Yet another example of terrorism being a family affair that we’ve seen again, and again, and again ...
THE next generation of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists is being groomed in training camps in the region and beyond, planning more Bali-style attacks, warned Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng. He told the first Asia-Pacific homeland security conference in Hawaii on Thursday that a JI cell broken up recently in Pakistan had included the sons of JI members in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
Members of this cell were being groomed to be the network’s next generation of leaders. Apart from religious studies, they were taught military and terrorist skills. They had studied in madrasahs in Malaysia and the Philippines before being sent to Pakistan. The cell was originally led by Indonesian Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir’ss on and, more recently, by the brother of Hambali, the alleged JI operations chief. JI soldiers are also being groomed in JI-controlled religious schools or madrasahs in Indonesia, Mr Wong said in his speech. The largest was run by Bashir in Ngruki, Central Java, he told 650 Asia-Pacific government officials, diplomats, military chiefs and business leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Homeland Security Summit and Exposition to discuss global anti-terrorism strategies. ’So even as the JI organisation is under keen pressure from the security actions from governments in the region, it is already regenerating itself both at the leadership as well as the working or operational level.’ The terror group, he added, had only been ’disrupted’ and was ’by no means eliminated’.
He pointed to other signs that the JI remained a threat:* Bashir has reportedly announced that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan did not mean a hiatus for terrorism in Indonesia. ’Jihad is justified by religion, is good’ and ’self-defence’ against infidel oppressors of Islam is allowed, he reportedly said.
| Bashir seems to still be in business, just working from his prison cell. |
* JI maintains links with Al-Qaeda, which continues to be its inspiration.
* The defiance and fanaticism of Bali bombers Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron show how undeterred JI is. Warning of more attacks, he added: ’Our intelligence assessment is that JI elements on the run, including its master bomb-maker Azahari Husin, are likely to plan more suicide attacks along the lines of Bali and the recent Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta.’
| I think JI in Indonesia is harder hit than the Indons are letting on. My impression is that it had a very small core, with a wider pool of cannon fodder. I suspect it's being regenerated by the Malaysian branch. The Singapore branch also appears to be pretty thoroughly clobbered, since they got it early. The Philippines branch seems to still be folded into MILF, which represents a danger... |
To deal effectively with the terrorist threat, a multi-pronged effort is needed. Nations cannot relent in intelligence gathering efforts, investigation and disruption of financial and operational networks, he said. Leaders must set up common security and prepare their citizens for living with a bomb threat and coping with the consequences of attacks. Regional terrorist training bases, especially those of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Mindanao, must be dismantled, he said.
Other speakers on Thursday included US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who highlighted the need for global cooperation, and former Central Intelligence Agency director James Woolsey, who emphasised that the anti-terrorism war would be a long one.
| Both of which are true. The global cooperation's the hard part. The danger with a long war is attrition and public attention span. I've bitched about that elsewhere. |
Muslim religious leaders in Singapore expressed relief that only family members of JI members were involved in the Pakistan arrest, and not other young people with no prior JI connections. This showed that the series of strict anti-terrorist measures Singapore had implemented was working, they said yesterday. |