Radical groups must be outlawed: Ex-spy chief
Radical groups must be outlawed: Ex-spy chief
The police shot dead Indonesia's most-wanted bomber, Dr. Azahari
bin Husin, and one of his followers, Arman, in a raid on their
hideout in the East Java hill resort of Batu a week ago, and
subsequently arrested at least five terrorist operatives. Former
National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief A.M. Hendropriyono
recently spoke with The Jakarta Post's Ridwan Max Sijabat on the
raid and the counterterrorism effort in general. The following
are excerpts from the interview.
Question: What does Azahari's death mean?
Answer: It means that Azahari existed; he is not a pseudo-
terror master. He and his compatriot Noordin M. Top recruited
locals to help carry out their terror operations in Indonesia.
They formed a terrorist organization that has long been
identified as being part of, or affiliated to, Jemaah Islamiyah
(JI).
This has convinced the security forces and the public that
this terrorist network was behind the (Oct. 1) triple suicide
bombings of Bali restaurants that killed at least 23 people,
including a number of foreigners. Azahari and his companions
launched these terror attacks from East Java.
Azahari, along with Noordin, masterminded the 2002 Bali
bombings that killed more than 200 people and a series of terror
attacks in Jakarta in 2003 and 2004.
What does it means for the security authorities?
This is the best result achieved by the police since their
successful work in dealing with the 2002 Bali bombings, the major
perpetrators of which have been brought to court.
The police and intelligence apparatus are racing against time
to arrest Noordin and his men within the month as the Batu raid
has put them in a corner and they are temporarily not so solid.
The security forces, with the help of the public, have to work
harder to track down those involved in the terrorist network
before Noordin and his local accomplices form new cells or launch
new attacks.
With the latest arrests, the police and intelligence apparatus
should be able to unearth more and more information on the
terrorist network's cells, at least in this country, to hunt down
Noordin and the local JI operatives, and to find their hideouts
and ammunition and explosives dumps.
What does it mean for the government?
Azahari's death will restore public confidence in the
government-backed counterterrorism measures. The successful
crackdown has won high praise for Indonesia from foreign
countries for its resolute participation in the global war on
terrorism.
No less important is that the government should declare Jemaah
Islamiyah and other similar radical groups, such as the Islamic
Defenders Front (FPI) and Laskar Jihad, to be prohibited
organizations as they regularly use violence to pursue their ends
and fight for their objectives.
This would allow the government to move forward in countering
terrorism. Two years ago, many government officials and certain
groups in society were skeptical about the existence of
terrorists in this country, including JI, and this made the
security authorities think twice about taking the necessary
measures (against the terrorists).
If the government is serious about eradicating terrorism right
down to its roots, it must no longer play the role of fireman. It
must take anticipatory and preventive action as part of an early
warning system to avoid any more bomb threats and attacks in the
future.
The FPI and similar organizations must be outlawed as they, in
fact, use violence. Their prohibition is quite important for
restoring the government's authority and upholding the rule of
law. They can no longer be allowed to take the law into their
own hands. The government is obliged to comply with the law on
freedom of organization, but it must also protect the rights of
the majority of the people and its own authority.
What about regional and international cooperation in fighting
against terrorism?
ASEAN nations should enhance existing cooperation, especially
in the fields of information exchange and operation to hunt down
other JI operatives in Malaysia, the southern Philippines,
southern Thailand and Indonesia. The United States and Australia
have been cooperative and have assisted Indonesia to improve its
counterterrorist capacity.
With the establishment of the antiterror desk, the police
should enhance coordination with BIN, the immigration service and
the military to improve the early warning system, uncover the
terrorist network and conduct preemptive strikes on terrorist
nests in the country.
What do you think of the intelligence bill?
The nation needs a set of appropriate laws to effectively
counter terrorism. The government should immediately review the
antiterror bill and enact the intelligence bill to provide a
legal basis for counterterrorism measures.
The government and House of Representatives should consult
with all stakeholders, including BIN and the police, to ensure
that the bill is capable of being implemented.
Besides the police, BIN should be given the power to arrest
suspected terrorists or their close relatives so as to allow
intelligence agents to penetrate the terrorist networks. But this
must be subject to the condition that those arrested must not be
tortured or persecuted, while intelligence agents wrongly
arresting people should be punished.