RI, Singapore win U.S. kudos on terrorism

RI, Singapore win U.S. kudos on terrorism

Stephen Collinson, Agence France-Presse, Washington

Indonesia and Singapore won U.S. plaudits for their role in the
U.S. anti-terror campaign on Wednesday, but a new government
report warned that Islamic militant group Jamaah Islamiyah still
posed a huge threat in Southeast Asia.

Singapore and Indonesia were once at opposite ends of the
spectrum of U.S. anti-terror assessments, but Jakarta's stock has
risen significantly here after it snared suspects thought to have
been involved in the Bali bomb attack last year which killed 202
people.

"Indonesia made great strides in bringing perpetrators of the
Bali bombings to justice and exposing the scale and deadliness of
the terrorist group Jamaah Islamiya (JI), believed to be
responsible for the bombings," said the "Patterns of Global
Terrorism" report for 2002 released by the State Department.

"The Indonesian police cooperated closely with other regional
partners in the Bali investigation and widened the investigation
beyond the Bali attacks to look at JI in general, often through
cooperation with other nations in the region."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell last week said Indonesia
had finally awakened to the threat of terrorism within its
borders, after JI leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir went on trial for
treason.

The United States imposed fierce pressure on President
Megawati Soekarnoputri to track down on terror suspects after
launching its anti-terror war after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Singapore, something of a star pupil in the U.S. campaign,
wallowed in fresh praise as the report lauded two swoops against
JI.

"With superb law enforcement skill and effective cooperation
with other nations, Singapore's two successful operations
doubtless saved lives and prevented incalculable physical
damage."

The assessment was issued as Singapore Trade and Industry
Minister George Yeo met senior U.S. officials ahead of a talks
between Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and President George W. Bush
next week which will see the adoption of a landmark bilateral
trade pact.

"We discovered to our horror that right beneath our feet after
September 11, the JI network," Yeo told reporters.

"We, in cooperation with other countries in Southeast Asia
acted with dispatch to root out this network and to suppress it."

The Philippines, also firmly in the U.S. camp, was also
praised, while Myanmar, pilloried for its human rights record and
suppression of a democracy movement, earned a rare nod of
approval from Washington.

Yangon "has taken a solid stance against international
terrorism ... authorities frequently make public statements
supportive of international counterterrorism efforts."

The report approved China's continued cooperation "with the
United States in the war on terrorism."

But despite growing Southeast Asian cooperation on anti-terror
efforts, the threat remains grave, warned the report.

"Much work remains to be done so that the region's
counterterrorism regimes can deal effectively with the threat
that terrorists continue to pose to East Asian nations," it said.

"While regional nations did much to expose, arrest, and
disrupt JI in 2002, the organization continues to function, and
many of its leaders remain at large.

"JI and other terrorist groups continue to pose significant
threats to the region, and only through increasing collaboration
and cooperation can those threats be met."