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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesia to investigate Muslim leader's involvement in ‘terrorism' |
| 2002-09-19 |
| The Indonesian government is to carry out an in-depth investigation into Abu Bakar Baasyir regarding his alleged involvement in a global terrorist network. "The government will carry out a domestic investigation into this case," Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, told reporters after attending a coordinating meeting about Indonesian government's policy as regards eradicating global terrorism. Yudhoyono went on to say the government will not arrest Abu Bakar just because foreign countries have their suspicions about him. Matter of fact, they won't arrest him just because foreign countries have proof on him... He went on to say that currently Indonesia was not in a position to decide whether the information was right or not. "And we're determined not to be... We just don't wanna get involved, y'know?" Yudhoyono said that Wednesday evening's meeting was intended to follow up on information provided by international intelligence agencies that an Al-Qaeda cell exists in Indonesia. "There is also the suspicion that a foreigner is involved in this terrorism activity," he added. "But we know that's not so, so why bother investigating?" Regarding Al Farouq's statement about Al-Qaeda network in Southeast Asia, as reported by Time magazine, the government will follow up this information. "It may already be in somebody's inbox, in fact..." Meanwhile, Vice President Hamzah Haz has said he does not believe the Al-Qaeda network operates in Indonesia, as there is no proof that supports such an assumption. He has requested the US government to coordinate with Indonesia if it has information about this. "If a [terrorist] network is discovered to be operating in Indonesia, the government will take action," said Hamzah on Tuesday (17/9). "Nope. Nope. No terrorists here..." The matter of Al-Qaeda network in Indonesia has arisen again after the Time Magazine report over a CIA interview with Omar Al-Faruq, one of the Al-Qaeda leaders in Southeast Asia. Omar was arrested in Bogor, West Java, and then was deported in last June, despite allegedly masterminding the Christmas Eve 2000 bombings action. "That wasn't terrorism. It was, ummm... something else." Omar also said he had planned to kill Megawati Soekarnoputri in 1999, when she was vice president. "I don't know about this," Hamzah said. "But I never really liked her, anyway..." He went on to explain such a rumor will merely result in instability condition and disturb security and economic recovery in Indonesia. Things can get worse than they are now in Indonesia? How? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |