Australia to fight terror through diplomacy
Australia today vowed to fight terrorism on its Southeast Asian doorstep through diplomacy, not force.
The country yesterday mourned the victims of the Bali bombing, which turned a popular night-spot into a scorched crater and killed almost 200 people, many of them young Australians.
“We are not planning to send the Australian Defence Force into Southeast Asia in order to fight the war on terrorism,” Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.
In Bali, investigators now believe an initial blast at Paddy’s pub was caused by a bomb containing no more than 2.2 lb of TNT.
A second, much deadlier explosion at Sari’s nightclub was caused by 110-330 lb of ammonium-nitrate.
A separate bomb near the office of the honorary US consul in Bali which caused no casualties, contained less than one pound of TNT, said Brett Swan, an Australian police spokesman.
Agents from several countries – including a team from Scotland Yard – are helping local authorities investigate the blast.
Swan spoke as Indonesia’s moderate Islamic groups demanded the government crackdown on religious extremists who they said represent only a tiny minority among the country’s 170 million Muslims.
Former President Abdurrahman Wahid said Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of a group suspected in the Bali massacre, should have been arrested long ago.
“I believe that Bashir is a terrorist,” said Wahid, who was replaced as leader by Megawati Sukarnoputri last year. He has been sharply critical of her cautious approach towards the radicals.
Bashir is under arrest in hospital in his hometown of Solo, 250 miles east of Jakarta. Australian Premier John Howard has said his group, Jemaah Islamiyah, is the prime suspect in the Bali bombing.
Bashir’s lawyer said they will sue for wrongful arrest after his client was accused of a string of church bombings in Indonesia in 2000.
Bashir, who has been in hospital since Friday for breathing and heart problems, denies any links with terrorism. Several dozen Islamic students have vowed to stop police taking him from the hospital.
Jemaah Islamiyah is a Southeast Asian militant organisation that reportedly wants to set up an Islamic state across Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Megawati has already signed an emergency decree that allows terror suspects to be detained for up to six months without charge, but religious moderates have called for even tougher legislation.
