Terrorists took election as opportunity, experts say

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 07/21/2009 2:14 PM | Headlines

Intelligence experts say the recent presidential election distracted the police from the activities of terrorist organizations, leading to the recent bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels.

The Indonesian authorities inability to counter Islamic radicals's ideological justification of violence as well as their failure to capture Noordin M. Top, Indonesia's most wanted man, mean terrorist attacks will remain a threat to the country, experts said.

"Most security personnel were focused on the elections, providing a window of opportunity for the terrorists to execute their mission," an expert from the National Independence Development Institute (LPKN), Wawan Purwanto, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"The terrorists constantly change their appearances. They also alter their daily behavior and addresses. These constant changes make it difficult for the police to hunt them down, even if they know their names," he added.

An expert from the University of Indonesia, Bambang Widodo Umar, said that while he agreed with the possibility that police had been distracted by the election, security institutions lack of adequate intelligence capabilities was the main problem.

"The general elections were indirect factors in the failure of the police to track uncover the latest terror plot. I believe the main factor is the fact that the police's intelligence capability remains too conventional.

"The police still see terrorism as something mainly related to home security issues, while in fact it is also related to other economic, social and cultural issues," Bambang said.

Despite police success in arresting over 400 suspected bombers, he said the recent terrorist attacks show the government has failed to successfully counter ideological arguments used by Islamic militants to justify their bombings.

A number of would-be bombers captured have confessed that they were willing to die because they were told they were fighting Islam's enemies, and would go to heaven as a reward.

Although a number of the country's top clerics have denounced violence, the government has been viewed as not doing enough to implement a nationwide campaign against radical teachings.

Suicide bombers hit two luxury hotels in Mega Kuningan, Jakarta, last Friday morning. The blast killed nine people and injured more than 50.

The police have said that explosive material recovered from the scene is "identical" to that used by the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network in previous attacks.

This revelation has led to widespread speculation that prominent Malaysian terrorist Noordin M. Top, a leader of a JI faction, orchestrated Friday's tragedy.

"It is still difficult for the police to capture Noordin because he is under the protection of his network," director of the International Crisis Group Director Sidney Jones said during an interview with TVOne.

"Noordin outsmarted the police with conventional methods. For example, to prevent being wire-tapped, Noordin uses couriers to deliver his messages."

Sidney said that she believed the police would be able to capture the rest of Noordin's faction.

"The police have managed to capture around 400 terrorists so far. There are around 12 or 13 JI terrorists left now. I believe the police will be able to capture them all." (hdt)