Bombing adds fuel to Pentagon debate

WASHINGTON, - The United States is pressing Indonesia to crack down on the Islamic militants blamed for the weekend bombing on Bali that killed nearly 200 people.

"You cannot pretend it [terrorism] doesn't exist in your country," Secretary of State Colin Powell said at a news conference yesterday. He said he hoped the attack "reinforces Indonesia's determination to deal with this kind of threat".

Powell had announced a US$50 million ($105.88 million), three-year anti-terrorism assistance package during a visit to Indonesia in August. The Bali bombing could prompt more US help along those lines.

The bombing also may boost the arguments of top Pentagon officials who want to resume ties with Indonesia's military that Congress severed because of the Army's atrocities against civilians.

"This is the first and most powerful recognition that the battle against terrorism is not strictly limited to the Middle East or south Asia," said Kurt Campbell, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

"Human rights worries in the short term will be overridden by national security concerns."

The car bomb that exploded on Bali forced Indonesia's Government to acknowledge for the first time that al Qaeda is active in the Southeast Asian archipelago. Some of Indonesia's neighbours, particularly Singapore, have complained that Indonesia has been reluctant to crack down on Islamic militants.



US officials say they fear that Indonesia, the world's largest predominantly Muslim country with 210 million people, could become a breeding ground for Islamic radicalism.

President George W Bush told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he planned to speak to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri about the attack.

"And I hope I hear the resolve of a leader that recognises that any time terrorists take hold in a country it is going to weaken the country itself," Bush said.

"There has to be a firm and deliberate desire to find the killers before they kill somebody else."

Congress has passed legislation giving Indonesia's police force US$16 million, including US$12 million to set up a special anti-terrorism unit. The package Powell announced in August includes US$400,000 to restart an exchange programme for high-level military officers.

Congress would have to approve the exchange programme, one of the contacts forbidden after the Indonesian military's bloody suppression of dissent in now-independent East Timor.

Although Indonesia has a long tradition of tolerance, the country has been plagued by sporadic outbursts of violence - often involving or fanned by the military - over religious, ethnic or other divides.

Critics say Indonesian officials have looked the other way when asked to go after Islamic extremists such as a group called Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been linked to al Qaeda. Jemaah Islamiyah's leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, remains free in Indonesia, despite calls to arrest him.

Bashir denies any links to terrorism and says Jemaah Islamiyah doesn't exist. A spokesman said on Tuesday that Bashir planned to talk to Indonesian police - who have said they do not have enough evidence to arrest him. US officials say privately that Indonesia fears a political backlash if Bashir is jailed.

- REUTERS

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Feature: Bali bomb blast

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