ABC AUSTRALIA, 30/05/2002 10:12:43
Indonesia's defiant Vice President visits militant suspect
Indonesia's Vice-President, Hamzah Haz, has unexpectedly visited a Muslim militant,
in a move that could irritate Singapore and Malaysia who have linked the Islamic cleric
to a regional terror network.
The Vice President met Abu Bakar Bashir, who has denied all links with terrorism, at
his Muslim boarding school in the Central Java town of Solo.
An official at the Al Mukmin boarding school says an open-air meeting took place at a
school compound, attended by hundreds of students.
Kuala Lumpur and Singapore have named Bashir as a possible leader of a group they
say is linked with the al Qaeda network and was plotting attacks on U-S targets in
Singapore.
An official from the Vice President's office says the meeting was scheduled a day
earlier as part of his trip to the city of Yogyakarta to attend a wedding ceremony.
30/05/2002 10:12:43 | ABC Radio Australia News
© 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
