VP denies govt interference in the arrest of Ba'asyir

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hard-line Muslim groups lost their guardian angel in the government as Vice President Hamzah Haz threw in his support for the arrest by the National Police of terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

Hamzah stressed on Monday that the current police effort to arrest Ba'asyir was based on the law and not to fulfill international community demands for his arrest.

"The police action is based on legal aspects, the government has never engineered the arrest of Ba'asyir," Hamzah said.

"The government will not interfere with the investigation as this is the duty of the police and the arrest (of Ba'asyir) is based on the Criminal Code. However, if the investigation links him to the Bali bombing, then the police could use the new antiterrorism regulations," he added.

Hamzah's statement was apparently in contrast to his earlier comments that he would be the person to protect Muslim hard- liners should the authorities move to crack down on them.

"Only if they are proven to be terrorists will I myself order the arrest," he said last month.

However, Hamzah backtracked on his earlier stance and stressed that should Ba'asyir be guilty the authorities need to take action against him.

Ba'asyir, detained over the weekend in a crackdown on terrorist suspects following the Bali bombings on Oct. 12, has been undergoing treatment since Friday at the Muhammadiyah Hospital in Surakarta, Central Java.

Ba'asyir was taken to the hospital after he collapsed during a news conference on Friday.

Ba'asyir's lawyer Mahendratta said that in addition to lethal bombings, the charges against his client included a plot to assassinate President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"Pak Ba'asyir is suspected of a conspiracy to murder the President or Vice President," Mahendratta told The Jakarta Post.

The allegation was listed on a police summons handed to Ba'asyir, explaining the reasons for his detention, he added.

Police say they arrested him after a detained al-Qaeda suspect, Omar al-Faruq, told Indonesian investigators that Ba'asyir was implicated in bomb plots.

Time magazine reported last month that al-Faruq had admitted to plotting to assassinate Megawati before she became president and masterminding a series of bomb attacks in the country. He also admitted to having links with Ba'asyir.

Mahendratta said the summons for Ba'asyir did not mention the Bali bombings, which killed nearly 200 people.

He said Ba'asyir is also charged with violating laws on possession of explosives and firearms and destruction of property.

"He is also suspected of breaking the immigration law for allegedly entering and leaving Indonesia without a passport or other travel documents," Mahendratta added.

If convicted, the elderly Muslim cleric could face the death penalty for the explosives and firearms charges.

Mahendratta's colleague Djoko Trisnowidodo said the team of lawyers were preparing a lawsuit against the National Police for allegedly producing "baseless" charges against Ba'asyir.

Meanwhile in Surakarta, doctors said Ba'asyir's health was improving, although he remained on an intravenous food drip and oxygen nasal tube.

"In general, the patient's health is getting better. Only his lung problems still require special treatment," said Ros Edi Ariswati, the director of the Muhammadiyah hospital, who leads a team of doctors treating the suspect.

Another doctor, Suradi, said respiratory problems resurfaced after Ba'asyir was taken off oxygen on Sunday evening, forcing the doctors to put him back on.

Speaking at a media conference, Ariswati would not say when the 64-year-old cleric could be discharged from the hospital.

Despite the campaigns against Ba'asyir, support has begun to drift into the hospital with several Muslim figures visiting the bearded terrorist suspect.

On Monday, Nahdlatul Ulama leader Solahuddin Wahid, younger brother of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, was among the visitors after their uncle Yusuf Hasyim extended similar moral support for the ailing cleric on Sunday.

However, Gus Dur told a radio interview broadcast on Monday that "I believe that Ba'asyir is a terrorist and should have been arrested a long time ago".

Criticizing Megawati's cautious approach toward radicals, Gus Dur demanded that other extremist leaders soon be cracked down on for a series of violent incidents purportedly committed in the name of Islam.