Terrorism: SouthWest Pacific: Indonesia and Australia avert a massive 2nd Bali

I mentioned in an earlier post a brief item I had located in a Christian Science Monitor email newsletter (Apr4,2k7) regarding an impressive Indonesia/Australia joint anti-terrorist action--the joint action by the security forces of Indonesia and Australia averted an action plan by jihadists of an extreme Muslim grouping that intended in recent days to double perhaps the kill rate of vacationing Aussies and other foreign tourists in Bali 2002. I accidentally deleted the email, and have been googling for it, then using CSM's search feature, but have not found the precise story I wanted.

Instead I found on Radio Australia's website an audio of Rob Sharp interviewing John Lawler, Australian Federal Police Commissioner, regarding "Indonesia: Police raid gives possible JI leads" (Apr4,2k7): "Australian and Indonesian police now believe they may have a better understanding of the make-up of terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, after a raid last month in which in number of photocopied charts were seized." I did more searching and I finally found the info I was seeking--of all the world's news media!-- on AlJazeera English, "Indonesia terror plot 'foiled'" (Apr4,2k7).

Indonesian police say they have foiled a bombing plot potentially bigger than the Bali nightclub attacks in 2002 [where mainly Aussies and other Westerners tourists congregate - P], which killed at least 202 people.

Authorities captured seven suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group during raids in the city of Yogyakarta and central Java last week.

JI is blamed for carrying out the Bali bombings as well as a string of other attacks across Indonesia, including the bombing of the Australian embassy in 2004.

During the raids police also seized a cache of weapons and explosives, including bombs, detonators and ammunition.

The arrests were carried out in a joint operation with Australian police.

"We also found documents which indicate that military wings of Jemaah Islamiyah still exist in Indonesia", Suryadarma Salim, the head of Indonesia's anti-terrorism task force, said.

Officials said the explosives were enough to make a bomb much larger than the ones used in the Bali attacks.

John Lawler, the deputy commissioner of the Australian Federal Police said the raids were a "significant milestone" for efforts to contain and counter the threat posed by terrorists.

Interrogation

The seven suspects have now been flown amid tight security to Jakarta for interrogation.

SouthWest Pacific > Indonesia/Australia

One other suspect was shot dead during the police raids.

"We're bringing them to Jakarta so we can interrogate them further," General Sutanto, Indonesia's police chief, told reporters.

"We want to learn everything we can about this network."

Indonesian and Western intelligence officials say the JI group has close links to al-Qaeda and is seeking to create by force an Islamic state across South-East Asia.

Despite hundreds of arrests in recent years, authorities say JI still has the ability to carry out attacks.

Abu Dujana, the group's alleged current leader who learned bomb-making skills in Afghanistan, remains at large, as does Noordin Top, JI's alleged operations chief.

Source: Agencies. Bolds added by Politicarp.

This anti-terrorism development underlines the difficulties Indonesians have with Australia. Unfortunately, a majority of Indonesians accept the idea of a "clash of civilizations" with many of that slim Muslim majority believing in second-class status for non-Muslims, especially the Christian minority which is widely hated.

Likewise, the Australia public has a majority which is h+ly suspicious of Indonesian Islamic(ist) desires to subjugate the SouthWest Pacific; there is considerable Aussie sentimaent for limiting the further immigration and r+ts of Muslims, mainly arriving from Indonesia. Diplomacy between the two countries has long been quite dicey, especially after Australia's support for the independence of the former Portuguese-colony of East Timor, which Indonesia wanted to take over for itself (after 5 years of govt collapse, the Timorese are conducting an historic vote today; a leading candidate wants Aust. peacekeeping troops to stay on).

Papua is also another grievance point between Indonesia and the Aussies (who dominate the neiboring Papua New Guinea. Papuans in the past escaped Indonesian control (2006) in their country as refugees seeking asylum (2007) in Australia. Map.

Asia Times Online in a thoro article by Duncan Graham, "Tricky Treaty for Indonesia and Australia (Apr4,2k7), illuminates some of the diplomatic niceties that contextualize the recent anti-terrorist cooperation.