KUALA
LUMPUR, October 16 (IslamOnline) - The administration of Megawati
Sukarnoputri is paying a heavy toll in the aftermath of the Bali bomb
blast that killed 180 people and wounded a large number of tourists in
the popular resort of Indonesia, as it is being bombarded from all
corners over the numerous failures in the country.
The
streets in Indonesia are bursting with comments that the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) has failed to dragged Indonesia in the war
against terror, while Solehman Buyung, an analyst working for an
online magazine in Jakarta said the CIA “has been trapped in its own
game in Indonesia.”
Their
logic is slowly proving to be true, they say, when they comment on
news reports in local papers that Taiwan officials had a clue that
Bali was going to be blasted into pieces a day before the tragic
event.
Megawati’s
government altogether showed signs of splits on the issue of terrorism
and support to the U.S. in its war against terror, sparking debates
around the archipelago of 212 million Muslims that the moral of the
government is sapping, another commentator said.
While
the western media is scrambling to blame Al-Qaeda for the blast, the
media in Indonesia and South East Asia in general is pointing fingers
at the CIA.
The
Berita Harian newspaper in Malaysia gave the first page
headline to the news from Taiwan that officials on the Island off
China had a hint that the blast would occur but was told by the U.S.
not to divulge the information.
According
to the Taipei Times, the opposition in Taiwan pressed the
government of Prime Minister Yu Shui-kun to reveal the information,
criticizing it for not giving importance to the lives of Taiwanese
citizens who were in Bali at the moment of the blast.
In
Indonesia the Republika revealed the bomb used in Bali is a C4
and that plastic elements were found in the discotheque that went
flames. It said the CIA uses this type of material as well as
commandos from the U.S. and some international terrorist groups.
The
C4 is ten times more powerful than TNT explosives and is very
expensive, making it accessible only to rich countries, not countries
like Indonesia and groups like those in Indonesia, the Republika
said.
The
Indonesian military (TNI) has also rejected claims that it might have
links to the Bali blast with reports saying that a former military
aviation officer allegedly prepared the bomb for the blast. The former
officer, whose name is withheld, is being interrogated by police the
report said.
The
TNI said it did not possess such plastic bombs, quoting the Agence
France-Presse (AFP) news agency, which said that the C4 was made only
in the United States and was used by the U.S. army, or countries that
were allied to the U.S.
With
these developments, analysts in Jakarta say there were grounds for the
Indonesian government not to be fouled by the leads given to it by the
CIA or the U.S.
According
to Antara news agency in Jakarta, a group of Muslim lawyers has
criticized Indonesian Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil for his
allegation that Al-Qaeda and local terrorists were responsible for the
Saturday night bombings in Bali.
They
urged the minister to correct his statement and to prove to them who
the local terrorists were. Abdul Djalil said on Monday that the method
of the Bali bombings showed the involvement of Al-Qaeda, in
cooperation with local terrorists who supplied the necessary
logistics.
His
assertion is supported by news agencies which said Wednesday that
traces of plastic in the burnt down discotheque in Bali showed the
involvement of the Al-Qaeda in the blast, omitting to say that the C4
originates mainly from the U.S. itself, a political observer working
in a University in Kuala Lumpur told IslamOnline.
Buyung
said that the CIA was missing the point in Indonesia, adding that the
U.S. secret service was to be blamed for the Bali blast. “In the
1960s the CIA was a terrific organization and the public was in the
dark over the unexplained, such as the death of U.S. president John F.
Kennedy.
“However
now we are living in the age of the
Internet, news travels fast and the CIA has proven that it is
outdated. It could not predict the attacks on the U.S. on September 11
last year, but it could predict there were international terrorists in
Indonesia,” he said.