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Friday, June 17, 2005
No mercy for terrorists: Indon lawmaker
By By Al Jacinto
INDONESIAN lawmaker Junus Effendi Habibie reiterated Indonesia's stand against terrorists even as he vowed there will be no mercy in the hunt for the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiya, which is blamed for the series of bombings in Jakarta and the Philippines.
He said Indonesian authorities continue to hunt down members of the terrorist group, implicated in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 mostly tourists. The JI was also tagged as behind the 2001 Manila bombing of a passenger train, killing and wounding scores of civilians.
Habibie said Jakarta will not tolerate terrorism and said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono vowed to arrest JI members. Yudhoyono is expected to visit Manila on Monday for a three-day state visit, the first since he was elected president early this year.
"These people are common enemies of Indonesia and the Philippines. We don't tolerate terrorism. They bomb our country and they kill innocent civilians. We are hunting them and there will be no mercy for (these) terrorists," Habibie said during his visit in the City of Zamboanga.
Habibie led a small group of lawmakers to thank the Philippine militray for the safe recovery of two Indonesian sailors Yamin Labaso, 26, and Erikson Hutagaol, 23, who were freed over the weekend after more than two months in captivity in the Province of SuluJolo, about 950 km south of Manila.
He said the Philippines and the Indonesian government are closely working in fighting international terrorism. "We have a very good relationship with the Philippines and both countries are closely working in fighting international terrorism," Habibie said.
Habibie left for Manila on Wednesday with the freed crewmen of the tugboat Bongagaya 91, who were kidnapped last March 30 near the Philippine-Sabah border along with skipper Ahmad Resmiyadi, 32, who remains in captivity in Jolo. Southern Philippines military chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Bragaza said rescue operation will recover the remaining hostage.
Indonesian police late Tuesday defused a powerful bomb planted by suspected JI near the busy Tanjung Barat railway station in south Jakarta. The explosive, placed inside a shopping bag, was discovered by a civilian around 7.30 p.m., police said.
Filipino authorities last week admitted that at least two JI terrorists, blamed for the deadly Bali bombings, are hiding in the central Mindanao island in the southern Philippines.
It said Pitono, also known as Dulmatin, and Umar Patek have slipped into central Mindanao and could be putting up a base for JI in the Philippines.
The local Muslim rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said it would help the government capture Pitono and Patek. "We are hunting down the duo," Muslim rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said.
It was not immediately known how and when the two terrorists entered the country. Philippine military reports last year suggested that Dulmatin was killed in October an air strike in Maguindanao's marshland. The strike came after spies allegedly tracked Pitono to a meeting with the local terrorist group Abu Sayyaf headed by Khadaffy Janjalani.
The MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, claimed the pair had forged an alliance with the local Abu Sayyaf group tied to al-Qaeda terror network.
The Jemaah Islamiya is believed to have formed links with the Abu Sayyaf since five years ago. The Abu Sayyaf group had claimed to have fought for an Islamic state in the southern Philippines, but won infamy around the world for the repeated kidnappings and killings, including foreign tourists.
"We have received reports from our commanders on the ground that Dulmatin and Patek have allied themselves with the Abu Sayyaf and we have passed this information to the government," Kabalu said.
Government and rebel peace negotiators have signed an accord last year for the creation of an ad-hoc joint action group that would pave the way for joint operation against terrorists hiding in the so-called MILF strongholds in the south.
Dulmatin, a 32-year-old Malaysian electronics expert, has so far been able to avoid the massive police hunt launched against him in Indonesia. Dulmatin is Afghanistan-trained and one of the few JI militants able to assemble and explode large chlorate and nitrate bombs.
Indonesian police said Dulmatin was believed to have worked alongside another Malaysian, Dr. Azahari Husin, to assemble the massive car bomb, as well as the explosives vest used by a suicide bomber who attacked the Paddy's Bar in Bali. Police say he triggered the Sari bomb using his cell phone.
Umar Patek, on the other hand, was one of three men who mixed the explosives used in the Bali bombings.
Aside from Dulmatin, Umar Patek and Dr. Azahari Husin, four others linked to the Bali bombings were arrested, charged and sentenced in Jakarta. Indonesian police have detained more than 30 people in connection with the Bali bombings.
(June 17, 2005 issue)
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