Farouk Arnaz – It had been almost four years since a major terror attack hit Indonesia. Maybe we were feeling too secure from bombers.
There was a time when the tragic incidents were almost routine, like the natural disasters that just seem to happen here. Beginning with the Christmas Eve bombings of 200, the incidents came along too often in the first part of the decade – the Bali nightclubs in October 2002, an attack on the D PR in July 2003 followed by the car bomb that claimed 12 lives at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta in August 2003, the Australian Embassy bombing in 2004, then the second Bali bombing in October 2005. Jemaah Islamiyah seemed to be taunting the authorities.
Then it stopped. Police rolled up networks of terrorists as efforts, begun when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was chief security minister, began to bear fruit. In November 2008, the three Bali bombers, Imam Samudra and the brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas, were finally executed. Was it over?
No. On the morning of July 17, news that both the JW Marriott and its neighboring sister hotel, the Ritz-Carlton in Mega Kuningan, had been bombed in near simultaneous suicide attacks brought the horror back. Seven innocent people were killed and more than 50 wounded. The attacks were meticulously planned, had inside help and carefully targeted foreign businesspeople.
In the aftermath, markets remained robust and the government insisted the country was stable. Many suspects have by now been killed, including Noordin M Top, the Malaysian operative long blamed for being the mastermind behind much of the terror spree that hit the country over the past decade.
But Sidney Jones, an expert on Islamic extremism from the Jakarta office of the International Crisis Group, worries that police have been too quick to shoot when what they really need is the information that can be gleaned from live suspects. "It is going to be very difficult to unravel terrorism networks if [the terrorists] are dead, as we need to know their links," she said.
"Now anyone can be the successor to Noordin and we do not know who he is," she added, indicating that security forces were still unclear as to who had assumed Noordin's mantle after he was shot dead in a police raid in Solo on Sept. 17.
Jones said other dangerous figures were still on the loose, including Nur Hasbi, who is also wanted in connection with the July 17 hotel bombings. Others include Reno, alias Tedi, who has been at large since 2005, and Maruto Jati Sulistiono, who has evaded police since 2006.
The year's trail of terror:
Jan. 29: Special police anti-terror unit, Detachment 88, gets a new head, Chief Comr. Saut Usman Nasution, replacing Brig. Gen. Surya Dharma.
February: Two top Detachment 88 investigators, Tito Karnavian and Muhammad Syafii, meet Hambali in US custody at Guantanamo Bay. Senior police officials say Hambali needs to be brought back to Indonesia and tried for charges related to the 2002 Bali bombings. His return is considered risky.
May 12: Abu Zar, aka Kismaninda, aka Husain, aka Udin, a suspect related to attacks in Loki, Ambon and Poso is apprehended in East Kalimantan.
June 1: Singaporean terror suspect Husaini bin Ismail is nabbed in Solo. Husaini is wanted for his alleged involvement in a plot to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport in 2001. Police also arrest a man believed to be Husaini's younger brother.
June 20: Police arrest Saefuddin Zuhry in Cilacap, Central Java, for allegedly supplying a gun and explosive materials to Abdurrahman Taib, a man involved in the Palembang terrorist network.
July 14: Police confiscate bomb-making materials at the home of Islamic teacher Bahrudin Latif, alias Baridin, in Cilacap, Central Java. Bahrudin's daughter, Ari Aryani, is married to Noordin M Top, a top terrorist wanted in connection with several bombings. Bahrudin escapes arrest.
July 17: During the busy breakfast period, bombs rip through two luxury hotels in South Jakarta, the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, killing nine people – including two suicide bombers, Dani Dwi Permana, 18, Nana Ichwan Maulana, 28. More than 50 people are also injured in the attack. The bombers posed as hotel guests and targeted foreign businesspeople.
Aug. 7: A shootout breaks out as antiterror police surround a house in Temanggung, Central Java, killing a suspect first believed to be Noordin M Top. The dead suspect turns out to be Ibrohim, a florist at the Ritz-Carlton hotel who, according to police, was the field coordinator for the July bombings.
The same day, police arrest two other suspects, Indra and Aris, in Bekasi, confiscating 500 kilograms of explosives and a car bomb in a rented house. Two people are killed during the Bekasi raid, Air Setiawan, a suspect in the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing; and explosive expert Eko Jono Sarjono.
Aug. 24: Police name Saudi national Ali Mohammad Abdillah as a suspect for helping to finance the July hotel attacks.
Aug. 25: National Police announce the arrest of Muhammad Jibriel, a suspect in the hotel bombings. Police release other suspects for lack of evidence.
Sept. 16: Police arrest Rahmat Puji Prabowo, alias Bejo, for being an accomplice of Noordin M Top. He allegedly provided a hideout for Noordin when he was on the run. Another suspect, Supono, alias Kedu, is arrested for transporting explosives in Bekasi.
Sept. 17: Ending a seven year manhunt, Police shoot dead suspected terror mastermind Noordin M Top in his hideout on the outskirts of Solo. Also killed in the shootout are Hadi Susilo, a?k?a Adib, bomb expert Aryo "Aji" Sudarso and Bagus Budi Pranoto. Hadi's wife, Putri Munawaroh, is arrested. Some critics say that Noordin would have been more valuable to investigators if captured alive.
Oct. 2: Aris Makruf, 23, who has been on the police most-wanted list since 2006, surrenders at a police station near his home in Temanggung, Central Java. Aris is linked to Noordin M Top's terrorist network.
Oct. 9: Detachment 88 officers conducting a raid on a boarding house in Ciputat, Tangerang, kill Saifuddin Zuhri bin Djaelani Irsyad and Mohamad Syahrir, both suspects in the July 17 bombings, after being tipped off by another suspect.
Oct. 10: Police arrest Sonny Jayadi, in Padang, West Sumatra, where he was assisting relief efforts in the quake-hit city. Sonny, a student at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Ciputat, Tangerang, is alleged to have helped hide terror suspects Syaifudin Zuhri and Mohamad Syahrir.
Nov. 24: Detachment 88 chief Brig. Gen. Saut Usman Nasution is replaced by his subordinate, Chief Comr. Tito Karnavian.
Dec. 24: Antiterror police arrest Noordin M Top's father in law, Bahrudin Latif, in Garut, West Java.