philippines.

Ansja'ad also said that security personnel would continue monitoring some Islamic boarding schools, including Al Zaitun in West Java, because "some of the individuals that have gone there promote deviant thoughts about religion."

"The terrorists pursue different methods to meet their goals, from spreading fanaticism in sermons to forcing their will through violence. We must remain alert about their methods," Ansja'ad added.