Raymond Bonner, Jakarta – The American Embassy here said today that it had "credible threat information" that Westerners in central Java "may be targeted for violence in the immediate future." The warning did not say who was behind the threats, but the area around Yogyakarta, east of Jakarta, the capital, is a hotbed of Islamic militancy.
The embassy, which was closed most of last week because of a threat, remained open today but it was under heavy new security, with concrete barriers and rifle-toting police officers.
The security and warnings are the latest manifestations of American concern that Al Qaeda has a strong base here and has made common cause with local militants, a view generally shared by Indonesia's neighbors.
For nearly a year, these governments have been telling Indonesians that their country is ripe for exploitation by Al Qaeda: vast area, porous borders, weak law enforcement and the world's largest Muslim population, making it easier for Islamic militants to blend in.
The Indonesian response has been categorical declarations that there are no terrorists here. Now attitudes appear to be changing, several diplomats said this week.
"There's been a sea change," a Western diplomat said. "Al Qaeda in Indonesia is no longer a matter of speculation." President Megawati Sukarnoputri now understands she has a serious problem and has said she is going to get involved personally in dealing with it, a Western diplomat said.
But there are questions as to how far she is willing to go. The most immediate sign will be how she deals with a group called Jemaah Islamiyah (Islamic Community) and its leader, Abu Bakar Bashir.
The turnaround in attitude came after the United States presented the Indonesian government with the results of the interrogation of a Qaeda operative, Omar al-Faruq, who was picked up here in June and turned over to the United States.
Ten days ago, he told his interrogators that Mr. Bashir had provided money, explosives and men for several terrorist acts, including a plan to blow up the American Embassies here and in Malaysia, according to intelligence sources.
Mr. Bashir has long maintained he was not involved in any terrorist activities and today he said on television that he did not know Mr. Faruq.
Islamic Community has a history going back decades, when it began advocating an Islamic state here. A few years ago, it linked up with Al Qaeda, Western and Asian intelligence officials and diplomats say.
"There was a convergence of interests," said a Western diplomat. The local group wanted the training and expertise Al Qaeda could offer to help it press for an Islamic state; Al Qaeda wanted links to the community and money for its attacks against the United States.
Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines have all urged Indonesia to crack down on Jemaah Islamiyah.
In the Philippines, the group formed an alliance with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Singaporean and Philippine law enforcement officials say.
"Jemaah Islamiyah should be declared by the Indonesian government to be a terrorist organization" and Mr. Bashir should be arrested, a senior Philippine intelligence official said. "The activities of people identified with him are jeopardizing peace in the region. Why is he still out there?"
The Bush administration is poised to declare Mr. Bashir's group a terrorist organization but is prepared to give the Indonesian government a reasonable period to take some strong action against the group, administration officials said. Several months ago, under international pressure, the police here called Mr. Bashir in for questioning. "It was a tea party," a diplomat said.
Labeling Islamic community "terrorist" could cause serious problems for President Megawati. The group has a large following – Vice President Hamzah Haz recently had Mr. Bashir to dinner and called him a Muslim brother – and the campaign against terrorism is seen by many here as a campaign against Islam.
The Indonesian government has said that it has not been able to act against Mr. Bashir because there is no evidence that he has done anything illegal in Indonesia. It is hard to see how the government can continue to make that argument, an Asian diplomat said this week.
Mr. Faruq told his C.I.A. interrogators that when he arrived in Indonesia in 1998, having been sent by a top aide to Osama bin Laden, he linked up with Agus Dwikarna, an Indonesian businessman and member of Jemaah Islamiyah. He helped Mr. Dwikarna set up an organization, Laskar Jundullah, which carried out attacks on Christians in Sulawesi, intelligence officials said.
(Mr. Dwikarna was arrested in Manila in March as he tried to board a plane with a suitcase full of explosives. There have been allegations that the explosives were planted, which several Western and Asian officials did not deny, but they disagreed on who planted them.) Al Qaeda encouraged Mr. Bashir's goal of trying to set off a religious war in Indonesia, Mr. Faruq told the C.I.A., according to a summary of the interrogation that was the basis on which the Bush administration put the country on orange alert last week. A Bashir lieutenant obtained the explosives that were to be used in the attack on the American Embassy here, Mr. Faruq told the C.I.A. Mr. Bashir also dispatched another member of Islamic Community to bomb the American Embassy in Malaysia, an attack that had been intended for the September 11 anniversary, Mr. Faruq said.
On Thursday, Singapore issued a detailed report on the activities of Islamic Community members there, 19 of whom were arrested last month. The government said the group was plotting to overthrow the governments of Malaysia and Singapore in order to form Islamic states. The Singapore cell was also plotting to blow up the airport, a United States Navy ship and a bar frequented by American servicemen, the government said.