Terrorism in RI: What does intelligence really know?

Terrorism in RI: What does intelligence really know?

By Riza Sihbudi

JAKARTA (JP): The chief of the State Intelligence Agency
Hendropriyono hinted recently that international terrorists were
entering Indonesia. Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb
had also earlier referred to the presence of three groups of bomb
terrorists in Jakarta and its environs, namely Tommy Soeharto's
group, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and a terrorist group of
Malaysian origin.

The statements of both high ranking officials handling the
country's defense and security sectors were certainly based on
pieces of evidence they had gathered.

Regardless of the validity of their evidence, the Malaysian
government itself has complained about the suspected expansion of
international terrorism in its country. Malaysia, as reported by
the mass media, has begun to fear a foreign investment standstill
unless the issue of terrorism is promptly dealt with. The
indication of an international terrorism network now spreading to
the Asian region is apparently seen as something serious.

An institute of studies in the United States, Jane's
Information Group, has shown among other things that the ring of
followers of Osama bin Laden is pervading Southeast Asia. Osama,
whom the U.S. media call the most dreaded international "diehard
terrorist big shot", is a millionaire of Saudi Arabia with the
U.S. a main target of his struggle.

No wonder the U.S. government is willing to offer a prize of
US$5 million to anybody capable of seizing Osama alive or dead.
He hit headlines when his group attacked the U.S. embassies in
Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. The U.S. had then strived to
retaliate by launching assaults on Sudan and Afghanistan, where
Osama was strongly believed to be hiding.

His name is now heard again in connection with the spread of
terrorist acts in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia, the
Philippines and Indonesia. While in Malaysia Osman is linked with
the group of Muslim "extremists" and in the Philippines with the
group of Abu Sayyaf (Moro), in Indonesia Osama's ring is said to
be operating in Maluku in relation to the jihad troops there,
Aceh and Jakarta.

Is it true that Osama bin Laden has made Asia, especially
Southeast Asia (including Indonesia), a target of his group's
operation? A definite answer is not easy. However, if one takes
note of Osama's modes of action so far and his group's ideology,
there is little likelihood that his ring is penetrating Indonesia
(and also Malaysia). This is even more the case if his operation
is associated with the latest bomb terrors in Jakarta and its
outskirts.

First, there have been hardly any reports of Osama's men
targeting places of worship (particularly churches). He indeed
has strong aversion to the U.S., which he considers an all-time
protector and supporter of Israel in their slaughter of the
Palestinians. Therefore, his group has to date aimed at U.S. and
Israeli facilities (like U.S. embassies and cultural centers) in
various countries. In other words, the terrorist acts that causes
destruction or damage to churches, shops or government buildings
are not typical of Osama's movement.

Second, Indonesia, similar to Malaysia, is a country with an
Islamic majority that so far has maintained no diplomatic ties
with Israel.

It is then difficult to understand why Osama should include
Indonesia in his range of operation. If this is true, the moves
in Indonesia could just be counter-productive to his long-term
struggle. Anyway, Osama obviously needs the support of the
international Muslim community.

There are possibilities that the Osama group may indeed have
some connection with the jihad troops and the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM). A few militias have reportedly received military training
in Afghanistan. But despite Afghanistan's notoriety as Osama's
safe haven, relations between Osama and the Taliban government in
Kabul have been tense -- with the U.S. successfully imposing
pressure on the Talibans, leading to their pledge to surrender
Osama to Washington. With this in mind, though some jihad and GAM
members are said to have been trained in Afghanistan, they are
not automatically part of the Osama ring.

Infiltration of foreign terrorists into the country is not to
be ruled out either (as hinted by Hendropriyono and Sofjan
Jacoeb). Nonetheless, it remains a question whether they are
working for any international terrorist network (including
Osama's), or whether they are merely receiving "orders" from
certain domestic circles themselves.

A bigger riddle concerns the capacity of the Indonesian
intelligence, which in the Soeharto era was so formidable (that
it could even detect any student discussion at their lodgings),
and which has seemingly become so worn down over the last three
years. Making external factors a scapegoat is indeed easier
though this attitude is contrary to the spirit of reform. Or, is
the reform movement -- in the words of economist Dr. Syahrir --
now dead?

The writer is chairman of the Indonesian Society for Middle East
Studies in Jakarta.