INDONESIAN Muslims raided in Melbourne continue to support alleged terror
leader Abu Bakar Bashir, insisting he is innocent until proved guilty.
And Indonesian police say they know the names of all three Bali bombing
suspects pictured in identikit sketches � but declared they were
unconnected to terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.
As the hunt for terrorist sleeper cells continued, Premier Steve Bracks
committed $40 million to overhauling Victoria's intelligence resources and
setting up a new police terror taskforce, as well as fast-tracking the
state's capacity to respond to weapons of mass destruction.
In raids on four Melbourne homes in Noble Park and Preston last week, ASIO
seized a book on the Taliban, two computer notebooks, desktop computers,
mobile phones and phone records.
One Noble Park home raided hosted Bashir, the alleged Jemaah Islamiyah
leader, who visited Victoria under the assumed name Abu Samad in 1996 or 1997.
The home, where he lived for up to 10 days, was thoroughly searched. The
resident claims his children were left frightened.
But ASIO plans to interview the man a second time, believing he gave a
false answer about the identity of a third person.
"(ASIO) were turning things upside down; they spent about six hours there.
They looked in the ceilings and under the house," said Nuim Khaiyath, an
Indonesian Australian who met some of those raided.
Mr Khaiyath said the four men raided still held Bashir in esteem as a
religious leader, and would continue to do so unless his involvement in
Indonesian church bombings in 2000, or the Bali atrocity, were proved.
"They believed he was a very good lecturer, a good teacher of Islam," Mr
Khaiyath said.
He said that though a book espousing Taliban views was seized, this did not
indicate its owner supported Islamic extremism. "Mein Kampf was read by
everybody but that doesn't make them Nazi sympathisers."
Mr Khaiyath said ASIO and Australian Federal Police did not draw weapons or
bash in doors in the Melbourne raids. Melbourne families raided last week
said they had no knowledge of the function of JI but respected Bashir as a
cleric.
Police will establish a Risk Assessment and Counter Terrorism Co-ordination
Group to gather intelligence, assess risks to gas, power and water supplies
and advise companies and the Government on dealing with threats.
Emergency services groups will receive specialist equipment to respond to
potential attacks.
Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said the initiative was crucial.
But the Police Association warned staff must not come from existing police
units.
Mr Bracks said September 11 and Bali reinforced the need to act on
security. "It's essential and it's necessary; we can't be over-prepared for
a potential terrorism attack here in Victoria," he said.
In Bali, police spokesman Edward Aritonang confirmed police knew the names
of all three sketched suspects but said they were being kept secret.
Asked whether the three had any connection to JI, he laughed and firmly
denied any link.
He said the three suspects were believed to be expert bomb-makers and were
among six to 10 people being hunted.
Indonesian police have also disputed the forensic findings of the
Australian Federal Police bomb team.
Mr Aritonang said the Indonesians were yet to find at the bomb site any
sign of chlorate, a chemical associated with explosives, which was detected
by the AFP.
He said the findings of the two teams were different because the Australian
forensic teams arrived after the Indonesians.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,5416675%255E661,00.html
A newsletter seized by ASIO agents in Sydney raids last week includes
material praising Osama bin Laden as a "holy icon of the holy struggle",
criticising Israel and America and denouncing promiscuity in Hollywood
television programs.
But a preliminary analysis shows no evidence of terrorist cells at work in
Australia or of links with the proscribed terrorism group, Jemiaah
Islamiah, an eminent professor of Islamic studies says.
The Herald has analysed translations of copies of Al Haq, the Belmore-based
weekly bulletin of Jaya Basri, the first Indonesian-Australian man to be
raided in ASIO's post-Bali bombing swoops. Mr Basri told authorities he
published the newsletter himself, downloading news of the Muslim world from
the internet. He gave the Herald a folio of newsletters, dating back to the
first edition in May 2001, to support his claim that he has never incited
terrorism or been a mouthpiece for JI.
The newsletter is "highly intelligent" and understood "at different levels
", according to Tony Johns, emeritus professor
of the Australian National University's research school of Pacific and
Asian studies. Professor Johns translated a selected number of newsletters
for the Herald.
"On the basis of these documents you could not say there is a threat or
indication of any imminent attack," he said.
On his preliminary analysis, however, they could "lay the groundwork" for a
way of thinking that might one day tolerate violent action.
Professor Johns, who is fluent in Bahasa Indonesian and Arabic, said the
newsletters spoke extensively of Islamic teachings and repeatedly referred
to two important battles in Muhammed's career.
"It is a rally to the faith, psychological solidarity-making. It emphases
the exclusiveness of Islam, the rightness of the claims of Islam,"
Professor Johns said.
Under the heading, 'The Icon of the Holy Struggle is called Osama bin
Laden', an item datelined Jakarta, September 2001, begins: "His bearing is
unassuming and he appears slightly dishevelled. His countenance is shining
with the light of faith, strength and courage."
Professor Johns said: "Although it doesn't make any direct threat of
violence, it praises the courage and heroism of Osama bin Laden who was a
millionaire, living in exile and directing the Islamic world's struggle."
Mr Basri's lawyer, Stephen Hopper, said the newsletter was benign and the
references to bin Laden were not the editor's opinion.
Mr Basri has denied publishing the writings of Abu Bakar Bashir, the
alleged spiritual leader of JI, only limited items about the cleric's
activities. The Herald found only one reference to Abu Bakar in the copies
provided - the cleric's assertion that the US embassy made use of the
September 11 tragedy to fabricate claims that Indonesia was home to the
terrorist.
In one of the few references to Australia, in August this year, Al Haq
quotes an Indonesian media report saying weapons carried on an Australian
vessel had been intercepted as it docked in Ambon. The US war against
terrorism is portrayed as an attack on Muslims.
Mr Basri's reaction to the Bali bombings cannot be gauged because he says
his newsletter was suspended when one of its editors returned to Indonesia
for family reasons after the October 11 issue - the day before the attack
on the Sari Club and Paddy's Pub.
Al Haq translates as Truth. Beneath its banner is a quote from the Koran:
"Truth has come and falsehood banished. Indeed falsehood will be vanquished
(sic)."
http://smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/04/1036308259216.html
