THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2002
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Indonesians Distrust Report by C.I.A. on Qaeda Suspect
By RAYMOND BONNER
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept. 23 -- "Beware of U.S. Propaganda." That front-page
headline in one of the leading newspapers here this morning spoke to far more than
just the article below it.
In the newspaper account, various leaders heaped scorn on reports that a man named
Omar al-Faruq had confessed to the C.I.A. that he was an operative for Al Qaeda in
Indonesia and that working with a local militant organization, he had carried out
attacks against Christians, tried to kill the country's president twice and plotted to
blow up the American Embassy.
Across Indonesian society there is a strong sense that this is all a fabrication. People
see it as part of a C.I.A. plot to paint Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim
population in the world, as a hotbed of terrorists to keep pressure on President
Megawati Sukarnoputri to march to the dictates of President Bush in his campaign
against terrorism.
Considering the C.I.A.'s history here in the 1950's and 60's, the fears are not totally
irrational, American officials acknowledge. In that era, the agency spread
disinformation, planted photos of President Sukarno in compromising positions and
aided and abetted coup plotters.
But American officials are surprised, perplexed and worried about the public reaction
to Mr. Faruq's statements. In the view of the United States, as well as important
neighbors of Indonesia like Australia and Singapore, this country has a serious
terrorism problem, which it has been reluctant to confront and which Mr. Faruq only
confirmed.
In an effort to counter the crescendo of skepticism, the United States ambassador,
Ralph Boyce, has decided that he must take the American case to the doubting
Indonesian public. On Tuesday he will meet with representatives of several Muslim
organizations.
Reflecting Washington's anxiety about the issue, Mr. Bush quietly dispatched Karen
Brooks last week to talk to President Megawati.
Ms. Brooks is not only the senior White House aide on Indonesia. She was also a
Fulbright scholar here, speaks fluent Indonesian and has a deep and strong personal
relationship with the Indonesian president.
Her mission was to impress on Ms. Megawati the seriousness of the problem, but
even more important, it was to give some courage to the Indonesian leader, who faces
the prospect of widespread demonstrations by Muslims if she cracks down too hard,
an official said.
Ms. Brooks slipped in and out of town without the knowledge of reporters, which is as
both sides wanted it.
Nationalism and pride are strong here. At the same time, not since the days of
Sukarno, the current president's father, has the country played a role on the world
stage, or even regionally, commensurate with its size -- it has the fourth-largest
population in the world -- and strategic location.
The political attacks have already begun.
"The U.S. controls Indonesia," the president's politically active sister, Rachmawati
Sukarnoputri, a constant critic, told a local newspaper, Suara Merdeka, which devoted
an entire article to heaping doubt on the C.I.A. document.
The storm broke here when Time magazine arrived on newsstands last week with its
cover story, "Confessions of an Al Qaeda Terrorist." It was based on the C.I.A.'s
summary of the interrogation of Mr. Faruq.
The summary says Mr. Faruq told his C.I.A. interrogators that as Al Qaeda's
representative, he had made an alliance with Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant Indonesian
Islamic group, and that its leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, had provided money, supplies
and men for several terrorist acts.
Mr. Bashir steadfastly denies a role in any terrorist activities, though expressing
admiration for Osama bin Laden, who he says is not a terrorist.
Dissenting from the unassailable assumption of Indonesians that the C.I.A. summary
was leaked in Washington by the agency, several diplomats here suggest quietly that
it was leaked by a senior Indonesian official, who is one of the few in the government
contending that the country has a terrorism problem and must act.
The first newspaper to carry the story here was Koran Tempo, one of the
largest-circulation and most respected newspapers, with this headline: "CIA: Al
Qaeda Tried Twice to Assassinate Megawati."
In other words, the paper was pinning the allegation on the C.I.A., not on Mr. Faruq. It
reflected some of the raw emotions here, Indonesians say.
The country's Muslims have not come to grips with the fact that Mr. Faruq, or
someone like him, could be among them, said an Indonesian businesswoman who is
a prominent intellectual.
"They're in denial," she said.
This is a secular country, and an overwhelming number of Muslims are moderates.
The highly observant Muslims are a tiny minority, the militants even fewer.
Yet no major Muslim leader has been willing to speak out, the businesswoman noted,
to accept that what Mr. Faruq is reported to have said is true and that the country has
a problem.
Solahuddin Wahid, a leader of the country's largest moderate organization, Nahdlatul
Ulama, accused Washington of "propaganda tricks."
"What has been leaked by the C.I.A. is described by many as a mere American
scenario to corner Indonesia into nodding to whatever the U.S. is planning to do," he
said.
It is an insult to all Muslims, he added.
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
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