Jakarta – FBI director Robert Mueller has praised Indonesia's efforts against terrorism and says he is looking forward to more cooperation with law enforcers from the world's most populous Muslim country.
Jakarta has been criticised by officials in some countries for not doing enough to clamp down on Islamic radicals but Mueller said Indonesia was playing its part in the war against terror.
The FBI chief, visiting as part of a regional tour, said one purpose of his trip was to "thank the Indonesian government, particularly President Megawati [Sukarnoputri], for the strong stance that she has taken against terrorism."
"We look forward to future joint training cooperative efforts, not only on terrorism but on trans-national crime," Mueller said in a statement issued by the US embassy on Saturday as the FBI chief ended his two-day visit.
"And one of our strong partners will be the Indonesian law enforcement authorities," the FBI director said after meeting chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other senior officials on the resort island of Bali on Friday. Indonesian officials could not be immediately contacted for comment.
Some officials from neighbouring countries as well as in Washington have said Jakarta should do more against militant extremists, some of whom are believed linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, blamed for the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew set off a diplomatic row last month by saying terrorists remained at large in the sprawling Indonesian archipelago, resulting in demonstrations outside the city state's embassy and the envoy being urged to clarify the remarks.
Jakarta has repeatedly countered such criticism by saying it lacks the draconian laws Singapore and Malaysia use to detain suspects indefinitely without charge, and that authorities from the two neighbours have yet to provide hard evidence against Indonesian nationals.
Indonesian officials also argue that taking hasty steps against Muslim militants without solid legal support could trigger a backlash even from the country's moderate Islam mainstream, the vast majority of the 210 million population.
'Persons who kill'
Mueller also stressed the war against terror was not aimed at Islam but against "persons who kill women and children". "The bottom line for us is that our mutual efforts are addressed against terrorists, not Muslim-Americans, not Muslims around the world, and not against Islam," he said.
The US ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph Boyce, gave a similar message last month in an interview with Reuters, in which he also said he thought President Megawati understood the terrorism problem and its ramifications.
In its latest effort to combat terrorism, Indonesia on Tuesday began drafting an anti-terror law. It is unclear how low it will take the government to complete the draft but Yudhoyono said it was expected to take three months to pass through parliament.