The policies of some Western nations in the Middle East and elsewhere are partly to blame for the rise of terrorism in Indonesia and other countries, a top anti-terror official said here.

The main cause of terrorism in Indonesia was religious radicalism that manipulates religion for its own ends, said Asyaad Mbai, the security ministry's coutner-terror chief.

"We have identified the root cause of terrorism here as springing from radical ideologies, which manipulate the extreme values of religions to raise anger against a certain group ... and are based on shallow literal interpretations," Mbai told AFP.

But also fanning the rise of terrorism were Western policies which "sometimes can make radicals even more radical," he said.

"As long as this perceived injustice continue, hatred will continue to come to the surface and radicalism can take place." Mbai said he and other Indonesian officials, including President Megawati Sukarnoputri, had been asking their counterparts abroad to correct "these injustices, double standards."

The Indonesia-based and al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah has carried out a string of attacks or attempted attacks in Southeast Asia in recent years, most notably the Bali bombings which killed 202 people in October 2002. The Bali plotters say they carried out the attack to avenge perceived injustices to Muslims worldwide.

"The radicals always say that there is global injustice, that Islam is being pressured, is being cornered or even being destroyed by the West and the United States. This is their war cry," Mbai said.

"They say that if the Palestinians conduct a revenge action they are terrorists but when Israel bombs with their helicopters and armoured vehicles, they are not terrorists. This is what double standard is.

"The same injustice is done in Afghanistan and in Iraq now, these radicals tells their listeners." Mbai said Indonesia would enlist the help of charismatic and credible Muslim figures to counter radicalism.

"It is these figures that we will empower to help our endeavour" he said, without naming them. "For Indonesia, this is our top priority in the fight against terrorism. We have to eliminate these radical ideologies," Mbai said.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-populated state with more than 80 percent of its 212 million people following a generally moderate form of Islam.