U.S. warns of possible terror attacks, kidnapping
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The United States renewed on Friday its warning of possible terrorist attacks in Indonesia and possible kidnapping by the Philippine Abu Sayyaf group in the border areas of Indonesia.
Jakarta criticized the warning saying that it is a "bit excessive" to say that the Abu Sayyaf group may have operated in Indonesia. However, the travel warning from the U.S. Department of State only warned that the group had the operational capability to carry out kidnapping in Indonesia.
The renewed advisory underlined that the potential threats against American citizens and other foreigners remain despite the arrest of terrorist suspects by the Indonesian police.
"The potential remains throughout Indonesia for violence and terrorist actions against U.S. citizens and interests," the warning underlined.
Aside from the activities of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network in the Southeast Asia region including Indonesia, Washington also warned of possible abductions by the Philippine's separatist guerrillas, the Abu Sayyaf.
"There is a risk of kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in the border areas of Indonesia, near Malaysia and the Philippines.
"The Abu Sayyaf has previously carried out kidnappings in Malaysia and the Philippines and the group has the operational capability to do so in Indonesia also," the advisory said.
The spokesman of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marty Natalegawa, criticized Washington for the statement saying that there was no record of an intrusion of Abu Sayyaf members into Indonesia.
"They have never operated in Indonesia. The warning is a bit excessive and made based only on the geographical proximity of Indonesia and the Philippines," Marty said in a press conference.
He underlined that there has never been any abduction of foreigners in Indonesia by the Philippine separatist group.
Spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta Stanley Harsha said that there was nothing special about the renewed warning as the U.S. government reviewed its travel advisory from time to time.
"We periodically review the warning, and we revised the Aug. 28 travel warning for Indonesia in order to make it consistent with the travel notices for Malaysia and the Philippines because Malaysia and the Philippines always get travel notices over kidnapping in border areas," he remarked.
Due to the geographical proximity and similar ideology, the Abu Sayyaf group has been said to have links with a number of militant groups in Indonesia.
Indonesian convicted terrorist Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, who escaped from a police detention center in Manila earlier last month, was said to have escaped with the help of the Abu Sayyaf group.
However, there has not been any solid evidence to support the allegations of possible links between Abu Sayyaf with any militant groups in Indonesia.
In the updated travel warning, Washington reiterated its warning of possible additional attacks against softer targets such as housing compounds, shopping malls and other recreational areas.
Citing the Aug. 5 bombing in JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Washington advised its citizens to defer all non-essential travel to Indonesia.
It also advised its citizens in Indonesia to keep a low profile and avoid conflict areas such as war-torn Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and Papua provinces.