Terrorism takes on democracy in Indonesia
By Patrick Guntensperger
JAKARTA - If the purpose of the recent terrorist attacks in Indonesia was to
undermine democracy and rattle investor confidence, the July bombings of the
luxury JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels present hard choices for freshly
re-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. How his new government responds
to the heightened threat perception will go a long way in determining his
reform legacy.
In his first term, Yudhoyono won international plaudits for his pursuit and
prosecution of terror suspects. Hundreds of suspected Islamic militants were
rounded up and his government oversaw the high-profile execution of the three
principal planners of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people,
mainly foreign
tourists. That marked a stark contrast to his predecessor, Megawati
Sukarnoputri, who alienated both the United States and Australia due to her
inaction in combating terrorism.
On the other hand, Yudhoyono has been criticized for commuting the already
brief sentence of Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of the Jemaah
Islamiyah terrorist group, which envisions the creation of an Islamic caliphate
across majority Muslim territories in Southeast Asia. His critics have also
pointed to his unwillingness to root out terrorist indoctrination in Islamic
schools, likely out of political concerns he may be portrayed by his
politically opponents as an insufficiently staunch Muslim.
In the immediate aftermath of the July hotel blasts, which killed nine people,
maimed at least 30 and coincided with a regular meeting of foreign business
executives, Yudhoyono made a cryptic speech suggesting the bombs were
politically motivated and that he was a primary target of the attack. Some
interpreted his oblique comments as suggesting that his political opponents
were somehow involved.
The subsequent seizure of a 500-kilogram cache of explosives, allegedly
intended to be packed into a van and detonated in front of the presidential
residence, has raised the possibility of more terrorist attacks. Meanwhile,
Indonesian police and intelligence units are still searching for Noordin
Mohamad Top, the fugitive bomb-maker thought to be the mastermind behind the
July bombings and other terrorist attacks in Indonesia.
The four-year lull in terror attacks, which had previously targeted the
Australian embassy, the stock exchange, the JW Marriott, and several tourist
haunts on the resort island of Bali, had convinced many Indonesia watchers that
Top, and by association Jemaah Islamiyah, had either changed tactics or been
effectively uprooted by arrests and other counter-terrorism operations.
But the inability of security forces to apprehend Top, who may have escaped a
prolonged siege at a safe house in Bogor that resulted in the deaths of three
of his associates who allegedly plotted to bomb the presidential residence,
raised new questions about Yudhoyono's terror-fighting credentials.
As the manhunt for Top hits one dead end after another, Yudhoyono's top
security personnel have floated some controversial ideas for improving their
terror-fighting capabilities, ones that if fully implemented would have serious
implications for Indonesia's burgeoning democracy. For example, police recently
announced that they would begin to monitor sermons delivered by certain Muslim
clerics in an effort to identify any incitement to hatred or violence in the
name of religion.
Police later backtracked on the announcement after a backlash from religious
groups and people arguing for freedom of expression, and they denied that
security officials had already instituted the surveillance scheme. However,
according to reports, police in Batam, an island near Singapore, have already
started watching over sermons as part of stepped-up security measures during
the holy month of Ramadan.
More controversial was the announcement by Inspector General Ansyaad Mbai, head
of the government's anti-terrorism desk, that he would seek legal power to
increase from five days to two years the length of time for which suspected
terrorists could be detained without charge.
When the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence and the
Indonesian human-rights monitor, Imparsial, raised objections, Mbai said that
he had only expressed his personal views and that his comments were not
reflective of any government policy initiative. Although these anti-terrorism
trial balloons were apparently floated without official sanction from the
presidential palace, they simultaneously indicate that some of Yudhoyono's top
counter-terrorism officials want tougher tools to fight back against terrorist
threats.
At the same time, the immediate and vocal outcry against the proposed measures
demonstrates the exceptional democratic progress Indonesia has made since the
fall over a decade ago of former dictator Suharto's authoritarian regime. Many
are still acutely aware that as many as a million Indonesians died in Suharto's
anti-communism purges and instinctively cringe at suggestions that security
personnel be given additional powers or special authority.
While a military approach to hunting terrorists might be more effective than
sleuthing police work, proposed tougher anti-terror measures, including the
suspension of habeas corpus, raise images among many Indonesians of the
Suharto era's worst abuses, as well as the excesses and torture perpetuated by
US forces against Muslim terror suspects at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo
Bay in Cuba.
After delivering him two overwhelming electoral mandates, Indonesians are
clearly looking to Yudhoyono, despite his history as a Suharto-era soldier, to
entrench more deeply democratic policies and institutions. Whether the moderate
Yudhoyono can maintain that momentum in the face of a revived terrorist threat
and pressure from his security forces to curb certain civil liberties in the
name of national security will be a key test of his second term.
How Yudhoyono finesses the balance between those competing demands will largely
define the next phase of Indonesia's political transition, including his legacy
as a democratic reformer or backtracker.
Patrick Guntensperger is a Jakarta-based journalist and teacher of
journalism. His blog can be found at http://pagun-view.blogspot.com
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