The Jakarta Post, 9/19/2002 8:06:35 PM
Ba'asyir denies links to alleged al-Qaeda kingpin
JAKARTA (JP): Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a militant Indonesian Islamic leader, denied on
Thursday knowing reputed al-Qaeda kingpin Omar al-Faruq or being linked to terrorist
acts in Indonesia.
"I don't understand any of this. I don't know him and only read about him in the
newspapers," Abu Bakar Ba'asyir told AFP by telephone from Central Java.
Ba'asyir is the chairman of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), an umbrella
organization advocating Islamic law in the sprawling archipelago.
Time magazine reported in its September 23 issue that Ba'asyir authorized al-Faruq
to use operatives and resources to bomb U.S. diplomatic missions in Jakarta and
elsewhere in the region near the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks
on New York and Washington.
The magazine said it based its allegations on a CIA report. Time said the CIA reported
that al-Faruq confessed he was a senior representative in Southeast Asia for
al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's terrorist network blamed for the September 11 attacks.
U.S. diplomatic missions in Jakarta and Surabaya reopened on Monday after a
six-day shutdown, which ambassador Ralph Boyce linked to a threat from al-Qaeda.
A recent report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said Ba'asyir took a
more radical stance after he became close to Gama Islami, a core group of al-Qaeda,
in 1995.
Singapore has also labeled Ba'asyir a leader of the alleged terrorist organization
Jamaat-i-Islami party (JI).
But Ba'asyir denied that there was such an organization as the Jamaat-i-Islami. "I
only lead a Koranic study group called the Sunnah. Jamaat only existed in Egypt,"
Ba'asyir said.
His lawyer earlier told AFP that Ba'asyir was preparing himself for arrest following the
latest allegations made against him. He is ready to face "all legal and political
challenges" from the government, the lawyer, Mahendradatta, said, adding that "Mr.
Ba'asyir was preparing himself for being arrested should the government decide to do
so".
According to Time, al-Faruq also said Ba'asyir was behind the bombing of Jakarta's
Istiqlal mosque, damaged in April 1999 by an explosive placed outside the basement
office of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), which represents Islamic religious
leaders.
Meanwhile, Munir, a leading human rights lawyer and investigator, expressed doubt
that Ba'asyir would have targeted the Muslim group. "I don't think Abu Bakar Ba'asyir
has a problem with the MUI," Munir said.
Time said the CIA report called al-Faruq the mastermind of a coordinated series of
deadly bombings at churches across Indonesia in 2000. But Munir said that if people
like al-Faruq were involved, they weren't acting alone. "From the data I put together
there were also internal elements, military elements," Munir told AFP.
National Military (TNI) chief General Endriartono Sutarto told Antara on Thursday that
Indonesian intelligence officers would like to join U.S. officials in their interrogations of
al-Faruq.
Washington is concerned that Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation,
may be a home to al-Qaeda sympathizers. Most people here practice a moderate
brand of Islam.
All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
|
