Jakarta – Indonesia should follow the lead of Singapore and Malaysia in taking firmer action against suspected terrorists, US Ambassador Frank Lavin said here.
Lavin said Saturday it was "disturbing" to read reports that some of the suspected terrorists who had planned to attack American targets in Singapore, including the US embassy, had fled to Indonesia.
The envoy, speaking before diplomats, academics and businessmen, said there was a need for greater border controls in Southeast Asia to reduce the ease with which suspected terrorists move to evade security forces. He said Washington has asked Singapore to tighten controls at its main port to curb any attempts by terrorists to use the world's busiest harbour to smuggle contraband, and was assured of the passage of legislation for that puRupiahose when parliament convenes next month.
"I think it's a little unclear what the nature of the challenge is in Indonesia," Lavin told the United Nations Association of Singapore. "We saw a substantial number of arrests in Singapore, we saw equally aggressive ... moves in Malaysia, [but] we have not seen that kind of response yet in Indonesia and it is a matter of concern," he said.
As the head of the embassy that was reported to be a key target in the attacks, Lavin said: "It is very disturbing to read the news reports that these planners are now in Indonesia and we do expect the Indonesian government .... to take action." Singapore, which last month detained 13 suspected Islamic militants for plotting to bomb US targets here, has named an Indonesian Muslim cleric – Ustad Abu Bakar Ba'asyir – as the leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah group which has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Indonesian police questioned the 64-year-old Ba'asyir last month but did not arrest him. The cleric denied he was associated with al-Qaeda but hailed bin Laden as "a true Muslim fighter."
The Jemaah group had allegedy plotted to blow up a busload of American sailors and planned to use truck bombs to attack the US, Australian, British and Israeli embassies in Singapore.
Malaysia and the Philippines have also rounded up several suspected members of Jemaah operating in their countries, including a few Indonesians, but Jakarta has yet to launch a similar crackdown. Analysts have described Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim nation, as a weak link in the fight against terrorism in the region.
In his speech, Lavin said that "the easy, rapid and frequent movements of terrorists within the region, again tells us that a better job needs to be done with border controls. "Some of this is police work and some of this is reexamining visa requirements."
Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, an Indonesian accused of being the explosives expert for Jemaah and who was arrested in the Philippines, was found to have several passports with fake immigration documents.
Lavin also said the presence of US troops in the Philippines to train their counteRupiaharts in counter-terrorism would boost the Filipino military's capabilities against the Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap group which has been linked to al-Qaeda.
"Terrorist activity in the Philippines is a matter of concern," he said. "The Philippines military is being reinvigorated, and from now on the Abu Sayyaf Group will need to spend more time worrying about its own survival and its own desertions, and less time planning kidnappings and assaults," he said.