http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9630971/site/newsweek/ Looks Can Be Deceiving SBY vows to crack down on extremists but hasn't yet acknowledged that a major terrorist group exists. Will he speak out? By Joe Cochrane Newsweek International Oct. 17, 2005 issue - Last week Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono showed why more than 90 percent of his countrymen rate him a good leader. The retired Army general, who has broad shoulders and a stern gaze, inspected the sites of multiple suicide-terrorist attacks that killed 22 people on the resort island of Bali on Oct. 1. Looking visibly angry, Yudhoyono described the acts as inhuman and vowed tough action. "It is obvious that we need to take more-effective action to anticipate suicide bombings," he told reporters.
That decisive air is precisely why voters elected Yudhoyono, who will mark his first year in office next week. After years of waffling leadership from the half-blind Abdurrahman Wahid and timid Megawati Sukar-noputri, Indonesians craved a president with a democratic bent but military bearing-someone who could restore the stability and economic growth of the Suharto years, without the epic corruption. And indeed Yudhoyono, popularly known as SBY, has shown flashes of resolve, most recently by lifting fuel subsidies that were critical to millions of poor Indonesians but were busting the budget. The much-maligned Indonesian police have done a remarkable job of hunting down the terrorists thought responsible for three previous attacks in the country, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people. But looks are deceiving. While analysts call his raising of petrol prices by nearly 90 percent on Oct. 1 one of the most profound economic reforms enacted within the country in decades, Yudhoyono acted only after months of hesitation; the sudden shock caused violent protests that might have been avoided with a more gradual increase. Similarly, while he has actively supported intelligence cooperation with the United States and Australia to tackle the Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist organization, thought to be responsible for the previous bombings, he has yet to admit that JI formally exists for fear of alienating voters in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation. And though he has sought to promote a more moderate form of Islam in keeping with the country's laissez-faire traditions, SBY has also not yet attempted to reform the hard-line Islamic schools that have proliferated in recent years. Salim Said, a Jakarta-based political analyst, says the president needs to revamp his leadership style. "He has to be more forceful," says Said. "People are starting to get restless. They expect him to be tougher in the near future." Dealing with terrorism has been a bumpy road for Yudhoyono. Although the Oct. 1 attacks were the first on his presidential watch, he was the security minister under Megawati and oversaw the investigation of the 2002 Bali bombing. Prior to that attack, the government and public had been in denial about radical Islamic groups operating in the country-despite repeated warnings from the United States and other Western nations. Even after Bali I, some politicians, citizens and newspapers blamed outsiders, including the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, for the crime. Yudhoyono, as security minister, was the first government official to publicly acknowledge that Indonesia was under threat from Islamic terrorists. Feeding off his leadership, Indonesian police have made 270 terrorism-related arrests and secured 170 convictions since the first Bali bombing, including those involved in more recent attacks on a Western hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. But SBY, like his predecessors, has failed to go for the jugular. In private conversations, Indonesian police, military and counterterrorism officials say that JI was behind the 2002 bombing and two subsequent attacks. And they suspect that the same group is responsible for the most recent Bali bombing. Indonesia's courts have referred to numerous terrorist defendants as JI members, and several jailed suspects have admitted to belonging to the radical group, whose goal is to create a Pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia. Yet the Indonesian government's official line is that JI doesn't exist because it's not registered as a mass organization with the Ministry of Justice. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. http://us.click.yahoo.com/ons1pC/lbOLAA/E2hLAA/BRUplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. http://www.ppi-india.org *************************************************************************** __________________________________________________________________________ Mohon Perhatian: 1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik) 2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari. 3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi 4. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
