Word: asyir
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Week A nation with a largely Muslim population, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri ignored the warnings about Islamic extremism. But with the dead still being counted after the bombings in Bali, terror has been laid at her doorstep. With the long-awaited arrest of alleged Jemaah Islamiah leader Abubakar Ba'asyir, is "Mom" finally getting tough...
...that groups linked to al-Qaeda were active in the country. (The British and Australian governments denied allegations they had been told about a possible attack in Bali.) President Megawati Sukarnoputri's administration had also repeatedly snubbed requests from Malaysia and Singapore to arrest and extradite Abubakar Ba'asyir, a radical cleric who is said to lead the extremist Jemaah Islamiah (JI) - the group the U.S. suspects of being behind the Bali bombing. The day before he was due for interrogation, Ba'asyir fainted at a press conference and checked into a hospital. He was arrested anyway. Indonesian officials then...
...surprisingly, Ba'asyir's, and JI's, apparent untouchable status has set off alarm bells in Washington. U.S. calls for action against Islamic militants in Indonesia have been ratcheted up in recent weeks. President Bush discussed the issue with Megawati in a Sept. 16 phone call; the next day, the director for Asian affairs of the National Security Council, Karen Brooks, made a quiet two-day visit to Jakarta. While those conversations amounted to polite encouragement, the U.S. has also been using the threat of harsher tactics to bring Megawati into line. Washington is threatening to officially classify...
...byzantine politics, Megawati seems damned no matter which way she moves. Regardless of how much Washington increases the pressure, the complex of interlocking forces on which Megawati's power depends seems virtually certain to preclude any action on her part. Not even allegations that al-Faruq and Ba'asyir plotted to assassinate Megawati have stirred her. If she takes steps against Ba'asyir and other JI members believed to be at large in Indonesia, she risks alienating the Muslim majority, whose support she desperately needs if she and her party are to be returned to office in the 2004 elections...
...Indonesia's inaction contrasts starkly with its neighbors' aggressive antiterror measures. Singapore has repeatedly displayed its resolve, not only through its announcement last week but through the arrests of 15 alleged terrorists earlier in the year for a plot to bomb U.S. interests there (masterminded, says Singapore, by Ba'asyir). Local authorities say the fresh detentions foiled plans to target a range of facilities in the republic, including the Defense Ministry, Changi International Airport, water pipelines and communications installations. In the Philippines, meanwhile, officials last week apprehended four Indonesians, one of whom they accuse of being linked...