[Nasional-e] The US exploits “terrorist threats” to step up pressure on Indonesia

Wed Oct 2 14:00:21 2002

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/oct2002/sing-o02.shtml

The US exploits “terrorist threats” to step up pressure on Indonesia
By John Roberts
2 October 2002
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On the first anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks on the US, the 
Bush administration declared a high-level terrorist alert as part of its 
efforts to maintain momentum in the “global war on terrorism”. A 
particular focus of the alert was South East Asia, where several US 
embassies were shut down.

Justification appeared from two sources. On September 16, the Singapore Home 
Affairs Ministry issued a statement reporting the arrest of 21 Singapore 
citizens for alleged terrorist activity, 18 of whom will be detained for at 
least two years without trial under the country’s notorious Internal 
Security Act (ISA).

One day earlier, the US-based Time magazine published a detailed account of 
the CIA’s interrogation of Kuwaiti-born Omar al-Faruq. In line with its 
previous sensational accounts of “Terror in Asia”, the magazine provided 
lurid, but unsubstantiated, details of links between Al Qaeda and Islamic 
fundamentalist groups in South East Asia and their plans for attacking US 
targets in the region, including in Singapore.

While US and Singapore authorities maintained there was no link, the 
information released in both cases conveniently provided “proof” of 
connections between Al Qaeda and the Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah. The 
timing was also fortuitous. According to Time, Omar al-Faruq, who had said 
nothing for months, finally “broke down” and divulged everything to his 
CIA interrogators on September 9. The Singapore roundup occurred in August, 
but was not announced until after the Time disclosures.

The events coincided with the capture of Al Qaeda suspect Ramzi Binalshibh 
and four other men after a shoot out in Karachi on September 11, and the 
FBI’s arrest of six young Arab-Americans in Lackawanna, New York, on 
September 13, on completely unsubstantiated allegations that they 
constituted an Al Qaeda “sleeper cell”. Taken together, these developments 
have been used by the Bush administration to justify its “war on 
terrorism” and to claim it is reaping “successes”.

Announcing the recent arrests, the Singapore Home Affairs statement alleged 
that 19 of the 21 detainees were Jemaah Islamiah members and two were 
connected to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern 
Philippines. Three had undergone military training in Afghanistan and one 
attended MILF training sessions in southern Mindanao.

But none of the detained has been formally charged with any criminal 
offence. They are accused of reconnoitering targets on Jurong Island off 
Singapore’s coast—the site of a number of chemical plants, the Defence 
Ministry, water pipelines from Malaysia and a US warship. The only evidence 
released has been notes, photos and maps, allegedly seized from the homes of 
three of the arrested.

US authorities welcomed the arrests. “We appreciate Singapore’s strong 
support in the campaign against terrorism and continue to engage with the 
Singaporean government on numerous aspects of the campaign,” a US official 
in Jakarta declared. Singapore has become an important American regional 
ally and military base, with around 100 US warships passing through the port 
each year.

The roundup follows a similar operation in Singapore last December, which 
resulted in the arrest of 15 people, of whom 13 are still being detained 
without trial under the ISA. Those detentions, along with others by 
Malaysian authorities, were the occasion for the US administration and 
media—with Time magazine in the forefront—to mount a sensational campaign 
claiming that the region as a whole, and Indonesia in particular, had become 
a sanctuary for Al Qaeda and a hotbed of terrorist activity.

The Singapore government claimed at the time that it had prevented a major 
terrorist attack using truck bombs on the local diplomatic missions of the 
US, Britain, with no avenue to provide their version of events.

CIA interrogation

The latest allegations have led to renewed demands that the Indonesian 
administration of President Megawati Sukarnoputri take tougher action 
against terrorism and in particular, arrest Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged 
leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, and others accused of being connected to the 
organization. But Jakarta has repeatedly refused, insisting there is no 
evidence. Bashir, who lives in Yogyakarta, has steadfastly denied the 
accusations and even threatened legal action against the US for defamation.

The Time article purported to provide a detailed account of the activities 
of al-Faruq and his South East Asian Al Qaeda connections. The 31-year-old 
Kuwaiti was arrested by Indonesian police near Jakarta on June 5 and shipped 
out of the country to Afghanistan three days later. He was handed over to US 
authorities at the Bagram air base north of Kabul for interrogation.

The CIA claims that al-Faruq, who has never been charged or convicted of any 
offence under US or Indonesian law, is a major figure in the Al Qaeda 
network. He allegedly took orders directly from senior Al Qaeda officials, 
including Abu Zubaydah, who is currently being interrogated in the US. His 
task was to “plan large-scale attacks against US interests in Indonesia, 
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam and 
Cambodia” to coincide with the September 11 anniversary.

How such operations were to take place remains unclear. The Al Qaeda 
leadership and bases in Afghanistan had been severely disrupted or 
destroyed. Pakistani security forces, along with US Special Forces, the CIA 
and FBI were hunting down suspects in Pakistan. Zubaydah and al-Faruq were 
in custody. Yet, according to Time, “other operatives” would assume 
responsibilities for planned attacks.

The CIA claimed al-Faruq enlisted Jemaah Islamiah to provide operational and 
logistic support for the anniversary attacks and that Abu Bakar Bashir 
authorised the use of the organisation’s resources. Al-Faruq was also 
supposed to have admitted to being involved in two plots to assassinate 
Megawati Sukarnoputri—the first during the 1999 elections and the second in 
August 2001 after she had assumed the presidency.

No supporting evidence has been provided, however, to verify any aspect of 
the CIA’s report. The “large-scale attacks” carried out by “other 
operatives” failed to materialise. The information itself is the product of 
three months of extreme pressure on al-Faruq, if not physical torture. The 
Time article openly admitted that he had been subjected to “psychological 
interrogation tactics, including prolonged isolation and sleep deprivation.

US officials have wasted no time in renewing demands that Indonesia detain 
Bashir and shut down Jemaah Islamiah. A senior US official was quoted by the 
New York Times as saying: “[Bashir’s] not just a rabble rouser and trouble 
maker, but has been directly involved in terrorist activities”. Over the 
past two weeks, the US ambassador in Jakarta, Ralph Boyce, has held three 
meetings with 15 Muslim organizations, seeking to persuade them that Al 
Qaeda is active in Indonesia and has to be dealt with.

On September 17, a senior White House aide, Karen Brooks, was dispatched to 
Jakarta to convince Megawati to take tougher anti-terrorist measures. Brooks 
is a former Fulbright scholar in Jakarta and a personal friend of Megawati.

According to the New York Times, Brooks’ visit “was to impress on Ms 
Megawati the seriousness of the problem, but even more important, it was to 
give some courage to the Indonesia leader, who faces the prospect of 
widespread demonstrations by Muslims if she cracks down too hard.” The Far 
Eastern Economic Review reported that the US official warned Megawati that, 
if Jakarta failed, the US would unilaterally put both Bashir and Jemaah 
Islamiah on its terrorist hit list.

Megawati Sukarnoputri and the military are already collaborating closely 
with Washington behind the scenes— as indicated by al-Faruq’s arrest and 
rapid dispatch to Afghanistan. But the Bush administration’s invasion of 
Afghanistan and its preparations for war against Iraq have generated 
widespread popular distrust and opposition. There is also deep suspicion 
about US motives for its anti-terrorist activities in the region and its 
developing ties with the Indonesian military.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported the latest meetings between Boyce and 
Muslim leaders as follows: “His audience was deeply distrustful of the US 
administration, skeptical of claims of Al Qaeda operations in Indonesia and 
hostile to Mr Bush’s plans to attack Iraq. The CIA’s history of covert 
activities in Indonesia in the 1950s and 1960s was raised repeatedly and the 
CIA was accused of leaking to Time magazine its evidence obtained from 
al-Faruq to blacken Indonesia’s reputation.”

Solahuddin Wahid, a leader of the Muslim-based Nahdlatul Ulama organisation 
told the New York Times on September 24 that the latest “revelations” were 
one of Washington’s “propaganda tricks”. “What has been leaked by the 
CIA is described by many as a mere American scenario to corner Indonesia 
into nodding to whatever the US is planning to do,” he said.

Whatever the exact truth about the alleged information extracted from the 
Singapore detainees and al-Faruq, the Bush administration is exploiting the 
“terrorist threats” to strengthen US political and military clout 
throughout South East Asia, especially Indonesia.

See Also:
Why has South East Asia become the second front in Bush's "war on 
terrorism"?
[26 April 2002]

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