The Hindu : Jakarta gets tough with Islamist outfits

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 06, 2002

International

International

Jakarta gets tough with Islamist outfits

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE May 5. The arrest of Jaffar Umar Talib, chief of the Indonesian Laskar Jihad on Saturday could mean a major change in Jakarta's approach to Islamist outfits operating on its soil.

Jaffar, who was arrested by the Indonesian police in Surabaya, was on his way to Jakarta from the troubled province of Maluku, the scene of militant Muslim attacks on Christians. A speech made by Jaffar on April 26, inciting violence against the "enemy'' and purported remarks against the Indonesian President and the Vice-President, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Hamzah Haz, are said to be the cause for his arrest.

``He (Jaffar) will be charged under Article 160 of the Criminal Code on agitation and Article 130 of the Code on slanderous remarks against the President and Vice-President,'' Indonesia's police spokesman, Inspector-General Saleh Saaf, said. Jaffar, the head of Indonesia's largest Islamist militant outfit, can be sentenced to a long jail-term if the police follow up the case and he is finally convicted.

In his April 26 speech, Jaffar has been accused of exhorting the crowd to kill all the relatives of Sukarno, including his daughter, Megawati Sukarnoputri. In a separate statement, another police official was quoted as saying: "Jaffar's arrest is based on the prevailing law as there is evidence that he has been provoking conflict in Maluku for quite some time. The police do not have to wait for an order from the President in this regard as we run (the justice system) by the book.''

In a related development, one person was killed when a bomb went off in Ambon, the provincial capital of the Malukus on Saturday evening. Two others were injured in a separate blast. The decision to arrest the militant leader will also win Indonesia brownie points in the "war against terrorism'' as well as lead to better appreciation of its position on the issue.

On Tuesday, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are also set to sign a anti-terrorist agreement, a further sign that after months of dilly-dallying, Jakarta is showing the requisite seriousness to tackle Islamist militancy.

This agreement, which will lead to greater intelligence sharing, could also become the model for the rest of South-East Asia. What is, however, interesting is that the agreement is not taking place under the aegis of ASEAN, but is being signed by three leading ASEAN members. With other countries too interested in raising their level of cooperation on the issue, it is possible that other nations in South-East Asia too will become associated in this emerging anti-terrorist coalition.

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Jakarta gets tough with Islamist outfits