JAKARTA, Oct 31 (IslamOnline) - The Indonesian government is gearing up to ready a set of laws that will accompany a presidential decree on anti-terrorism, sources said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The presidential decree will allow enforcement officers to have access to the bank accounts of individuals or groups believed to have links with international terrorists.
Minister of Communications and Information Syamsul Mu'arif stated that intelligence officers were now preparing to look into several suspicious bank accounts.
"Our intelligence people are launching an investigation of several bank accounts which allegedly have links with terrorists and soon we [the government] will issue the antiterrorism decree.
"Issuing the decree is necessary so that we will not violate the banking law," he said.
Its banking laws prevent the freezing of accounts without evidence of wrongdoing and official notification from law enforcement and legal authorities.
Indonesian law enforcement officers complained earlier that they did not have the authority to investigate bank accounts or companies suspected of belonging to terror organizations.
To make their task easier, the presidential decree is necessary - though the exact date that the decree would be issued was not revealed. The directive would be a temporary measure while Indonesia officially creates an antiterrorism law.
Several bank accounts are being investigated and sources say some suspected accounts have been targeted and may be freezed once the decree is out.
The U.S. government has threatened to take action against nations that fail to freeze assets of suspected terrorists.
Indonesia, with few financial sector controls to curb endemic corruption, has long been regarded as a haven for money laundering.
The government is currently debating whether to ratify United Nations Security Council Resolution No. 1373 on -the suppression of the financing of terrorism or to write a new anti-terrorism bill.
The U.N. Security Council issued the resolution following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
Following the resolution, the U.S. government called on its allies, including Indonesia, to cut off funding sources from terrorist groups.
Some Western media reported earlier that a number of Indonesian groups with apparent links to al-Qaeda had been identified.
However, Bank Indonesia said that it could not freeze bank accounts without official notification from prosecutors, police or the courts.
