Police say Bali bombing a path to Islamic state

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.