The Wall Street Journal, Monday, June 21, 2004
Jakarta's Meek Response
In Indonesia, the al Qaeda-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah is changing tactics.
Rather than put its faith in the indiscriminate carnage that bombs inflict, a report by
our sister publication, the weekly Far Eastern Economic Review, says JI is now
looking at assassination of specific Western diplomats and business people as a new
mode of operation. A U.S. State Department advisory issued last week against travel
to the predominantly Muslim nation bolsters belief that the threat is credible.
The change in tactics by JI must be read as an indictment of the Indonesian
government's feeble response to the threat of terrorism. President Megawati
Sukarnoputri has failed to articulate a policy on radical Islam and a coherent set of
measures against terrorism. The fact is, JI is changing tactics in order to be even
more effective in sowing fear and terror, and not because it is feeling any increased
heat from the government. In fact, Indonesia continues to be the one country in
Southeast Asia where the militant group has been able to operate most effectively,
and where it has been able to wreak the most damage -- over 200 dead in the 2002
Bali bombings and 12 fatalities in last August's bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in
Jakarta.
Not surprisingly, even as Indonesia heads toward presidential elections on July 5, few
candidates are bothering to talk about terrorism. This would be bad enough if it were
because campaign fatigue had drained politicians of the will to do difficult work. But
the main reason is more likely the perception that the public doesn't care about
terrorism and is instead more concerned about jobs, the economy and education for
their children.
True, with 220 million people spread out across the archipelago, few Indonesians are
actually in any direct danger from terrorism. And in an election year, bread-and-butter
issues usually land in the spotlight. Yet it is just as true that in Indonesia jobs and the
economy also fall under the shadow of terrorism. A climate of fear makes foreign
investors -- who also come from other parts of Southeast Asia and not just from the
West -- more inclined to consider other places to set up shop. Data just released bear
this out: Foreign investment approvals for January to May this year amounted to $2.5
billion, compared with $4.2 billion in the like period a year before.
JI's new approach appears tailor-made for economic sabotage. Until now, to avoid
being a victim of random violence, members of the foreign business community in
Jakarta could take precautions by avoiding what seemed like obvious targets. But if JI
is beginning to target specific individuals, security becomes far more difficult to
maintain. In a separate story in the current issue of the Review, it is reported that a
senior executive of a Canadian mining company and 34 other foreign workers and their
families were evacuated from Sulawesi on May 24 after a Western intelligence agency
warned the executive he was under "immediate" threat from JI. The magazine also
reported that British and Australian intelligence agencies believe a JI assassination
squad was recently sent into Indonesia, arriving in East Kalimantan from western
Mindanao in the Philippines.
While we don't expect to see more debate over terrorism among the presidential
candidates before polling day, we hope whoever wins will take stock of what
opportunities have been created for Jemaah Islamiyah by government ambivalence
toward radical Islam. Indeed, the best time to make difficult decisions is usually at the
start of a political term. And part of the challenge is to convince Indonesian! s that
international terrorism damages their livelihoods as much as it threatens the lives of
foreigners in their midst.
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