Megawati under pressure to take harder line against extremists

3.00pm - by PHIL REEVES

Only a handful of killers is needed to sow death and misery on a massive scale. Indonesia is the world's most populous Islamic country, and nearly all its Muslims are liberal and tolerant, and have nothing in common with the fanatics of al Qaeda.

Extremists willing to resort to indiscriminate violence are thought to be few. But well before the attacks in Bali, their activities in the region were enough to generate deep concern in America among the commanders of the so-called "war on terror", and among Indonesia's regional neighbours.

If the attack at the weekend proves to be an al Qaeda operation, those concerns will have been justified.

The worries and warnings had been accumulating for weeks. Leaks from US intelligence to the American media alleged scores of al Qaeda operatives had found a haven in the archipelago, which - with 17,000 islands and 34,000 miles of coastline - is almost impossible to insulate from infiltration.

The government's control over the far-flung islands is minimal.

Matters, in the eyes of the US, were not helped by the Indonesian government's reluctance to tackle extremist elements, not least because President Megawati Sukarnoputri is dependent on the support of Islamic religious parties to keep her coalition intact. She will now be under great internal and external pressure, both economic and political, to take a far harder line, which will mean risking a backlash.

The Americans had been deeply uneasy in the aftermath of their assault on Afghanistan about the activity of al Qaeda-linked groups in Southeast Asia.

In Indonesia, the US fretted over the risk that Islamic groups with al Qaeda links were exploiting a long-standing Muslim-Christian sectarian war in the Maluku provinces - where thousands have died in the past three years - to establish themselves.

In June, the US deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, spelled out his fears to Congress, saying that Indonesia is an "open, very hospitable country and a Muslim country" where "we fear that al Qaeda could operate fairly freely".

These worries increased with the arrest in June of Omar al-Faruq, 31, a Kuwaiti and a senior al Qaeda operative who allegedly confessed to the existence of plans to attack local targets.

He reportedly slipped into Indonesia in the late 1990s to become al Qaeda's chief in south-east Asia, working closely with the outspoken, publicity-seeking Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, 65.

America has been pressing for Mr Ba'asyir's detention, on the ground that he is the head of Jamaah Islamiya (JI), a violent militant group believed to be linked to al Qaeda and with the Abu Sayaff group in the Philippines.

The preacher fervently denies the charge, and has issued writs for defamation against the CIA and Time magazine for suggesting that he is involved in terrorism.

- INDEPENDENT

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