Police view foreign intel as warning
Police view foreign intel as warning
P.C. Naommy, Jakarta
Police said Friday the recent media reports citing Western
security agencies, which warn of "credible" terrorism threats in
the country targeting diplomats, only confirmed their suspicions.
"We heard about the news, and even though we already had our
own analysis on the same concern, we'll regard the information as
a warning to prepare for any unwanted situations," said National
Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar.
In the latest edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review, the
magazine reported that the threats were revealed by information
from British and Australian intelligence organizations on a new
pattern of terrorism attacks conducted by Jamaah Islamiyah (JI),
a Southeast Asian terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda.
The intelligence reports apparently had information indicating
that JI had changed its strategy; from car bombs to targeted
assassinations of Western VIPs -- specifically diplomats from
Britain, Australia and the United States.
They also warned that the potential targets of JI assassins
could be widened to include foreign business executives and/or
Indonesian public figures.
There have also been reports that several extremists had
arrived in this country through East Kalimantan after passing
through Mindanao, the Philippines in recent weeks.
"We have a lot of remote border areas ... such as those with
the southern Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, and most of
them are hard to monitor," explained Da'i.
When asked what he knew about the arrival of the JI assassins,
Da'i said that none of them had been found, and that the police
would continue to monitor the situation.
Da'i did mention, however, that police had arrested an
Indonesian dentist responsible for sending short message service
(SMS) threats to expatriate executives working at the Canadian-
operated nickel mine in Soroako, South Sulawesi. In the
messages, he claimed to be a JI member.
Da'i said that it turned out that the man was not a JI member,
but a dentist at the company's medical facility who was
apparently afraid he would lose his job to a foreigner.
Aside from precautionary measures, Da'i said the police were
currently seeking the key suspects, also alleged to be top JI
operatives, behind the August 2003 J.W. Marriott hotel bombing in
Jakarta.
Marty A. Natalegawa, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said the renewed terrorist warnings would only damage
Indonesia's global image further.
"The reports, once again, which are not backed by solid
evidence or factual information, attempt to create the impression
that Indonesia is not a secure country," Marty said during his
weekly press conference on Friday.
He did not elaborate, however.
Australia, meanwhile, is taking the reports seriously.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said during his current two-
day visit to Malaysia that Australia would not be cowed by the
threats of "fanatics".
"We know that JI targets Australia and Australians and we take
every precaution, (including) cooperation with the Indonesian
Police and Army," he said after a visit to the new Southeast
Asian Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism.
Most of the 202 fatalities in the Bali car bombing of October
2002 were Australians.