RI seeks to boost antiterror cooperation, says minister
RI seeks to boost antiterror cooperation, says minister
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia will be seeking to boost international cooperation in
the fight against terrorism when it hosts an Asia-Pacific
regional ministerial meeting on counterterrorism in Bali early
next month, a Cabinet minister says.
Foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda said on Wednesday that
Indonesia wanted better cooperation between countries in the
region and around the world in a bid to eliminate the threat of
terrorism.
"We want to encourage international cooperation because we see
that there is a gap between political commitment and concrete
cooperation despite the fact that such cooperation needs to be
encouraged as part of the effort to fight terrorism," he said.
The minister was speaking during a press conference after a
meeting with National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar as well as
representatives from the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and
the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights on the preparations for
the meeting.
Indonesia and Australia will co-host an international
antiterrorism conference in Bali early next month.
"We want to share our experience in investigating and
arresting the bombers, some of whom have been prosecuted. We hope
we can boost international cooperation to the fight against
terrorism," Hassan said.
He was referring to the deadly Bali terrorist attacks on Oct.
12, 2002, which killed at least 202 people and injured over 250
others, mostly foreign tourists.
Indonesian Police investigators, assisted by their Australian
counterparts, managed to successfully capture the perpetrators of
the bombings. A number of these have been sentenced to death.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri is slated to open the summit,
which is expected to be attended by representatives from 23
countries in the Asia-Pacific region and observers from other
parts of the world, including Europe and America, Hassan
explained.
"We will emphasize Indonesia's active role in battling
terrorism in this country as well as our leadership in (the
regional and international) collaborative effort to combat
terrorism," he said.
During the Feb. 4 to Feb. 5 meeting, which is being co-
sponsored by the Indonesian and Australian governments, Indonesia
will propose the establishment of an antiterror training center.
"We are also thinking of strengthening our forensic laboratory
facilities, not only for Indonesia but also for the region as a
whole," he said.
Before the meeting, Indonesia and Australia would set up a
counterterrorism office to be known as the Transnational Crime
Center (TNCC) in Jakarta.
"This product of Indonesian-Australian cooperation will form
part of the collaborative effort in the region (in fighting
terrorism)," Hassan said.
The establishment of the counterterrorism center, which will
be located in Jakarta, was agreed on following a period of
unprecedented cooperation between Canberra and Jakarta on
terrorism in the wake of the Oct. 12, 2002, bombings in Bali that
killed 202 people, 88 of whom were Australians.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Minister Hassan
discussed the plan to co-host the meeting in August last year.
It was announce five days after the bombing of the JW Marriott
Hotel in Jakarta, which left 12 people dead.
Downer acknowledged some improvements in counterterrorism
cooperation between governments since the U.S. attacks on Sept.
11, 2001, but he stressed that "there's still a fair way to go".