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No Proof Of Al-Qaeda In Indonesia
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| No Al-Qaeda links in Indonesia |
By IOL Correspondent Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, Jan. 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Indonesia strongly denied that the Muslims arrested in Singapore in December with alleged connection to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda, have no links to the country’s Islamic organizations.
Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry revealed last week it had infiltrated cells of Osama bin Laden-linked activists, resulting in 15 arrests adding that the arrested men had ties with Indonesia's activist groups.
Indonesians also reacted angrily to reports that suggests U.S. military officials are eager to come to Jakarta and help to train local intelligence officers find the so-called "terrorists" in their midst.
Critics of the U.S. administration say it is a euphemism for U.S. military intervention in Indonesia to take place.
They say politicians are already burnishing their nationalist and Muslim credentials by allowing such incursions by the U.S. in Indonesia.
According to reports from Singapore, investigations concluded by the island’s authorities indicate that Indonesia and Malaysia are part of the network exposed in the city-state.
Testimony in a Spanish courtroom has alleged the existence of training camps in Indonesia for Bin Laden's fighters, and some Western diplomats in Indonesia insist they had evidence of a likely Al-Qaeda attack on allied targets prior to September 11.
Analysts in Jakarta however, dismiss the possibility of U.S. military intervention similar to that in the Philippines, as well as the alleged Al-Qaeda activities in the country as obscure and based on faulty premises.
Indonesians say there is no proof of any actual ties between the Muslim activist groups already active in Indonesia for at least two years, and the Al-Qaeda network.
The claims that there was an Al-Qaeda-run training camp in Sulawesi and that the Laskar Jihad, had Al-Qaeda links, were both proved to be fabricated.
Intelligence chief, General Hendropriyono, first claimed there was an Al-Qaeda training camp in Sulawesi, before backtracking from the claim and later disowning it.
"I never said that Al-Qaeda exists in Indonesia," he said, adding that he also believed denials by Indonesia's Muslim group, Laskar Jihad, of Al-Qaeda involvement.
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary and former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Paul Wolfowitz, is on record as saying that Al-Qaeda is active in Indonesia.
However, there is no proof to support the claims he made.
Intense scrutiny by American and Australian investigators, including detailed ground checks, have failed to find evidence of any Bin Laden links in the country.
Local authorities also failed to find any bank accounts or companies owned by suspected terrorists.
Observers say that at the most, money may have floated in and out, but that is also hard to prove, given the Government's denial of the existence of any "terrorist funds".
Under the Abdurrahman Wahid government, U.S. intelligence officials were busy in Indonesia, offering their assistance on how to quell separatism in restive
Aceh.
They had to pack when Megawati Sukarnoputri became president. It is unclear if they will be sent back to Indonesia to help the local intelligentsia in tracking down pro-Osama bin Laden networks or individuals.
Indonesians have been the most vociferous anti-U.S. protestors at the beginning of the attacks by the U.S. on Afghanistan.
They organized almost daily protests at the U.S. embassy and wanted to carry out anti-U.S. sweeps to catch and deport U.S. or western citizens.
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