Police say Bali bombing a path to Islamic state

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Newly-installed Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika insisted on Wednesday that the terrorist group responsible for last year's Bali bombing were aiming to establish a Pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia.

"This is the grand strategy of the top level of the group to change the Republic of Indonesia, from a country based on the Pancasila state ideology, into an Islamic country," Pastika said at a farewell press briefing for his predecessor, Insp. Gen. Budi Setyawan.

The Islamic state, called Daulah Islamiyah Nusantara (DIN), would include southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and the southern Philippines, Pastika said.

Pastika, who led the team investigating the Bali blasts before he was promoted, categorized the suspects in the Bali bombing into upper, middle and lower levels based on their motives.

Substantiated by various documents seized by the police, Pastika said Ali Gufron, alias Muklas, allegedly the Southeast Asia regional leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network, and Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the suspected JI spiritual leader, topped the group.

The middle level, according to Pastika, comprised people who were motivated by their common hatred of the United States and its allies, and their desire to seek revenge for what they called the Western countries' oppression of Muslims all over the world, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Amrozi, Ali Imron and Imam Samudra were part of the middle level, Pastika said.

The lower level consisted of people who mostly sought a place in heaven through martyrdom.

"Members of this level were encouraged by their dreams to enter heaven through a short-cut, in this case by performing syahid, death in a martyr's way," said Pastika.

The lower level, according to the police chief, did not necessarily mean they were any less dangerous.

"In fact, people of this group are very dangerous because they have lost their common sense. They are ready to die to defend their beliefs and faith."

Among members of this group were Rauf and his fellow suspects from Serang, West Java.

Pastika said police would exploit the knowledge and information on the three groups to further investigate the connection or involvement of JI and Ba'asyir in other terror attacks in the country.

Ba'asyir is standing trial in Jakarta for treason and immigration violations, not for acts of terror.

The analysis, he said, would be useful to explain the sociological and historical backgrounds of the series of bombings in the country.

"Meanwhile, from the legal point of view, I group the suspects into primary perpetrators, accomplices and collaborators," he said.