The accused

The "fireball" of the JW Marriott Hotel bombing has again cornered the Moslem society. Government officials, particularly the police, have made a hasty statement before conducting a valid investigation. Based on their own assumptions, they declared that the hotel bombing was carried out by a Moslem group.

This statement has the potential to discredit Moslems. Moslems have been the accused in every bombing case, including in the Bali bombing.

What is peculiar in the Marriott bombing is that the charge that the Jamaah Islamiyah was behind it, did not come from the police but from the Singaporean media. It seems that the coverage has become the evidence that had led the Indonesian Police to make such a conclusion.

We agree that the bombings must be thoroughly investigated and their perpetrators must get severe punishment. However, the anti- terrorism campaign, particularly that launched by the U.S. after the World Trade Center suicide attacks, has linked Islam and Moslems to terrorism.

It is a big mistake. The government and the police work only on the surface, and not in the deep part. It is ironical for the government and the police to question the twigs and not the tree, or even its roots. -- Republika, Jakarta