Dean Yates, Jakarta – Foreign countries must stop giving the impression Indonesia is home to a terrorist network, otherwise this could incite popular anger in the world's largest Muslim nation, Vice President Hamzah Haz said.
Haz, who spoke in Jakarta on Saturday, did not explicitly accuse any countries, but his comments reported in the media on Sunday appeared directed at the United States and what many Indonesians see as pressure from Washington to crack down on local militant Muslims.
"We warn that these baseless issues be stopped [from being spread] before Indonesian people get angry. If the Indonesian people get angry and cannot be reined in, how will the government rein them in?" the leading Kompas newspaper quoted Haz as saying.
The United States last week directly linked Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to Jemaah Islamiah, a regional terror network that Washington is considering calling a terrorist group. It called the outfit the "Abu Bakar Bashir organisation".
The US embassy here has also warned Americans to be vigilant in places such as Jakarta and Yogyakarta, a popular tourist destination in central Java that is home to several militant Islamic groups, prompting protests from moderate Muslims that this was creating a negative impression of Indonesia.
Haz, a leading Muslim politician, complained about statements on terrorism and the al Qaeda network and its alleged links with Indonesia in foreign media.
Many Indonesians have expressed scepticism about a story in Time magazine two weeks ago, based partly on a report from the Central Intelligence Agency, which outlined alleged terror plots in the region involving an Arab arrested by Indonesia in June.
Growing cynicism
Time quoted the secret CIA report which said the Arab, Omar al-Faruq, was the organiser of plans for attacks on American embassies in the region around the time of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 suicide strikes on the United States, along with a failed plot to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
It said Bashir – accused by Malaysia and Singapore of being a key leader of Jemaah Islamiah – had contact with al-Faruq.
The Arab, allegedly a senior al Qaeda operative in Southeast Asia, has been handed over to US authorities. Bashir has denied ever knowing al-Faruq, or having terror ties.
Haz said if Washington uncovered evidence to show Bashir or other Indonesians were involved in terrorism, the information should be given to Jakarta so that the police could make arrests. "All we have are statements in the foreign media," he said.
Al-Faruq has also been linked to Jemaah Islamiah. Bashir insists the organisation does not exist. Some Southeast Asian governments have linked it to al Qaeda.
Indeed, with cynicism toward Washington growing among moderate Indonesian Muslims over US policy on Iraq and following the Time article, analysts have said Megawati needed to tread carefully before arresting people such as Bashir.
Indonesia has been criticised as Southeast Asia's weakest link in the war on terror. While it has cooperated on seizing foreigners, it has avoided going after alleged local militants.
Some 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim, with the overwhelming majority holding moderate religious views.
While Muslim leaders and ordinary Indonesians are blaming Washington and the foreign media for portraying the country as a hotbed of terrorism, Indonesia's military chief on Thursday said foreign terrorists were in the archipelago. He gave no numbers.
The US ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph Boyce, has reached out to moderate Muslim groups in the past year and on many occasions praised Jakarta's cooperation in the war on terrorism.