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| Southeast Asia |
| Mystery surrounds JI financing |
| 2005-08-03 |
| A man accused of co-ordinating the 2004 bombings of the Australian embassy in Jakarta in which nine people were killed claims that Osama bin Laden provided the money for the explosives, but while not ruling out this possibility a Jakarta-based security expert has urged more caution in what he says are crucial investigations in determining who is financing terrorism in the region. According to a report in the daily The Australian on Monday, Iwan Dharmawan, also known as Rois, shortly after his arrest las Novemeber told Indonesian authorities that he received 10,000 Australian dollars from a courier sent by Bin Laden. âI can't exclude that al-Qaeda financed the [9 September 2004] Australian embassy bombings, but I surely can't affirm it. The matter is still open, " security expert Ken Conboy, who is the author of the book "The Second Front: Inside Asia's Most Dangerous Terrorist Network", which focus on Jemaah Islamiyah - the radical islamic group fighting for the establishment of an Islamic state in South East Asia - told Adnkronos International (AKI). Rois says he learnt that Bin Laden had provided the money from Azahari bin Husin, a Malay suspect beleived to be behind all the major terrorist attacks carried out Indonesia in recent years. Azahari bin Husin and his assistant, Noordin Mohammed Top, are still on the run. âFinding the sponsors of terror is crucial if we are to lower the intensity of the security threat against Jakarta, â Conboy told AKI. âUntil 2003 it was quite clear that the money came from Pakistan, but that channel has been blocked. Nobody can now say for sure who finances terrorism in Indonesia. Rois' statement is just a supposition among others, â Conboy said. Whaterver the source of the fundings, law enforcement agencies must focus their efforts in identifying then, the security expert stresses. âAs long as money is available [to the terrorists], the risks of another attack in Jakarta is very high,â he said.. Rois, whose case is currently being judged in a Jakarta tribunal, is accused of having organised the logistics behind the attack against the Australian embassy. He faces the death penalty if convicted. Despite the fact that Rois has denied being a member of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the radical islamic group is considered responsible for the Australian embassy attack, as well as those against several discos in Bali in 2002 which killed 202 people, and against Jakarta's Marriott hotel in 2003 which killed 12. Jemaah Islamiyah, which means in Arab "Islamic community", has not been outlawed in the country and the organisation is supported by local madrassas, or Islamic institutes, especially those located in the region of Central Java. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 No doubt the most hard line Muzzi nation in SE Asia would back pedal about any firm AQ link. Quick, send out an expert to cast doubt. Would not want to piss off the muzzie savior BL and start a civil war. |
| Posted by: 49 pan 2005-08-03 22:07 |