Terrorism: Questions unasked

Terrorism: Questions unasked

The Jakarta Post's story Intelligence set to counter terrorism
(Aug. 15, 2001) was worrying. Not just for what was said, but
because of questions left unasked.

You begin your story by quoting a "reliable military
intelligence source" who detailed foiled bomb attacks on the U.S.
Embassy and the American Club. Your source then goes on to imply
that terrorists "also planned to kidnap some U.S. citizens here".
This would clearly be some cause for concern and, therefore,
understandable that the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta should warn its
citizens here to be vigilant.

Why then did Golkar legislator Yusril Ananta Baharuddin
dismiss the warning as a "tactic" by the U.S. Ambassador to draw
attention to himself? "What is the point of targeting U.S.
interests in Indonesia?", he asks. Well terrorist groups have,
over the last few years, targeted U.S. interests in East Africa
and the Middle East, so why not Indonesia? Indonesia would be a
very easy target indeed.

After all, this is the country where Laskar Jihad (jihad army)
with its terrorist agenda is allowed to openly collect money on
the streets of Bandung, Yogyakarta and Cirebon. Baharuddin
sarcastically hopes that the U.S. ambassador's successor "knows
Indonesia better than he does".

Let's all hope that those responsible for security in
Indonesia know the country better than Yusril does. He's
displayed little understanding of the country that his party
governed for so long, nor any understanding of the world at
large.

And why was he allowed to get away with these statements in
the first place? Were any of your journalists actually present
when Yusril and Syamsul Rizal Panggabean of Gajah Mada university
poured scorn on the warning?

Armed with the information from your "reliable military
intelligence source", shouldn't these men's statements have been
challenged? In this new democracy with its hard-won freedom of
speech, to be able to make a challenge of this sort is not just a
right of the press -- it's a duty.

VAUGHAN THOMAS

Cirebon, West Java