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Indonesia: A haven for
terrorists?
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CNN
World
August 1, 2002 Posted: 9:49 AM
EDT (1349 GMT)
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Indonesia: A haven for terrorists?
From Maria
Ressa
CNN Jakarta Bureau Chief
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell is on his way to Indonesian after
signing a terror pact with Southeast Asian nations in Brunei.
Despite calling Indonesia a safe
haven for terrorists, however, the United States seems set to
reopen military ties, cut after the violence in East Timor in
1999.
After September 11, officials in
the region say Ambon became the new Afghanistan for many Muslim
fighters.
Spanish court documents say
Indonesian Parlindungan Siregar arranged for several hundred al
Qaeda operatives from Europe to travel to Indonesia for training.
Intelligence documents from
Southeast Asia obtained by CNN say that training camps funded by
al Qaeda helped fuel Muslim-Christian violence which has killed
nearly 10,000 people since 1999 in Ambon in Indonesia's Maluku
Islands.
"They were kinetically
inspired by the war in Afghanistan. Now without Afghanistan, they
use Ambon in the Malukus as the new battleground," says
Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
Indonesia refused to answer
Singapore's accusations -- except to say the conflict in Ambon has
been contained.
"I don't think Indonesia is a
fertile ground for terrorism," commented Hassan Wirajuda,
Indonesia's Foreign Minister. "We do what we need to
do."
Since September 11, Indonesia has
arrested and deported two al Qaeda operatives. One is now in U.S.
custody at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
But Indonesia's critics point out
another man, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, is operating freely in Indonesia.
He is wanted by Singapore and
Malaysia, who call him the spiritual head of al Qaeda's network in
Southeast Asia.
Still, no nation in ASEAN is openly
critical of Indonesia, which survived an economic meltdown in
1997.
"So all these things, while it
is welcome, it has also inundated and created impediments and
obstacles for you to just freely arrest people," says
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.
In fact, most at this year's ASEAN
meetings asked the United States to reopen military-to-military
ties -- which were cut after the violence in East Timor in 1999.
"It's necessary to
re-establish these ties for the security of East Asia, not only of
Southeast Asia, but East Asia," commented Domingo Siazon of
the Philippine Special Envoy.
That's exactly the news Colin
Powell may bring to Jakarta on Thursday.
Although human rights activists say
the Indonesian military must be held accountable for human rights
violations, others point out a strong Indonesian military is key
not only for the security of the region, but for the success of
the war on terror.
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