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".