Sutanto calls on ASEAN countries to stay alert for terror attacks
Sutanto calls on ASEAN countries to stay alert for terror attacks
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
National Police chief Gen. Sutanto called on Southeast Asian
countries on Thursday to be vigilant in the face of possible
terror attacks following a series of bombings here.
Sutanto said closer cooperation between police forces in the
region was necessary as terrorists worked beyond state
boundaries.
Indonesia has been fighting the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist
network Jamaah Islamiyah, which operates across Southeast Asia.
"We continue to obtain and receive information that
international terrorists are involved in many attacks and bomb
blasts in Indonesia. Their involvement extends to the provision
of training, finance, bomb making materials and personnel,"
Sutanto told an international police forum.
Chiefs of ASEAN and Australian police forces are attending the
two-day meeting, which concludes on Friday.
Sutanto pleaded with police chiefs for assistance in combating
terrorism in the region by strengthening cooperation and
coordination between them.
He did not elaborate on his statement, but asserted that there
was an urgent need to establish a working level mechanism for the
effective exchange of information and prompt cooperation.
Sutanto suggested the adoption of a post-terrorist attack
procedure that would serve as the basis for effective
collaboration between an affected country and other ASEAN
countries, or with non-ASEAN countries that are in a position to
provide assistance.
"Specialist police units such as terrorism strike units, crime
scene forensic units, bomb expert units, victim identification
units, special intelligence units and technical surveillance
units have been supplied by police forces around the globe,
including some ASEAN member countries and the Australian Federal
Police in the past," Sutanto said.
Such multinational collaboration was last seen in Bali after
three suicide bombers attacked in three restaurants in Jimbaran
and Kuta on Oct. 1, killing 20 other people.
Sutanto also invited police officers from ASEAN countries and
Australia to share ideas and knowledge at the police antiterror
training center in Semarang, Central Java.
The meeting comes on the heels of a police raid on the hide-
out of fugitive terrorist suspect Azahari bin Husin, who was
responsible for three major bomb attacks in the country that
killed hundreds of people over the past three years. Azahari died
in the shoot-out, while the police are still hunting down his
Malaysian compatriot Noordin M. Top.
Sutanto had warned of possible retaliation by Noordin and the
rest of his network.
In video footage shown at the official residence of Vice
President Jusuf Kalla on Wednesday, a hooded man believed to be
Noordin threatened American, Australian, British and Italian
nationals in the country since they were considered torturing
Muslims around the world.
Responding to the threat, Sutanto said it was the police's
responsibility to protect people living in the country,
regardless of their nationalities.
He also urged Noordin to give himself up to the police since
his partner had died.
"We hope that he realizes what he has been doing is wrong and
immediately surrenders himself to the police," Sutanto said.
In a separate interview, Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. I Made
Mangku Pastika expressed optimism that terrorism activities would
decline following Azahari's death. However, police should stay
alert for possible attacks from Azahari's followers, he added.