AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Wednesday May 29, 2002 4:24 PM
Indonesian VP visits school of Muslim cleric accused of terror
links
Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz visited a school founded by a Muslim cleric
who has been linked by Singapore to a terrorist network.
Haz met the director of the Al-Mukmin Muslim boarding school at Ngruki just south of
the Central Java town of Solo, according to a staff member.
The employee, who identified himself as Sofa, described the occasion as a "brotherly
visit" but declined to elaborate.
He did not say whether Haz would later meet the school's founder, Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir.
Singapore says Ba'asyir is a leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group. Late last
year 13 suspected Jemaah Islamiyah operatives were detained in Singapore for
allegedly plotting to blow up US targets there.
Haz, who leads Indonesia's largest Muslim party the United Development Party,
earlier this month visited the detained leader of the Laskar Jihad Islamic militia, Jaffar
Umar Thalib.
Critics said he was seeking support from hardline Muslim groups before the 2004
elections.
Thalib is being held for allegedly inciting a massacre of Christian villagers in the
Maluku islands, where thousands of Laskar Jihad fighters were deployed in recent
years.
Indonesian police have questioned Ba'asyir over his alleged terror links but did not
detain him, citing lack of evidence. Ba'asyir denies the allegations but has described
Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US,
as "a true Muslim fighter".
The vice presidential secretariat said Haz's visit to the school would last for 50
minutes. Antara news agency said he would be accompanied by Health Minister
Ahmad Suyudi.
Haz's visit was made on the margins of a visit to Yogyakarta in Central Java, to
congratulate the local sultan, Hamengkubuwono X, on the marriage of his eldest
daughter on Tuesday.
He was also opening a factory of state pharmaceutical company PT Sari Husada.
Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved.
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