The accused

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