The threat of terrorism

The threat of terrorism

The reaction by many politicians and organizations to recent reports about threats of international terrorist attacks in Indonesia has reached unhealthy proportions, especially with the latest claims that these reports were nothing more than American propaganda. The United States has become the target of many condemnations this past week because the source of the reports have apparently come from there, or more specifically, from leaked Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents.

But this American bashing, which now seems to be a favorite pastime for some politicians, is not helping the situation. Apart from unnecessarily straining relations between our two countries, it is diverting attention away from the core problem, which this nation should really be addressing: dealing with the threat of terrorism.

American media publications last week reported a confession made by a certain Oman al-Faruq to the CIA about impending strikes on American targets in Indonesia around the time of the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Faruq was arrested in Indonesia in June and handed over to the U.S. authorities because apparently he was a suspected member of al-Qaeda, which Washington blames for the 9/11 attack.

As it turned out, his confession was the basis of what Washington called "specific and credible information" in ordering the closure of American diplomatic missions in Indonesia and several other Asian capitals around Sept. 11. The media reports also stated that Faruq claimed to have planned a plot to assassinate President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Also last week, the Singapore and Philippine governments came out with reports on the activities of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which they said was acting on behalf of Southeast Asia's al-Qaeda network, or at least had close links with it. The reports pointed at Indonesia as the origins of some of the leaders of JI, whose final goal was to turn the region into their version of a grand Islamic state. This information apparently came also from the confessions made by suspected terrorists in the Philippines and Singapore, including a number of Indonesian nationals.

The United States, Singapore and the Philippines, as well as Malaysia, have all taken firm steps to deal with the threat of terrorism. Whether or not Faruq's confession is credible, Washington was acting in its own interests when it ordered the closure of its diplomatic missions in Jakarta and elsewhere in the region.

While a dose of criticism against Washington and its policies on the terrorism issue are merited, excessive indulgence would be detrimental to our own national interests. Some leading politicians have responded to the chain of events by indulging in conspiratorial theories of an American plot to undermine Indonesia. It is even more unfortunate that some of these theories are gaining currency among the public.

It would have been better if the energy and resources had been spent to look into the real, rather than wrongly perceived, problems that this country faces: That terrorism is a clear and present danger, and that we as a nation have yet to determine how best to deal with the threat.

Instead of ridiculing Faruk's purported confessions to the CIA, Indonesia would have done well to investigate them. Instead of repeatedly denying the presence of the al-Qaeda network in the country, the authorities would have done well to take heed of the reports about the activities of the operatives and organizations allegedly linked to the group.

The threat of terrorism is too serious an issue to be dealt with lightly the way some politicians would have it. Indonesia, of all the countries in the region, should know this, having been at the receiving end of terrorist attacks ourselves in recent years, albeit by local rather than international groups.

Indonesia has not come up with a firm plan on how it will handle the threat. As an emerging democracy, it will have to deal with the issue without trampling on the rights of those suspected to be part of the international terrorist network.

The way the authorities arrested Faruq and handed him over to the United States raised serious legal questions. Irrespective of his nationality -- Kuwait has denied that he was one of its nationals, while his Indonesian wife in Jakarta insisted that he hailed from eastern Indonesia -- the authorities should have made sure that his legal rights were fully respected.

Indonesia no longer has the draconian law similar to the internal security act that Malaysia and Singapore invoke in arresting suspected terrorists without putting them on trial. But that is all the more reason for the Indonesian authorities to be more vigilant about the activities of those suspected to be part of an international terrorist organization.

The last thing we want is to revive the subversion law that allows the government to make an arrest without a trial. History everywhere has shown that such powers would only be abused, which would make the state not all that different from the terrorists themselves. And from our own experience over the last 40 years, state-sponsored terrorism is just as bad, if not worse.