Antiterror Campaign in Indonesia Comes Under Question

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian government’s crackdown on militant Islamic groups has been widely praised in recent years, particularly by the United States. Proof of its success rested in the fact that, after annual terrorist attacks earlier this decade, none had taken place in nearly four years.

But as a clearer picture has begun emerging of Friday’s coordinated suicide bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels here, terrorism experts and some Indonesian officials are focusing on what they describe as weaknesses in Indonesia’s antiterrorism campaign. Although the authorities have arrested hundreds of militants and severely weakened Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian terrorist network, they have had much less success in uprooting the culture that breeds extremism.

The authorities have failed to aggressively check the radical clerics, Islamic schools or publishing houses that allow extremists to recruit and raise money for their operations, these experts said. Even moderate, politically powerful religious leaders, who are against violence, oppose any perceived government interference in their affairs. And as democracy has become entrenched since the fall of Suharto a decade ago, the authorities have appeared hesitant to use tactics that may recall the era of military rule.

“The bombings should be a catalyst for Indonesia to develop a more comprehensive approach,” said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “They’ve been too focused on catching operators when they need to be tougher in actually preventing terrorism. They should take the boxing gloves off.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/world/asia/23indo.html

[Coventina]

1. Indonesian TV: Wife of fugitive militant detained

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iq-RSvjSDopV724MnWihBs7hYbpwD99JF6S80

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A wife of one of Southeast Asia's most-wanted militants was detained for questioning Wednesday after bombings last week at two luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital that killed seven people, local television reported.

Anti-terrorism police detained Ariana Rahma, one of the wives of Malaysian fugitive Noordin Mohammad Top, TVOne and MetroTV said without citing sources.

Police officials contacted by telephone could not confirm the reports.

However, investigators who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media said Rahma was among four people detained in the town of Cilacap in central Java.

They said Rahma was being taken to Jakarta, where suicide bombers at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels killed seven people, including six foreigners, and wounded more than 50 on Friday. It was the first major terrorist attack in Indonesia in nearly four years.

[Coventina]

2. Pressure on Indonesia to close religious school

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/stories/200907/s2633660.htm

There's growing pressure on Indonesia to close the religious school run by Abu Bakar Bashir, after police confirmed one of the Jakarta hotel attackers was Nur Said ,or Nur Hasbi, a graduate of the school.

Australia's longest serving foreign minister, Alexander Downer, says last Friday's attacks represent a strong case for tougher action by Indonesia against the school and against Bashir.