LAKSAMANA.Net, March 21, 2005 09:29 PM
'Jemaah Islamiyah to be Banned'
Laksamana.Net - The government plans to formally outlaw regional terrorism network
Jemaah Islamiyah, a senior security official said Monday (21/3/05).
"I am convinced that this will happen because I know President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono is very concerned with this problem," Ansyaad Mbai, head of
counter-terrorism at the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs,
was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
"The reason this is not being done immediately is because the political situation is
still very sensitive," he added.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a series of terror attacks, including the
October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, the August 2003 blast
at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel that killed 12 people, and the September 2004 bombing
outside the Australian Embassy that killed 11 people.
The group has also been blamed for attacks in the Philippines, as well as a series of
church bombings in Indonesia that killed 19 people on Christmas Eve 2000.
Jemaah Islamiyah was listed as a terrorist group by the United Nations Security
Council in October 2002 and subsequently banned by many countries, including
Australia, the US, Britain and Malaysia.
Yudhoyono, who vowed to get tough on terrorism when he came to power in October
2004, has said he will ban Jemaah Islamiyah if there is "proof" the group exists in
Indonesia.
Banning the group will please the US and Australia, but the move will almost certainly
be opposed by certain Muslim groups and political parties which fear it may usher in
wider crackdowns on Islamic activists.
Mbai said the ban would make it easier for authorities to arrest and prosecute
militants. "We know there are many JI members who have got military training and
have the ability to make bombs and use weapons who are still around, but the police
cannot arrest them unless there is evidence they are involved in a particular act of
terrorism," he was quoted as saying by AP.
"If JI is proscribed as a banned organization, then security agencies can take
preventive steps," he added.
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