RI in hot water over Lee's remarks

Yogita Tahilramani and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is seeking clarification from and blaming Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew for talking to the media, after he alleged that regional terrorist leaders were still operating in Indonesia.

"Our diplomatic channels are working and we will seek clarification on what Lee's statements mean," Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Monday night.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wahid Supriyadi said that Indonesia regretted Lee's publicized statements and added that he should have shared his information with the Indonesian authorities first.

"As members of ASEAN, we had agreed with the government of Singapore to share information concerning transnational crimes, including terrorism," Wahid told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Bambang and Wahid were commenting on Lee's statement made on Sunday that Singapore continued to face danger because leaders of regional extremist cells were still at large in Indonesia. These leaders, Lee said, were the brains, who just needed foot soldiers in Singapore to do the legwork, like taking videos and arranging explosives.

Lee's decision to talk to the media may have been triggered by Indonesia's inactivity in dealing with groups or individuals linked to terrorist networks by Singapore and Malaysia, two neighboring countries that have launched a massive clampdown on fundamentalist groups.

Singapore, for example, has arrested 13 Jamaah Islamiyah members believed to be operatives of a terrorist network operating in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia.

Indonesia, on the other hand, has not made any recent arrests of alleged terrorists, other than that of Malaysian national Dani alias Taufik, who was a primary suspect in the bombing of Atrium Plaza in Central Jakarta last year.

City police questioned Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, whom Malaysian authorities have accused of having links with a French national currently on trial in the United States for his role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Maj. Gen. Sudrajat, director-general of defense strategies at the Ministry of Defense, said that Indonesia would not act hastily by taking immediate action against Indonesians charged by other countries for their alleged involvement with international terrorist groups.

"Indonesia cannot take action against people, simply based on information from foreign countries. We need to conduct an objective and thorough investigation into the matter ourselves," Sudrajat said, on the sidelines of a seminar held here on Tuesday.

Malaysian authorities have detained 23 suspected religious militants, including four Indonesians and three Singaporeans.

Philippine police have arrested an Indonesian, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, on suspicion of being the explosives expert for the Jamaah Islamiyah group, which are alleged to have been planning a bombing campaign against U.S. targets in Singapore.

Indonesian police intelligence officers have recently complained that the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) reportedly received high level information on the reported presence of terrorist cells in Indonesia, but never shared it with the police.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's top detective is due to visit Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines to gather information on the alleged presence of regional terrorist leaders in Indonesia, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Tuesday.

"We are sending our men abroad to find out exactly what these countries have found out about the alleged presence of (terrorist) masterminds in our country," Da'i told reporters at National Police Headquarters on Tuesday.

Da'i said National Police chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Engkesman Hillep, accompanied by a team of intelligence officers and detectives, would be leaving for their overseas assignment on Wednesday.

"We will also seek permission to question the Indonesians arrested overseas, who are alleged to have terrorist ties."

Senior Indonesian police official Comr. Gen. Ahwil Luthan left for Malaysia over a week ago to gather information on Indonesians who have been detained in Malaysia and alleged to have ties with the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Ahwil is due to return on Wednesday, according to his adjutant at his residence.