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."