Antiterror Fight Up to Every Indonesian, SBY Says

Jakarta Globe, Camelia Pasandaran & Farouk Arnaz, May 18, 2010

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sought in an emotional address on Monday to spread responsibility for fighting terrorism to every Indonesian, with the appeal: “Save our children.”

Remarking that terrorists had recently turned to targeting Indonesians and not foreigners, he said: “I call on all Indonesians to join together in saving the nation, saving our people, saving us all from the threat of terrorism and from irresponsible parties acting beyond the limits of humanity.”

Everyone should “remain alert and active and contribute in preventing the development of terrorism in their own areas,” Yudhoyono said. “This is to save our children, our young generation, from being trapped in the crime of terrorism.”

The National Police have recently shot dead several suspected terrorists in a number of locations in Sumatra and Java. The police also claimed terrorists planned to assassinate the president and high-ranking officials during Independence Day celebrations at the State Palace on Aug. 17 and in the ensuing confusion set up an Islamic state.

“What is interesting is the target of the terrorists,” he said. “In the past they targeted foreigners, but now they are making our nation, our country, our government the top targets. They want to build an Islamic state, something that is now history for us.”

In his speech at Halim Perdanakusuma airbase in East Jakarta before leaving on a trip to Singapore, Yudhoyono said that despite not being an Islamic state, Indonesia respected Islam and adopted its values and even sometimes its law in the life of the nation.

“But if the group wants to push ahead with its intention to change the nation’s ideology, change the Constitution and the nation’s foundation, it is unacceptable to Indonesians. They’re against democracy.”

Al Chaidar, an expert on terrorism at Malikussaleh University in Banda Aceh, said the government’s determination to fight terrorism might have come too late. His research showed that in 2009 there were 35,000 followers of terrorist networks. “It might be more now.”

He said he worried that the high number of suspects killed in recent antiterrorist raids showed panic among police, and added that police should try as hard as possible to keep suspects alive when arresting them to gain information that would help expose their network. “They’re more useful if caught alive,” Chaidar said.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the discovery that a paroled suspect had re-engaged in terrorist activities, the Directorate General for Penitentiary Affairs is requiring released terrorist convicts to report to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights at least once a month.

“Today is the first time since I was paroled in February 2009 that the prison directorate asked me to report,” Idris told the Jakarta Globe on Monday.

Idris was jailed for 10 years for his role in the Jakarta Marriott Hotel bombing in August 2003 that killed 12 people. “They want to make sure that I am still reachable,” he said.

Iqbal Hussaini, who was convicted over attacks during the sectarian conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi, but paroled in August 2009, said he was also told to report to authorities.