RI, Australia to open antiterror center
RI, Australia to open antiterror center
Agencies
Denpasar, Bali
Australia and Indonesia announced on Thursday the planned
establishment of an antiterror center in an effort to fight
groups like the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his country
would give A$38.3 million (US$29.5 million) to the Indonesia
Center for Law Enforcement Cooperation.
"We'll be putting A$38.3 million over five years into that
center," he was quoted by AFP as saying on the sidelines of a
regional counterterrorism conference on the resort island of
Bali.
Downer said Australia was seeking donations from other
countries for the center that would provide information and
training for cash-strapped governments fighting terror groups.
An Indonesian figure would head the staff of the center that
will include 20 Australians, most of them federal police
officers, and will be based in Jakarta, he said.
"Its task will not only be to help ourselves (Australia and
Indonesia) with training, but also others in the region who want
to take advantage of this resource," he said as quoted by AP.
The center is expected to be operational by the end of 2004,
Downer said, while the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
spokesman Marty Natalegawa talked of an earlier start date.
"We are talking more of weeks, rather than months, I think. At
least the embryo of the thing," he told AFP.
Downer said the center would not only be helping with the
investigation of Jamaah Islamiyah, but also its links with al-
Qaeda and other terrorist organizations like the Abu Sayyaf group
in the Philippines.
The center is expected to offer training in forensics, bomb
disposal and other antiterror techniques, and to provide an
information clearinghouse.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said it
would also be able to provide direct help such as post-blast
analysis after a terrorist attack.
He said he expected experts at the center to be drawn not only
from Australia but from around the world. In the last 24 hours he
said he held "very fruitful" discussions with Dutch, British and
Canadian officials.
"So it would seem that the center has grabbed people's
attention and it would seem that it's likely we're going to get
some contributions," Keelty said.
Japanese national police also seem keen to contribute, he
added.
Downer said the center would institutionalize the Indonesia-
Australia cooperation that began during the Bali bombing
investigation.
Both countries worked together to probe the Oct. 12, 2002
nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including 88
Australians and 38 Indonesians.
The teamwork has led to the arrest of most of those
responsible for the bombings and has damaged Jamaah Islamiyah,
which was also blamed for the Aug. 5, 2003 attack that claimed 12
lives at Jakarta's J.W. Marriott Hotel.
The United States has also provided Indonesia with millions of
dollars for antiterror training and equipment, including the
establishment of a special police antiterror squad.
Indonesia's National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said it
would focus on improving antiterror cooperation in a practical
way. "So far we have only talked about co-operation in spirit and
discourse but where is the implementation?" he said.