Taking aim at Indonesian
terrorists By Bill Guerin
JAKARTA - A senior judge in the world's
most populous Islamic country, declaring that
"killing is a big thing in the eyes of God, blood
must be paid with blood", sentenced a Muslim
militant to death by firing squad this month.
It was one of two related verdicts coming
down within a day of each other. The South Jakarta
District Court on September 13 convicted Iwan
Darmawan Mutho, 30, and a day later Achmad Hasan,
34, of terrorism by helping to organize and carry
out a suicide bombing outside the Australian
Embassy in Jakarta and by hiding the perpetrators.
The September 9, 2004 blast killed 11 Muslim
Indonesians, including bystanders, security
guards, police and passing motorists, as well as
people queuing to enter the
embassy. The suicide bomber,
Heri Gulon, died in the blast. More than 170 were
wounded. No foreigners were killed.
The
two, charged under anti-terror laws enacted
following the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings
that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians,
will join convicted Bali bombers Amrozi bin
Nurhasyim, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra on Indonesia's
death row.
Prosecutors accused Darmawan,
also known as Rois, of working with Malaysians
Azhari Husin, popularly known as Azahari, and
Noordin Mohammad, also known as Top. Azahari and
Noordin are likely the most wanted men in
Southeast Asia. They are said to have masterminded
the September 9 attack and are also wanted for
involvement in a string of other terror attacks,
including the Bali bombings and an August 2003
blast that killed 12 people at Jakarta's J W
Marriott Hotel.
Azahari, a
British-educated engineer, is an explosives expert
like Noordin. The two learned their trade at
al-Qaeda camps and have remained on the run for
three years despite a massive search by the
Indonesian anti-terror police who are trained in
part by Australia and the United States. Both
suspects have connections to the regional
terrorist network, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
Darmawan told police al-Qaeda had
bankrolled the attack. The money was delivered to
Azahari, who drove the suicide bomber to within a
few hundred meters of the building, then fled on a
motorcycle, looking over his shoulder at the
explosion. After his arrest in November 2004,
Darmawan disclosed that Azahari had been stopped
by Indonesian police three times and let go each
time after paying bribes.
Chief judge
Rocki Panjaitan said there were no mitigating
factors to warrant showing Darmawan any leniency.
On hearing the verdict Darmawan stood up, punched
his fist in the air and chanted "Allahu Akbar [God
is Great]." A mob of supporters rallied to the
shout and chanted a jihad marching song in the
packed courtroom. Claiming he was innocent, he
welcomed the death sentence because it would
enable him to die a martyr; "I am grateful to God
for being sentenced to death because I will die a
martyr. Why should I be frightened?"
In a
similar show of bravado a day later, Hasan
denounced his judges, shouting, "They're all
Satans, it's a satanic court. They're infidels. As
long as they oppress Muslim people, Muslim people
will have revenge."
The prosecution said
Hasan taught bomber Heri Gulon how to drive,
surveyed the embassy before the attack, conducted
bomb-making classes for recruits and purchased
explosive materials for the embassy bomb.
Presiding judge Achmad Sobari also said there were
no mitigating factors because Hasan expressed no
remorse for his "uncivilized actions" that had
discredited Islam and killed his fellow
Indonesians. His lawyer, Ahmad Michdan, said the
verdict would be appealed. "The facts were not
explored optimally and there were foreign
influences of terrorism propaganda to corner
Muslims," he said.
The same court earlier
jailed three others for periods of between 42
months and seven years for relatively minor roles
in the bombing. Two others are still on trial for
alleged involvement, and other recently arrested
suspects are expected to be brought to trial soon.
A balancing act There have been
an impressive number of arrests and convictions of
terrorists under President Susilo Bambang
Yudhyono. He is juggling the needs of the country,
in terms of creating a secure and safe environment
for investment, with the excruciatingly subtle
threats posed to Indonesia's vast majority of
peace-loving Muslims by the radicalized few.
Soon after the terror unleashed by the
September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States,
there was concern in Indonesia and across the
Muslim world that the ensuing US-led "war on
terror" would become a prelude to a worldwide
assault on Islam and the Muslim world itself.
With the focus now on Islam more than
ever, there is deep concern within the Islamic
community that the West will use the opportunity
to subjugate the Muslim world and force it into
some sort of inferior class of Western
civilization.
On the other hand, the basic
ideology of the fundamentalists is a literal and
intolerant interpretation of the Koran. The crux
of the extremists' oratory and their Taliban-style
spin is an attempt to sell the message that
somehow Islam is a religion that sees everything
in terms of a struggle - not against one's self,
but against a perceived threat. Their war against
the West is sustained by rage at cultural
imperialism and global injustice. The bombers may
be few in number, but the sentiment they exploit
is the widespread psychological urge to see the
face of their enemy in pain and grief.
Azahari was one of several Indonesians and
Malaysians who went to Afghanistan in the 1980s
and early 1990s during, and in the immediate
aftermath of, the CIA-backed holy war against the
Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. There, supported by
massive US and Saudi funding, JI's connections
with al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists were
established. The invasion and occupation of Iraq
has been one of the best recruitment opportunities
for the terrorist cells since the Soviets invaded
Afghanistan in 1979.
Meanwhile,
Indonesia's top Muslim council, the Indonesian
Ulema Council (MUI), has declared liberalism and
pluralism as haram, or forbidden under
Islam, despite the freedom of religion guaranteed
by Indonesia's 1945 constitution. It issued
religious edicts in July that banned liberal
interpretations of the faith, and death threats
have been made against members of the
four-year-old Islamic Liberal Network, known as
JIL.
JIL says the MUI fatwas
(edicts) that sparked the hate campaign coincide
with the closure of several unauthorized Christian
churches by hardline Muslim groups and the jailing
this month of three Christian women for inviting
Muslim children to church social events. Some
schools of thought see this as a backlash against
liberal opinion as well as a push by Muslim
conservatives to reassert themselves after
political Islam failed to gain ground in last
year's general elections.
The
developments, if not firmly dealt with, could hurt
the country's image as a moderate Muslim nation.
"Pluralism actually enriches our nation," stressed
the president, when saying he had ordered his
subordinates to ensure that such violence would
not be repeated. He has also tasked Minister of
Religious Affairs M Maftuh Basyuni with
investigating the reasons why the MUI issued the
edicts.
Australia at risk The
Indonesian legal system has come under fire in
Australia since Schapelle Corby was sentenced to
20 years' jail for drug smuggling, though Jemaah
Islamiyah's alleged spiritual leader, Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir, was in March sentenced to only 30 months
in prison for being part of a "sinister
conspiracy" behind the bombings. There was even
more outrage across Australia last month when more
than 30 militants convicted over the Bali bombings
were granted sentence remissions and Ba'asyir's
sentence was cut by 135 days. Police received a
cell phone message 45 minutes before the September
9, 2004 embassy bombing, warning that foreign
missions in Jakarta would be attacked unless
Ba'asyir was freed, Australia's Foreign Minister,
Alexander Downer, said then. Indonesian police
said they received no such warning.
Downer
welcomed both the Darmawan and Hasan verdicts
although Australia opposes capital punishment.
Meanwhile, Darmawan said Australian
dollars from Osama bin Laden directly funded the
embassy operation, designed, he explained, to
avenge the killings of Muslims in Afghanistan and
Iraq by the US and its allies, including
Australia. He had a chilling message for
Australia: "It should be borne in mind that any
act of injustice against Muslims anywhere in the
world will not go unavenged. Muslims will
certainly avenge this."
Australian
Ambassador David Ritchie said Friday after the
verdicts, "Mindful of President Yudhoyono`s
warning about the possibility of more terrorist
acts, we have taken a preventive measure by
issuing a travel advisory to Australians who
intend to visit Indonesia."
Yet the
biggest threat to Australians may now be on their
own soil. Kerry Collinson, author of Crescent
Moon Rising to be launched on October 1,
argues that the irony for Australia is that
joining the "coalition of the willing" gave a gift
of epic proportions to the Islamic, extremist
fringe. The clear and present danger is that
Australia may suffer an attack of disastrous
proportions. Earlier this month al-Qaeda televised
warnings claiming Melbourne is now a target.
But increased terror attacks inside
Indonesia are also a worry, though Sidney Jones,
Southeast Asia project director of the
International Crisis Group (ICG), believes that
future terror attacks in Indonesia may be less
professional and even less well-executed than in
the past. JI, she said, faces dissension over how
to achieve its objectives and is reeling at the
double whammy of the arrest of more than 200 of
its members and public outrage over its tactics.
"There won't be another attack that's as
big as the Bali bombings. JI's alive,
consolidating, actively recruiting, but most of
its leadership is no longer interested in bombing
Western targets as it's wasting time, funds and
human resources," she said.
While
commending efforts to stamp out terrorism, Jones
said the government still needed to improve its
intelligence while at the same time avoiding
arbitrary legislation and abuses of power.
ICG describes itself in glowing terms as
"widely regarded as the world's leading
independent, non-government source of information,
analysis and advice to governments and
international organizations on conflict issues".
There are double standards inherent in Jones's
comments. Where is the credit for Indonesia's
success and the censure for the two major
proponents of "arbitrary legislation" and "abuses
of power", ie, the US and the UK?
What
civil liberties? Even the US has
acknowledged Jakarta has done an "admirable job of
pursuing, arresting and prosecuting terrorists".
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia
and Pacific Affairs Eric G John, in testimony
before a Senate Foreign Relations committee last
week, praised Indonesia for arresting and
convicting more than 130 terrorists since the Bali
bombings and establishing an effective
counterterrorism police force.
Generally,
the war on terrorism has drastically altered the
balance between civil liberties and security,
putting core values at risk. The challenge to
mount an effective domestic and international
response to terrorism that does not, in the long
run, compromise basic human rights domestically or
internationally, has been fudged by both the US
and the UK.
Protecting US or British
citizens' freedom to live and go about their lives
without fear of terrorism is regarded as more
important than the civil liberties of suspected
terrorists. The UK's proposed new Prevention of
Terrorism Bill 2005 gives the government even
greater power than the Anti-Terrorism Crime and
Security Act 2001, legislation ruled contrary to
human rights laws by the House of Lords Judicial
Committee. Since January 2002 prisoners from the
war in Afghanistan have been cooped up in wire
cages at US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
with no access to lawyers - in violation of
international law.
Civil liberties
advocates do not dispute the need for additional
investigative methods to address the threats of
terrorism, but they are acutely concerned about
the broader and longer-term implications of
sidelining legal rights in response to acts of
terrorism.
The many critics of the "war on
terror" rarely say the threat is not real, but
argue simply that sweeping arbitrary powers are a
flawed approach to addressing it. There is a
rising chorus of concern that such powers are more
likely to lead to a miscarriage of justice and
that prosecution in a court of law would be a
better solution.
The most fundamental
human rights are the freedom from arbitrary arrest
and detention at the whim of the executive and the
right to a fair trial and due process. "Security
and human rights are not alternatives; they go
hand in hand. Respect for human rights is the
route to security, not the obstacle to it," says
Amnesty International.
Nonetheless Jones
makes one very valid point. Putting hurdles in the
way of the recruitment process, according to her,
was one key to the success of counterterrorism
efforts, and this involved identifying people
vulnerable to being recruited. More than any other
country, Indonesia's geography lends itself to
extremist groups that rely upon inconspicuousness
and free movement. (Indonesia is an archipelago of
17,000 islands, 6,000 inhabited, covering
1,826,440 square kilometers, almost three times
the size of Texas.)
Terrorists do not
simply appear in full-blooded hate mode, trained
and equipped to launch their deadly attacks.
Persistent dire social and economic circumstances
encourage the converts to take the easy way out.
Instead of living for Islam, they want to die for
Islam. Being martyrs like the Bali bombers and the
Australian Embassy blast accomplices, for them has
its rewards in the hereafter.
Hardline
Islamic groups do not enjoy widespread public
support in Indonesia. The average Indonesian
Muslim, judging by mass-media coverage of the
issue, does not see the issue as demanding
attention. Though those calling for violence and
aggression in Indonesia are preaching in a
wilderness, the danger is that the extremist
interpretations from radicals will strike a chord
with the dispossessed and disenchanted masses.
"You may read from time to time of the
voice of small radical groups, but these voices
will not change the fact that mainstream Indonesia
will continue to be moderate, tolerant and
democratic," Yudhyono told an Asian-European
Editors Forum in Jakarta this month. "Fighting
terrorism will continue to be our top priority in
Indonesia. We will continue to pursue these
terrorist groups wherever they may be hiding. We
will continue international cooperation involving
the police, intelligence and immigration. We will
strengthen the hands of the religious moderates."
The retired general has also ordered chief
security minister Admiral A S Widodo and the
National Intelligence Agency chief Syamsir Siregar
to heighten the level of alert against possible
terrorist attacks, saying that domestic terrorist
cells might be planning another strike soon.
Yudhyono has focused anti-terrorism
efforts on increasing international cooperation
and coordination to build a strong network within
the region and beyond through a series of
agreements to fight terrorism and other
transnational crimes.
Still, there seems
to be something missing. JI is Indonesia's
best-known terrorist network. Its followers come
from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore but it is
rooted in Central Java with cells scattered across
the archipelago. Yet the government, the police
and intelligence agencies have not acknowledged
that JI is an organization operating within
Indonesia nor even recognized it as a terrorist
organization.
Bill Guerin, a
Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since
2000, has worked in Indonesia for 20 years as a
journalist. He has been published by the BBC on
East Timor and specializes in business/economic
and political analysis in Indonesia.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd.
All rights reserved. Please contact us for
information on sales, syndication and republishing
.)
