CNN, August 1, 2002 Posted: 9:49 PM HKT (1349 GMT)
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.
© 2001 Cable News Network LP, LLLP
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