The Hindu : U.S. role raises hackles in S-E Asia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002

International

International

U.S. role raises hackles in S-E Asia

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Sept. 21. The perceived role of the U.S. in influencing the anti-terror operations of major South-East Asian countries is becoming a controversial issue in Malaysia and Indonesia, while the latest counter-terror activism of Singapore has raised the political stakes and awareness in the ongoing global campaign against terrorism.

Indonesia's Senior Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has taken the line that his country, the world's most populous Muslim state, is not being dictated to by the U.S. According to him, Indonesia, however, was an active player under "a cooperation framework in the fight against terrorism'' on the international stage. A controversy is raging in Jakarta over the alleged lead role that the Central Intelligence Agency had played in the arrest of Al-Faruq, who is said to be an Indonesian with Al-Qaeda links, and his transfer to the U.S. Commenting on this, Mr. Susilo Yudhoyono said: "Al-Faruq's arrest was the result of cooperation between the Indonesian police and intelligence as well as foreign intelligence sources under a cooperation framework in the fight against terrorism''.

It is considered significant in South-East Asia's political circles that the senior Minister's views should have been publicised as an official response to a gathering undercurrent of sentiments in Jakarta that Indonesia is perhaps being pressured by the U.S. on the anti-terror issue to hit the fast track with or without justification.

Indonesia's leading Islamic organisations, such as the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, are seen to be in the forefront of an awareness campaign to ensure that Indonesia acts as much in its own interests as those of the U.S. in the "war on terror''. At one level, a suspected CIA "tip-off" about an alleged plot against Ms. Megawati is a dominant theme in the political discourse in Jakarta.

At another level, the focus is being made on Abu Bakar Baasyir, Chairman of the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council, for his alleged links to Al-Qaeda and suspected patronage of a pan-regional "terrorist'' network.

Significantly, in this context, a top Indonesian security official had said, during the first anniversary of the `9/11' terrorist strikes, that conclusive evidence against Abu Bakar was still lacking.

In Malaysia, the Foreign Minister, Hamid Albar, has said the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation could interrogate Yazid Sufaat, who is one of over 60 suspected militants being held under the Malaysian Internal Security Act.

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