JAKARTA - Last weekend's arrest of Abu
Dujana, the alleged leader of regional terrorist
network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), by Indonesia's
anti-terror squad has deservedly won Jakarta
widespread praise. The capture of the
Afghan-trained militant may also help to dampen
renewed enthusiasm in the US Congress for yet
another proposal to cut military aid to Jakarta.
One of the most valuable benefits of the
closer relationship between President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono and President George W Bush has
been the strengthening of the US-trained and
equipped elite police
counter-terrorism team, known locally as
Detachment 88, first set up during the
administration of president Megawati Sukarnoputri
in 2003, only months after the first Bali
bombings.
Equipped with US weaponry and
assault vehicles, including Colt M4 assault
rifles, Armalite AR-10 sniper rifles and Remington
870 shotguns, the elite unit has become one of the
top anti-terror units, if not the top, in
the world, during Yudhoyono's watch.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer this week praised Indonesia for doing "an
outstanding job in combating terrorism". Although
there have been scores of arrests and convictions
since the first Bali bombings in 2002, with more
than 220 suspects jailed for terrorist activities
since then, the battle against terrorism in
Indonesia is far from over.
Police said
last year that Dujana had replaced Noordin Mohamed
Top, the Malaysian bomb-maker who allegedly
supplied suicide bombers and materials used in
terrorist attacks as Indonesia's most wanted
fugitive. Top's alleged accomplice, Malaysian
master bomb-maker Azahari bin Husin, was killed in
a November 2005 shootout with Detachment 88 in the
terror squad.
If allegations against him
are proved to be true, Dujana certainly has a lot
of blood on his hands. He is believed to have
played a major role in the 2002 and 2005 Bali
bombings and the Australian Embassy blast, as well
as having a hand in the supply of ammunition and
explosives to militants involved in sectarian
violence in Poso, Central Sulawesi province. He is
also thought to have played a role in the 2003
blast at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner
Mick Keelty has warned that the effort needed to
eradicate terrorism in Indonesia is "not a sprint,
but a marathon".
Indonesian National
Police Chief General Sutanto has called for
tougher laws to fight terrorism, and says current
legislation impedes investigations. Anti-terrorism
chief General Ansyaad Mbai adds that the security
forces lack authority to take preemptive action on
those suspected of plotting terrorist strikes. On
the other hand, radical Muslim groups strongly
oppose tougher anti-terror laws, saying they could
violate human rights.
The 2003
Anti-terrorism Law allows detention of suspects
for seven days for questioning. If no evidence is
provided by the police in that period, they must
be released.
Proposed revisions to the
existing law, which Mbai has described as the
world's "softest" law against terrorism, would
allow detention for a further six months for
questioning and prosecution. Intelligence reports
would be acceptable and admissible prima facie
evidence for granting a detention order.
This March, Detachment 88 captured seven
suspects thought to be members of Dujana's network
during raids in Central and East Java. Caches of
weapons, explosives and chemicals were seized that
could have produced a bomb bigger than those used
in Bali in October 2002. Rights campaigners allege
that crackdowns by Detachment 88 have spawned
rights violations and claim most of the arrests
made were illegal.
Yet for Indonesia, with
the world's biggest population of Muslims, the
strong-arm tactics of neighbors Malaysia and
Singapore, where suspects can be held indefinitely
without charge or trial, is an unlikely option.
Headlining human rights While
the Bush administration has consistently stuck by
Indonesia as a key ally in the "war on terror",
improved ties between the two countries have been
helped by President Bush's success in sidelining
the poor human-rights record of Indonesia's
military.
The recent deaths of four
villagers shot by marines over a land dispute in a
tiny East Java village have angered local rights
groups, legislators and influential Muslim
figures. The controversial shootings seem to have
reached out to Washington too, at a time when the
US Congress is considering a proposal by Democrat
Nita Lowey, head of the powerful appropriations
subcommittee, to cut military aid. If accepted,
her proposal would see conditions attached to US$2
million of a total of $8 million in military
assistance to Indonesia budgeted for 2008.
The new move, reportedly with little
support so far from US senators, is said to be
because of Indonesia's failure to reform the
military and to prosecute senior officers for the
violence and mayhem in East Timor in 1999.
In Indonesia, the draft anti-terrorism
law, still stuck in Parliament, provides for the
arrest of suspects by the military, which would
thus give the armed forces an involvement in
policing and criminal investigations, the very
powers that were so widely abused in the Suharto
era.
While the vast majority of
Indonesians may have little sympathy for the
killers in their midst, heightened risks to their
own rights that stemmed from any sweeping
detention powers given to security authorities,
could see the worm turn. A likely backlash from
Muslim groups and political parties in Indonesia
to such a move ahead of the 2009 elections could
spell disaster at the polls for Yudhoyono.
Bill Guerin, a Jakarta
correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000,
has been in Indonesia for 20 years, mostly in
journalism and editorial positions. He has been
published by the British Broadcasting Corp on East
Timor and specializes in business/economic and
political analysis related to Indonesia. He can be
reached at softsell@prima.net.id.
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