Bill Guerin, Jakarta – A senior judge in the world's most populous Islamic country, declaring that "killing is a big thing in the eyes of God, blood must be paid with blood", sentenced a Muslim militant to death by firing squad this month.

It was one of two related verdicts coming down within a day of each other. The South Jakarta District Court on September 13 convicted Iwan Darmawan Mutho, 30, and a day later Achmad Hasan, 34, of terrorism by helping to organize and carry out a suicide bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and by hiding the perpetrators. The September 9, 2004 blast killed 11 Muslim Indonesians, including bystanders, security guards, police and passing motorists, as well as people queuing to enter the embassy. The suicide bomber, Heri Gulon, died in the blast. More than 170 were wounded. No foreigners were killed. The two, charged under anti-terror laws enacted following the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, will join convicted Bali bombers Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra on Indonesia's death row.

Prosecutors accused Darmawan, also known as Rois, of working with Malaysians Azhari Husin, popularly known as Azahari, and Noordin Mohammad, also known as Top. Azahari and Noordin are likely the most wanted men in Southeast Asia. They are said to have masterminded the September 9 attack and are also wanted for involvement in a string of other terror attacks, including the Bali bombings and an August 2003 blast that killed 12 people at Jakarta's J W Marriott Hotel.

Azahari, a British-educated engineer, is an explosives expert like Noordin. The two learned their trade at al-Qaeda camps and have remained on the run for three years despite a massive search by the Indonesian anti-terror police who are trained in part by Australia and the United States. Both suspects have connections to the regional terrorist network, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

Darmawan told police al-Qaeda had bankrolled the attack. The money was delivered to Azahari, who drove the suicide bomber to within a few hundred meters of the building, then fled on a motorcycle, looking over his shoulder at the explosion. After his arrest in November 2004, Darmawan disclosed that Azahari had been stopped by Indonesian police three times and let go each time after paying bribes.

Chief judge Rocki Panjaitan said there were no mitigating factors to warrant showing Darmawan any leniency. On hearing the verdict Darmawan stood up, punched his fist in the air and chanted "Allahu Akbar [God is Great]." A mob of supporters rallied to the shout and chanted a jihad marching song in the packed courtroom. Claiming he was innocent, he welcomed the death sentence because it would enable him to die a martyr; "I am grateful to God for being sentenced to death because I will die a martyr. Why should I be frightened?"

In a similar show of bravado a day later, Hasan denounced his judges, shouting, "They're all Satans, it's a satanic court. They're infidels. As long as they oppress Muslim people, Muslim people will have revenge."

The prosecution said Hasan taught bomber Heri Gulon how to drive, surveyed the embassy before the attack, conducted bomb-making classes for recruits and purchased explosive materials for the embassy bomb. Presiding judge Achmad Sobari also said there were no mitigating factors because Hasan expressed no remorse for his "uncivilized actions" that had discredited Islam and killed his fellow Indonesians. His lawyer, Ahmad Michdan, said the verdict would be appealed. "The facts were not explored optimally and there were foreign influences of terrorism propaganda to corner Muslims," he said.

The same court earlier jailed three others for periods of between 42 months and seven years for relatively minor roles in the bombing. Two others are still on trial for alleged involvement, and other recently arrested suspects are expected to be brought to trial soon.

A balancing act

There have been an impressive number of arrests and convictions of terrorists under President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono. He is juggling the needs of the country, in terms of creating a secure and safe environment for investment, with the excruciatingly subtle threats posed to Indonesia's vast majority of peace-loving Muslims by the radicalized few.

Soon after the terror unleashed by the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, there was concern in Indonesia and across the Muslim world that the ensuing US-led "war on terror" would become a prelude to a worldwide assault on Islam and the Muslim world itself.

With the focus now on Islam more than ever, there is deep concern within the Islamic community that the West will use the opportunity to subjugate the Muslim world and force it into some sort of inferior class of Western civilization.

On the other hand, the basic ideology of the fundamentalists is a literal and intolerant interpretation of the Koran. The crux of the extremists' oratory and their Taliban-style spin is an attempt to sell the message that somehow Islam is a religion that sees everything in terms of a struggle – not against one's self, but against a perceived threat. Their war against the West is sustained by rage at cultural imperialism and global injustice. The bombers may be few in number, but the sentiment they exploit is the widespread psychological urge to see the face of their enemy in pain and grief.

Azahari was one of several Indonesians and Malaysians who went to Afghanistan in the 1980s and early 1990s during, and in the immediate aftermath of, the CIA-backed holy war against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. There, supported by massive US and Saudi funding, JI's connections with al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists were established. The invasion and occupation of Iraq has been one of the best recruitment opportunities for the terrorist cells since the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's top Muslim council, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), has declared liberalism and pluralism as haram, or forbidden under Islam, despite the freedom of religion guaranteed by Indonesia's 1945 constitution. It issued religious edicts in July that banned liberal interpretations of the faith, and death threats have been made against members of the four-year-old Islamic Liberal Network, known as JIL.

JIL says the MUI fatwas (edicts) that sparked the hate campaign coincide with the closure of several unauthorized Christian churches by hardline Muslim groups and the jailing this month of three Christian women for inviting Muslim children to church social events. Some schools of thought see this as a backlash against liberal opinion as well as a push by Muslim conservatives to reassert themselves after political Islam failed to gain ground in last year's general elections.

The developments, if not firmly dealt with, could hurt the country's image as a moderate Muslim nation. "Pluralism actually enriches our nation," stressed the president, when saying he had ordered his subordinates to ensure that such violence would not be repeated. He has also tasked Minister of Religious Affairs M Maftuh Basyuni with investigating the reasons why the MUI issued the edicts.

Australia at risk

The Indonesian legal system has come under fire in Australia since Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years' jail for drug smuggling, though Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, was in March sentenced to only 30 months in prison for being part of a "sinister conspiracy" behind the bombings. There was even more outrage across Australia last month when more than 30 militants convicted over the Bali bombings were granted sentence remissions and Ba'asyir's sentence was cut by 135 days. Police received a cell phone message 45 minutes before the September 9, 2004 embassy bombing, warning that foreign missions in Jakarta would be attacked unless Ba'asyir was freed, Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said then. Indonesian police said they received no such warning.

Downer welcomed both the Darmawan and Hasan verdicts although Australia opposes capital punishment.

Meanwhile, Darmawan said Australian dollars from Osama bin Laden directly funded the embassy operation, designed, he explained, to avenge the killings of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq by the US and its allies, including Australia. He had a chilling message for Australia: "It should be borne in mind that any act of injustice against Muslims anywhere in the world will not go unavenged. Muslims will certainly avenge this."

Australian Ambassador David Ritchie said Friday after the verdicts, "Mindful of President Yudhoyono's warning about the possibility of more terrorist acts, we have taken a preventive measure by issuing a travel advisory to Australians who intend to visit Indonesia."

Yet the biggest threat to Australians may now be on their own soil. Kerry Collinson, author of Crescent Moon Rising to be launched on October 1, argues that the irony for Australia is that joining the "coalition of the willing" gave a gift of epic proportions to the Islamic, extremist fringe. The clear and present danger is that Australia may suffer an attack of disastrous proportions. Earlier this month al-Qaeda televised warnings claiming Melbourne is now a target.

But increased terror attacks inside Indonesia are also a worry, though Sidney Jones, Southeast Asia project director of the International Crisis Group (ICG), believes that future terror attacks in Indonesia may be less professional and even less well-executed than in the past. JI, she said, faces dissension over how to achieve its objectives and is reeling at the double whammy of the arrest of more than 200 of its members and public outrage over its tactics.

"There won't be another attack that's as big as the Bali bombings. JI's alive, consolidating, actively recruiting, but most of its leadership is no longer interested in bombing Western targets as it's wasting time, funds and human resources," she said.

While commending efforts to stamp out terrorism, Jones said the government still needed to improve its intelligence while at the same time avoiding arbitrary legislation and abuses of power.

ICG describes itself in glowing terms as "widely regarded as the world's leading independent, non-government source of information, analysis and advice to governments and international organizations on conflict issues". There are double standards inherent in Jones's comments. Where is the credit for Indonesia's success and the censure for the two major proponents of "arbitrary legislation" and "abuses of power", ie, the US and the UK?

What civil liberties?

Even the US has acknowledged Jakarta has done an "admirable job of pursuing, arresting and prosecuting terrorists". Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Eric G John, in testimony before a Senate Foreign Relations committee last week, praised Indonesia for arresting and convicting more than 130 terrorists since the Bali bombings and establishing an effective counterterrorism police force.

Generally, the war on terrorism has drastically altered the balance between civil liberties and security, putting core values at risk. The challenge to mount an effective domestic and international response to terrorism that does not, in the long run, compromise basic human rights domestically or internationally, has been fudged by both the US and the UK.

Protecting US or British citizens' freedom to live and go about their lives without fear of terrorism is regarded as more important than the civil liberties of suspected terrorists. The UK's proposed new Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2005 gives the government even greater power than the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, legislation ruled contrary to human rights laws by the House of Lords Judicial Committee. Since January 2002 prisoners from the war in Afghanistan have been cooped up in wire cages at US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with no access to lawyers – in violation of international law.

Civil liberties advocates do not dispute the need for additional investigative methods to address the threats of terrorism, but they are acutely concerned about the broader and longer-term implications of sidelining legal rights in response to acts of terrorism.

The many critics of the "war on terror" rarely say the threat is not real, but argue simply that sweeping arbitrary powers are a flawed approach to addressing it. There is a rising chorus of concern that such powers are more likely to lead to a miscarriage of justice and that prosecution in a court of law would be a better solution.

The most fundamental human rights are the freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention at the whim of the executive and the right to a fair trial and due process. "Security and human rights are not alternatives; they go hand in hand. Respect for human rights is the route to security, not the obstacle to it," says Amnesty International.

Nonetheless Jones makes one very valid point. Putting hurdles in the way of the recruitment process, according to her, was one key to the success of counterterrorism efforts, and this involved identifying people vulnerable to being recruited. More than any other country, Indonesia's geography lends itself to extremist groups that rely upon inconspicuousness and free movement. (Indonesia is an archipelago of 17,000 islands, 6,000 inhabited, covering 1,826,440 square kilometers, almost three times the size of Texas.)

Terrorists do not simply appear in full-blooded hate mode, trained and equipped to launch their deadly attacks. Persistent dire social and economic circumstances encourage the converts to take the easy way out. Instead of living for Islam, they want to die for Islam. Being martyrs like the Bali bombers and the Australian Embassy blast accomplices, for them has its rewards in the hereafter.

Hardline Islamic groups do not enjoy widespread public support in Indonesia. The average Indonesian Muslim, judging by mass-media coverage of the issue, does not see the issue as demanding attention. Though those calling for violence and aggression in Indonesia are preaching in a wilderness, the danger is that the extremist interpretations from radicals will strike a chord with the dispossessed and disenchanted masses.

"You may read from time to time of the voice of small radical groups, but these voices will not change the fact that mainstream Indonesia will continue to be moderate, tolerant and democratic," Yudhyono told an Asian-European Editors Forum in Jakarta this month. "Fighting terrorism will continue to be our top priority in Indonesia. We will continue to pursue these terrorist groups wherever they may be hiding. We will continue international cooperation involving the police, intelligence and immigration. We will strengthen the hands of the religious moderates."

The retired general has also ordered chief security minister Admiral A S Widodo and the National Intelligence Agency chief Syamsir Siregar to heighten the level of alert against possible terrorist attacks, saying that domestic terrorist cells might be planning another strike soon.

Yudhyono has focused anti-terrorism efforts on increasing international cooperation and coordination to build a strong network within the region and beyond through a series of agreements to fight terrorism and other transnational crimes.

Still, there seems to be something missing. JI is Indonesia's best-known terrorist network. Its followers come from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore but it is rooted in Central Java with cells scattered across the archipelago. Yet the government, the police and intelligence agencies have not acknowledged that JI is an organization operating within Indonesia nor even recognized it as a terrorist organization.

[Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has worked in Indonesia for 20 years as a journalist. He has been published by the BBC on East Timor and specializes in business/economic and political analysis in Indonesia.]