I say the democratic governments of Indonesia is wrong to have abandoned the very useful practices of preventive detention, application of torture, and maintenance of extensive domestic spy networks, so effectively utilised by Suharto so that no bombings ever occurred during his rule. The govt is fearful of being unfavourably compared with the previous regime and accused of "human rights violations" and being "undemocratic".

These missing techniques are the reason why Noordin Mohd Top, the despicable Malaysian terrorist responsible for this outrage, has been able to evade arrest for the past five years. Noordin, together with another Malaysian scum, Dr Azhari, was responsible for planning and executing the four terrorist attacks in Indonesia since Bali Bombing I. I say there should be mass arrests of the many known jihadist sympathisers who might harbour Noordin. "Drain the sea to find the fish", so to speak.

After the police finally killed Dr Azhari in a 2005 raid, there was no bombing in four years. I believe terrorism will be completely eradicated in Indonesia after the Malaysian scum Noordin is killed. Other than him, there is simply no other terrorist capable of organising bombings in Indonesia.

PTBI

The return to Suhartoism that you advocate would be far worse for Indonesians than the occasional bombing. You're obvious attitude to Malaysians verges on the Konfrontasi of an earlier Indonesian dictator.

Duncan has written another balanced and informed article. Indonesia was very succesful in adopting US and Australian security assistance and technical methods in pursuing the Bali I bombers. This will probably again be the case, I hope.

Its useful to look outside the usual security-political square. Interesting that another Marriott Hotel was hit, In September 2008 the Islamabad (Pakistan) Marriott was demolished with a suicide truck bomb.

While Indonesian police quickly pointed to the usual (Southeast Asia centred) suspects could the two Marriott events suggest a broader international jihadi cell based in the Middle East.

Perhaps Pakistani based jihadi coordinators (technical and counter-surveillance specialists?) flew or sailed into Java providing new faces to beat Indonesian security. There were probably third countries on their route.

On another note is the Marriott suffering from being an "infidel US" institution or is it failing to pay protection money to a so-called religeous organisation that sends suicide bombers to punish non-payers?

Just thinking outside the square formalised under the George W. Bush regime.

Pete
http://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2008/10/islamabad-marriott-hotel-bombing.html

I am not advocating a return to old-time Suhartoist dictatorship, only to apply some of his old techniques which has been proven effective in eliminating terrorism in the past. Our recent democratic attributes, such as free elections and free press, should not be disturbed. However, the govt should make a strong alliance with the press industry to launch powerful anti-terrorism public campaign, akin to the extremely effective anti-communism propaganda of the 1960s. The current business-as-usual approach is clearly not enough.

As for terrorist Arabs being sent to Indonesia, we can take comfort in the fact that the previous Arab sent by Al-Qaeda to Indonesia (Omar al-Faruq from Kuwait) was quickly detected and arrested by police in 2002, when Indonesian state was much weaker than now. The Pakistani Mohammad Saad Iqbal (currently pressing charges against UK for his "rendition" to Egypt) was also quickly arrested by police in 2002 after he tried to approach some local jihadist organisation. These types of dangerous people were quickly rendered to CIA by Indonesian authorities. I believe any follow-up Middle-East terrorists would have been quickly detected and arrested by authorities.

The reason is that these Middle-Eastern guys stood out from the crowd. They are racially different and usually not very fluent in Indonesian. It is indeed most likely that the Malaysian scum Noordin Mohd Top is responsible for this recent bombing (as an internet statement purpotedly from him admitted). He is from the same race, he can speak the language, he looks like some regular Indonesian hence he can easily blend and hide in the crowd.

Thanks for your reply PTBI.

You add details (especially para 2) and insights that few in Australia are conscious of.

Regards

Pete