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Southeast Asia

Bali wonŽt enforce porn law

2009-06-04

[Straits Times] INDONESIA'S mainly Hindu island of Bali has no intention of enforcing a controversial anti-porn law passed last year because it conflicts with local culture and tradition, the provincial governor said in an email interview. Dr Yudhoyono's Democrat Party won the parliamentary election in April with one fifth of the votes, and has formed a coalition with several smaller parties including the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). Minority groups warned that the anti-pornography bill - which was passed in October last year and bans public displays of flesh and behaviour that could incite lust - was a sign of creeping conservatism in traditionally pluralist Indonesia. Pluralism and religious freedom have become election issues in predominantly Muslim, officially secular Indonesia. The new law, which created much confusion over what would be considered pornographic, was slammed by religious minorities but backed by the Islamic and Islamist political parties allied to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is seeking re-election in the presidential polls on July 8. 'As long as I am the governor of Bali, I, along with the head of the provincial government in Bali, have stated that we will not enforce this law in Bali,' Governor I Made Mangku Pastika told Reuters, adding that the law is 'not appropriate for the people of Bali.' He said the most serious effect of the law would be its impact on Bali's culture and traditional art, which includes nude statues and often sexually explicit imagery. 'The artworks and cultural practices of Bali are not in any way meant to be pornographic. They are meant to educate and communicate about the essence of life and existence,' he said. Centuries-old traditions including outdoor bathing would also have to be banned if the law was properly enforced, added the governor, a former police chief who led investigations into deadly bomb attacks by Islamic militants on Bali. Mr Pastika said that he had not yet been reprimanded by the central government, despite his stated aim to disobey the law. Bali's economy is also heavily dependent on tourism because of its culture, beaches and surfing. The anti-porn law fuelled concerns that tourists might be arrested for wearing swimwear, but Mr Pastika said tourists were exempt. 'The impact of the law on our tourism sector will not be significant because tourism has been granted an exception,' he said.

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Southeast Asia

Indonesians rally against anti- porn bill

2008-09-24

About 1,000 people protested against Indonesia's anti-pornography bill on the resort island of Bali on Tuesday, prompting the local governor to vow he would ask the president to drop the controversial legislation. The protesters -- who wore traditional Balinese sarongs and headdresses, and carried banners with the words "Anti-porn bill no, Indonesia yes" -- marched to Governor Made Mangku Pastika's office in Denpasar. The anti-porn bill is being pushed by a small group of Islamist parties in predominantly Muslim, but officially secular, Indonesia. But it has been condemned by some of the country's minorities including the Balinese, who are Hindu, as well as Christians, and some tribal groups who favor near nudity as traditional attire. Critics say that the exceptions to the bill for sexually explicit cultural and artistic material are too vague, and that by allowing civil organizations to play a role in preventing pornography, this could open the door for vigilante groups to take the law into their own hands. Balinese art incorporates nudity and sexually explicit images, while in the eastern province of Papua some tribal men wear just penis gourds. Legislators have so far stopped short of passing the bill, which has been discussed for about three years, because critics say it would threaten Indonesia's tradition of tolerance and diversity. Some parliament members were hoping that the anti-smut bill would be approved this month, but the bill was postponed again last week.

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Southeast Asia

Azahari's disciples still on the loose

2005-11-15

Police chief Gen. Sutanto warned people on Wednesday to remain vigilant as disciples of master bombmaker Azahari bin Husin were still on the loose. Azahari, who was killed in a police raid last week, had trained several followers, many of whom had not been caught, which worries police investigators, Sutanto said in Jakarta. "His cohorts have already learned to make bombs, although not at a level of sophistication as Azahari," explained Sutanto, as quoted by Agence France Presse. He said the police had found a video showing Azahari teaching a group of people bombmaking skills. Separately, Sutanto's aide Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika commented that the master bombmaker had trained at least 40 suicide bombers to carry out a series of terror attacks around Christmas time. The number of bombers was based on police findings after the raid on Azahari's rented house in the quiet town of Batu, East Java. The police discovered dozens of explosive devices at the house, Pastika said. "We have to always be on alert as these people are ready to die," said Pastika, the chief of the Bali Police, who was involved in the probe of the 2002 Kuta nightclub attacks, which killed over 200 people. Azahari's group -- as part of the Jamaah Islamiyah terror network -- have been blamed for that and a number of other high-profile terror attacks in the country. The most recent terror act attributed to his group was the triple suicide bombing in Bali six weeks ago. That attack, at three separate restaurants, killed 23 people. Meanwhile, police officers continued the manhunt on Monday for Azahari's key accomplice Noordin Mohammad Top and other suspected terrorists. The Police antiterror squad, helped by local police units, tracked down members of the Azahari cells to the regencies of Trenggalek and Nganjuk in East Java, while in Malang, police worked with local government officials in scouring residential areas near Azahari's rented house. In addition to the manhunt, top police officers in East Java have also warned all police officers in the area to remain on high alert. Officers are also still looking for weapons caches after a tip by a former colleague of Azahari's -- Nurkosim. National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko said in Jakarta the police were still questioning Nurkosim, in order to check whether he was mentally stable. Nurkosim is believed to have worked with Azahari, but has been in prison in Madiun, East Java since 2000 on charges of financial fraud. Separately in Bandung, deputy chief of the National Police Comr. Gen. Adang Darajatun called on the public to revive an old security rule, which obliges anybody entering a community to report to the neighborhood unit head if he or she stays in respective neighborhood for over 24 hours. "Indonesia is vast and the police need people to help locate the terrorists," said Adang. Meanwhile in Majalengka, West Java, relatives of alleged terrorist Muhammad Salik agreed to allow the government to keep Salik's body if would aid their investigation. Salik was believed to be one of the three Oct. 1 Bali suicide bombers. The family's lawyer, Emi Klanawidjaja, said they would not demand that the government return Salik's remains.

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Southeast Asia

Azahari's death confirmed

2005-11-10

Indonesia on Thursday confirmed that master bomb-maker and Islamic radical Azahari Husin, one of Asia's top terror suspects and most wanted men, was killed after a shootout with police. Azahari, a Malaysian from the al-Qaeda linked Jemaaah Islamiyah (JI) militant network who was known as the 'Demolition Man', was tracked down Wednesday at his remote hideway in Batu. But Indonesian police changed their story on how he was killed, saying he was shot dead by counter-terrorist forces and had not blown himself up as initially reported. Indonesia's national police chief said another militant, identified as Arman, died alongside Azahari, killed when he pulled the cord on an explosive-lined vest as police and soldiers closed in. He said Azahari had tried to do the same, but failed and instead died in a hail of police bullets. The vests, one of which was seen by AAP in the rubble of the house, were similar to those believed to have been used in last month's triple suicide bombings in Bali. General Sutanto said fingerprinting had confirmed that Azahari, known as a master of disguise, had been killed during the stand-off in East Java. "There were two comparative (sets of fingerprints) and both are identical," General Sutanto told reporters, showing sets taken from a body as well as prints from Malaysian documents dated 1969 and bearing Azahari's photo. Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said in Jakarta that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been informed of Azahari's death and had congratulated police. Residents said Azahari had lived in the rundown house with two other men for about three months. Confirmation of his death is a coup for Indonesian security services against JI, the group blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people as well as a triple suicide bombing on the resort island last month. Police said they had also identified two of the three bombers who killed 20 people at packed restaurants with shrapnel-packed bombs on October 1. The pair were publicly identified only as MS and MN, but national police spokesman Aryanto Budiharjo said their identities had been confirmed after DNA testing and through information provided by their families. Mr Budiharjo said they came from Java island but provided no further details. He did not say whether there was a link between their identification and the capture of Azahari. Bali police chief I Made Mangku Pastika said in Bali there was no doubt there was a link between the group at Azahari's hideaway and the triple bombing. "It is clear that there is a link, the October 1 Bali bombings in Kuta and Jimbaran were conducted by this group," Mr Pastika said. General Sutanto earlier toured the destroyed house at Batu, where bomb squad officers found 30 wired explosive devices. They were not very powerful, he said, indicating that the group was being stymied by a lack of funds. "To make powerful bombs, they would need a large amount of funds. At the present time, they are short on funds so that the bombs they are building are not like those in the past," he said. Azahari and his Malaysian compatriot Noordin Mohammad Top had been sought for both Bali attacks as well as at least two other bloody attacks - on Jakarta's Marriott hotel in 2003 and on the Australian embassy in 2004. JI expert Sidney Jones had warned recently the pair appeared to be splitting from the network to form an even more hardline force on their own. JI's goal is to unite Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines in a fundamentalist Islamic state, and it uses attacks to destabilise regional governments. Unlike the mainstream JI, Azahari's followers are simply focused on avenging the deaths of Muslims around the world by striking at the United States and its "lackeys", Mr Jones told AFP last month. Azahari, in his late forties, studied in Australia for four years in the late 1970s before obtaining an engineering degree in Malaysia and a doctorate at England's Reading University in land management. He became a lecturer at Malaysia's University of Technology before dropping out of sight during a crackdown on Islamic militants in 2001. While some reports say he trained in bomb-making in Afghanistan, he was believed to have honed his skills with Muslim separatists in Mindanao in the southern Philippines in 1999.

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Southeast Asia

Indonesia frustrated on progress in Bali bombing probe

2005-10-25

Bali's police chief has expressed frustration at the lack of progress finding those behind triple suicide bombings this month that killed 23 people, including four Australians. Made Mangku Pastika, who led the successful investigation of the 2002 Bali nightclub attacks, said national distribution of leaflets showing the decapitated heads of the three bombers as well as electronically enhanced pictures had yielded little. "I wonder why nobody has stepped forward? What is baffling is where did (the three bombers) live? We don't even know where they came from," Pastika said. Police have not named any suspects over the attacks. The three bombers detonated explosives-laden backpacks in crowded restaurants on October 1, killing themselves and 20 innocent people. Pastika has said the bombers had Indonesian facial features. He said the bombers might have left their families and hometowns for so long that nobody recognised them. Pastika also had a more chilling theory. "The second possibility is they come from families or groups that agree with the terrorism movement. This is dangerous." Police said they would issue new leaflets saying anyone giving credible information on the identities of the suspected backpack bombers would receive $US10,000 ($A13,140). In recent bombings, court testimony has shown that senior operatives from Jemaah Islamiah have brainwashed young recruits from poor families living on the main island of Java to drive bomb-laden cars to targets.

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Southeast Asia

SMS campaign over Bali bombings - kill muslims

2005-10-20

BALI'S police chief has called for calm amid a phone-message campaign urging Balinese Hindus to kill all Muslims on the island in retaliation for the triple suicide bombings by suspected Islamic extremists. A mobile phone text message received by the AAP wire news service urges Balinese people to "wake up from a long sleep". The majority-Hindu holiday island had been invaded by Muslim settlers, mostly from neighbouring Java, the message says. Calling on all recipients to gather en masse and attack Muslim street-food sellers and anyone else of Islamic faith, it reads: "Destroy the Bali destroyers from outside Bali. We'll burn a group of Muslim bakso (meatball) traders, Muslim satay sellers and anyone else with Muslim identity," the anonymous text says. Raze to the ground all these groups so they won't live in Bali. We ask for your support." It did not give a date, but circulated a day before the main Muslim prayer day of Friday. A similar text campaign last week urging Balinese to gather together and demand the immediate executions of the original Bali bombers was answered by more than 2,000 people and turned into a violent demonstration that had to be countered by riot police. Bali police chief General Made Mangku Pastika said the text campaign threatened Bali's bomb-battered reputation for religious tolerance, warning it could turn Bali into a new Ambon. The eastern province of Maluku based in Ambon was wracked by a five-year conflict between Muslims and Christian bloodshed in the late 1990s and 2000, attracting extremist Islamic militias into Ambon from other parts of Indonesia. Bali counts almost 3 million Hindus and only 186,000 Muslims, an anomaly in the world's most-populous Muslim nation, which counts 180 million people of Islamic faith. "I'm worried that terrorists have successfully used the situation," Pastika told the Bali Post newspaper. "It would not only be Bali which would be destroyed, because the whole of Indonesia would be paralysed. This SMS (text) with the scent of tribal, customs, race and religious intolerance is a new model of terror to make the situation in Bali worse." Pastika said he planned to meet immediately with senior representatives from all religions in Bali to keep a lid on fresh outbreaks of violence in the emotionally charged atmosphere after the latest attacks, which killed 20 innocent people, among them four Australians. After the 2002 bombings, Bali's Government also boosted the powers of village guards, known as pecalang, to search strangers and immigrant workers, angering many Muslim residents. "Thank God, up to now, we haven't received any reports from Balinese communities which have been provoked," Pastika said. "This is what we expect and we hope once more Balinese people will not be persuaded with this call."

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Southeast Asia

Bali bombers laugh off pardons

2005-10-20

THE masterminds of the first Bali bombing have laughingly rejected asking for death row pardons, saying they will answer only to God. We can arrange that ... The three bombers - Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas - were yesterday visited in their maximum security island prison off the south Java coast by a seven-strong team of court officials and parliamentarians from Bali. The officials were visiting the jail dubbed "Indonesia's Alcatraz" to try and speed up the executions process after several weeks of at-times violent protests by Balinese outraged by triple suicide bombings earlier this month. The 2002 bombers, who have all had their heads and beards clean shaven, were led one-by-one into a room with officials from the Denpasar District Court and prosecutors office, as well as two Bali MPs I Gusti Adhiputra and Made Arjaya. The head of the local Cilicap District Court, Robert Simorangkir, was also present at the meeting, where the bombers were shown pardon forms as a legal formality and asked whether they wanted to submit them to the Indonesian president. A laughing Amrozi - dubbed the "smiling assassin" - told the group "You should thank me, because I am brave enough to defy the United States, while you as officials just sit around", Simorangkir told the Media Indonesia newspaper. The bombers, who were moved to Batu Prison on Nusakambangan Island last week from Denpasar, have all been placed in protective custody amid threats of attacks from other prisoners. A spokesman for Indonesia's Attorney-General Abdul Saleh said the Government was hoping to finalise the timetable for their executions before a holiday ending the holy fasting month of Ramadan in early November. "We have a target that before Labaran, we'll have certainty of execution time," spokesman Masyhuar Ridwan said. Bali police chief I Made Mangku Pastika earlier this week warned speeding up the execution process could spark more terrorist attacks by extremist supporters of the trio. Simorangkir said the team would now divide into two, visiting Samudra's family in the West Java city of Serang and the East Java home of Mukhlas and Amrozi in Lamongan to ask if they wanted to submit pardons on the trio's behalf. Samudra's brother recently said the family would do as he wished and waive their right. Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng recently told AAP that all the legal steps would have to be completed before the bombers could be executed. Lawyer for the three Achmad Michdan said he had already received a letter from the bombers asking for a judicial review, based on a Constitution Court decision last year overturning retroactive use of anti-terror laws used to convict the them.

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Southeast Asia

Speedy Bali executions 'could lead to more attacks'

2005-10-19

Speeding up the execution of three Indonesian militants on death row for the 2002 Bali blasts could provoke a backlash and trigger more attacks, the police officer who probed the bombings said. Bali police chief Made Mangku Pastika said protesters should think twice about the possible consequences of putting Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Ali Gufron, alias Mukhlas, in front of the firing squad too soon. "I understand the demands of the Balinese to have a speedy execution of Amrozi and his friends. But have they thought about the repercussions?" Mr Pastika, himself a Balinese, told reporters in the island's capital Denpasar. "Terrorism could increase. This is what we need to consider and are we ready to face it?" said Mr Pastika, who led the 2002 bombing probe and was later installed as Bali's top policeman. You should be. It's your job to not only face it, but to root it out. The three have been on death row for around two years after courts convicted them of playing leading roles in the nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, most of them tourists.

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Southeast Asia

Wahid: Indonesian police or military may have played role in 1st Bali bombing

2005-10-12

CHAOTIC scenes marred yesterday's third anniversary of the Bali bombings as a former Indonesian president suggested his country's military or police may have been behind one of the 2002 bombings. A violent mob of 2000 angry protesters stormed Bali's Kerobokan jail, breaking down a wall outside the prison and demanding the execution of three of the Bali bombers. Chanting "Kill Amrozi, kill Amrozi", the crowd removed part of the jail's main steel door before riot police stopped them from entering the prison where some of the Bali bombers are held. The violence co-incided with the claim by former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid that Indonesian police or military officers may have played a role in the first Bali bombing. Wahid told SBS's Dateline program that he had grave concerns about links between Indonesian authorities and terrorist groups and believed that authorities may have organised the larger of the two 2002 Bali bombings which hit the Sari Club, killing the bulk of the 202 people who died. Officials and experts were quick to play down his claims which, if true, would have grave diplomatic consequences for Australia's relationship with its nearest neighbour. Asked who he thought planted the second bomb, Mr Wahid said: "Maybe the police ... or the armed forces." "The orders to do this or that came from within our armed forces, not from the fundamentalist people." Speaking in Jakarta last night, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said "it's just rubbish". Singapore-based terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna said the report had "absolutely no credibility". "The Indonesian police have been doing a great job of hunting down the terrorists." He said Indonesia's political leaders were committed to combating terrorism and there was "no evidence to suggest TNI (Indonesian military) involvement, either". "I can't understand why a man of his standing would be raising such issues," Mr Gunaratna said. Greg Fealy, an Indonesian expert at the Australian National University, said Mr Wahid's claim was a "bizarre suggestion". "There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the Indonesian police are in cahoots with the terrorists." Mr Wahid's claims will not help the investigation into last week's Bali bombings, which left 23 people dead, including four Australians. The protesters who tried to storm Kerobokan jail yesterday were seeking the three ringleaders of the 2002 bombings - Amrozi bin Nurhasyin, his elder brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra. But the three were moved for security reasons to Batu prison on Nusakambangan, an island south of Java before yesterday's third anniversary of the attacks. Dateline also reported claims that Indonesian intelligence had close links with many local terrorist groups. "There is not a single Islamic group either in the movement or the political groups that is not controlled by (Indonesian) intelligence," said former terrorist Umar Abduh, who is now a researcher and writer. He has written a book on Teungku Fauzi Hasbi, a key figure in Jemaah Islamiah, who had close contact with JI operations chief Hambali and lived next to Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. He says Hasbi was a secret agent for Indonesia's military intelligence while at the same time a key player in creating JI. Documents cited by SBS showed the Indonesian chief of military intelligence in 1990 authorised Hasbi to undertake a "special job". And a 2002 document assigned Hasbi the job of special agent for BIN, the Indonesian national intelligence agency. Security analyst John Mempi told SBS that Hasbi, who was also known as Abu Jihad, had played a key role in JI in its early years. "The first Jemaah Islamiah congress in Bogor was facilitated by Abu Jihad, after Abu Bakar Bashir returned from Malaysia," Mr Mempi said. "We can see that Abu Jihad played an important role. He was later found to be an intelligence agent. So an intelligence agent has been facilitating the radical Islamic movement." Meanwhile the investigation into the second Bali bombings appears to have stalled. Bali police chief Made Mangku Pastika yesterday denied the detention of 45-year-old construction worker Hasan was significant in the investigation into the triple suicide bombings, while senior police refused to confirm speculation in the local press that a man named Yanto was one of the three suicide bombers.

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Southeast Asia

First Bali bomber identified

2005-10-12

INDONESIAN police have reportedly identified the first of three suicide bombers suspected of carrying out the attacks in Bali on October 1 which killed 23 people, including four Australians. Police said the suspected bomber, named as Yanto in several Indonesian newspapers, shared a rented room in Denpasar with a man arrested last weekend in East Java in connection with the bombings. Yanto is suspected of carrying out the attack on Raja's Bar and Restaurant in Kuta – one of three suicide bombings on crowded Bali restaurants on the night of October 1. "He was the one in the rental room staying with other witnesses," deputy national police spokesman Colonel Bambang Kuncoko told the Nusa Bali newspaper from Jakarta. "Four of them stayed in that room and admitted they were from a certain city. "One of those men looks like the bomber." Police investigating the bombings have been circulating photos of the severed heads of suspected suicide bombers, recovered from the bombing scenes. Yanto was reportedly identified by a man named Hasan, arrested during a raid in East Java on Sunday night and returned to Denpasar for questioning. Hasan is believed to have admitted knowing or recognising Yanto in the rented accommodation close to police headquarters in the Denpasar suburb of Dangin Puri Kaja. Bali police chief Made Mangku Pastika said Hasan was being intensively investigated and was being evasive. "In his statements he is the most different to the other witnesses," Mr Pastika said. "When the others answer X he always answers Y." Australian Federal Police have been helping Indonesian police with their investigations, in particular with sophisticated phone intercept technology.

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Southeast Asia

Bali Bombing Mastermind Escapes Raid

2005-10-07

Indonesian police raided a house Friday where one of the suspected masterminds of last week's Bali bombings was believed to be hiding out, but the Malaysian fugitive fled three hours earlier, officials said. I see Mahmoud the Rat has a Indonesian relative The pre-dawn raid occurred at a house in central Java province used by Noordin Mohamed Top, police said. "We can confirm it was him," said Abdul Madjid, a police chief in the province. Noordin, 35, is one of two Malaysians accused of planning Saturday's near-simultaneous suicide bombings on three crowded restaurants on the Indonesian resort island that killed 22, including the bombers. More than 100 people were wounded. The other suspected mastermind is Azahari bin Husin. Both are believed to be key leaders of the regional al-Qaida-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah. Both men also were allegedly behind the 2002 nightclub Bali nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people, and suicide attacks in Jakarta in 2004 and 2003 that killed 23. The pair has eluded capture for years by renting cheap houses in densely populated areas, with nearby back alleys for quick escapes. They are very good at what they do Madjid said police received a tip that Noordin had been staying at the house in Purwantoro for two days when they launched their raid. The operation was supposed to begin at 1 a.m., but police waited several hours because they were worried he was armed with explosives. When they got there, "it was too late," Madjid said. "Missed him by that much!" Azahari is known as "Demolition Man" for his knowledge of explosives, while Noordin has been dubbed "Moneyman" for his ability to raise money and recruit bombers. They are said to be motivated by anger at U.S foreign policy toward the Muslim world, but most of the victims in Saturday night's attacks were Indonesians. Jemaah Islamiyah wants to establish an Islamic state across Southeast Asia. Indonesia's vice president said Friday that religious leaders must condemn terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim nation. "Suicide bombings in Afghanistan and Iraq are perhaps understandable because there is an 'opponent' there," Yusuf Kalla said after prayers in the capital Jakarta on the Muslim holy day. "But here in Indonesia, it makes no sense. Why do they kill their own people, who have done nothing wrong?" he asked, calling on Islamic leaders to condemn the practice as being "not in line with the religion we hold." Police have announced few breaks in the investigation, but spokesman Brig. Gen. Sunarko Danu Artanto said Thursday investigators have taken DNA samples from several relatives of the suspected bombers. Photographs of the suspects' severed heads, found yards from the blast sites, have been circulated in the media and shown to several jailed Jemaah Islamiyah members. None claim to recognize them. Bali police chief Maj. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika said the bombers likely were recruited recently for the purpose of carrying out the weekend attacks. "There is an indication they are a new generation," he said Friday. Cannon fodder is cheap and readily available Ali Imron, imprisoned for his role in the 2002 bombings, told the Jawa Pos newspaper they could be "freshly recruited." Nasir Abbas, who trained scores of militants in the 1990s, told The Associated Press he had never seen them. Identifying the bombers could help police track down the masterminds. I doubt it. These two are real "masterminds", they would never have given any information on their hideouts or future plans to lower level contacts. Once the bombers started toward their targets, they hit the road. Police said they intended to boost security on the island - already high in the aftermath of the weekend blasts - for a memorial service next Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of the 2002 nightclub bombings. Eighty-eight of the victims were Australians. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is due to attend the event, details of which have not been released. In previous years, many relatives of those killed and survivors returned to the island for the memorial. Nobody has claimed responsibility for Saturday night's coordinated attacks, but suspicion immediately fell on Jemaah Islamiyah. If proven, the strikes show how dangerous the group remains despite a regional security crackdown that has arrested hundreds of alleged group members. It also would show that the group apparently has changed tactics, switching to softer targets, smaller bombs and cruder methods. Most previous Jemaah Islamiyah attacks were carried out with car bombs, but Saturday's bombers wore belts or backpacks laden with explosives. I believe I read somewhere that Bali had banned vehicles from parking in front of clubs. If they find a juicy target that they can get a big car bomb next to, they'll use one.

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Southeast Asia

Bali bombers from a new generation of JI

2005-10-07

The three young suicide bombers who killed 19 other people in Bali represent a new generation of violent militants in Indonesia, Bali police chief Made Mangku Pastika said on Friday. Police say explosives on the bodies of the three ripped through restaurants on the tourist island last Saturday, killing 22, including the three men, and wounding 146. Police believe the bombers had help and have launched a huge manhunt for others involved, aided by some foreign law enforcement officers and the Indonesian military. Attention has centred on Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the al Qaeda-linked Islamic militant network blamed for past attacks in Indonesia, and two of its leaders, Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M. Top. But experts say much of the old Jemaah Islamiah structure has been destroyed, and the two Malaysians may have formed fresh organisations and recruited new personnel. Asked about that and reports that the bombers might have been only recently trained, Pastika told reporters: "They come from a new group. A new generation means that (they) are not known by the old group." Late on Thursday a Western diplomat in Jakarta had also suggested the bombers did not necessarily come from JI, saying: "there (are) also of course a lot of other people out there trained in the camps." But the diplomat, who declined to be identified, said the fact that relatively small bombs had been used in the Bali attacks rather than the car bombs favoured in past Indonesian blasts did not necessarily mean the Bali conspirators had different roots. "Our concern has always been that once you really got enough pressure on these guys to make it harder for them to assemble the car bombs and do the big splashes like they like to do, that they would then go to the tried and proven method of backpacks and things like that," he told reporters. Authorities blamed all those attacks on JI, and believed Azahari and Top had helped mastermind them. The two have remained at large despite numerous other arrests over the earlier cases. Police have questioned at least 94 people so far over last weekend's blasts, and received many tip-offs, but no one has been arrested or charged. The military has said it will contribute to the investigation, after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked for its help, but some analysts are concerned over whether it will try to assume police functions. Indonesia is sensitive to that issue after decades of iron-fisted rule until authoritarian president Suharto stepped down in 1998. The military was a key element in his regime. "We are limited by law," Major General Herry Tjahjana, chief of the Udayana military command which includes Bali, told reporters on Friday. "Before reforms, we know that the intelligence (units) could work more freely. Our hope is that the intelligence officers can be given such room to work" on terrorism cases, he said. So far the military has said it will concentrate on gathering and passing on information as well as alerting the public to terrorism dangers. Aside from the suicide bombers themselves, police and hospital authorities say 14 Indonesians, four Australians and one Japanese died as a result of Saturday's blasts.

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