http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4284118.stm
some pretty interesting opinions on the bird flu problem in indonesia!
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Kamoro, the coastal people of West Papua
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Pigapu, Mimika
When asked briefly to describe the Kamoro people of Papua, celebrated photographer and ethnologist Kal Muller said: "The Kamoro people are lovers, not fighters."
There are about 18,000 members of the Kamoro, one of dozens of tribal groups in Papua. They live in the southwest coastal area of Mimika regency in West Papua. Geographically, they are close to tribal groups like the Asmat, Amungme and Sempan.
Muller, who was born in Hungary, has spent decades living with the Kamoro. He compared the Kamoro with the neighboring Asmat tribe, which is well known for its outstanding carvings.
He said the Asmat were much closer to the traditional way of life of their ancestors than the Kamoro. The Dutch administration and the Roman Catholic Church, which set up their Kamoro headquarters in Kokonau in the mid-1920s, forbade and discouraged many elements of the Kamoro's traditions.
"To the Asmat, the Kamoro people are like their praise pieces. The Asmat have a stronger character and are more aggressive than the Kamoro. In the past, the Asmat people hunted down Kamoro people to show off their power. You know the Asmat people have the bisj, a totem-like pole that is made every time they kill an enemy. The Kamoro have a similar carving, the mbitoro, but it is made to praise their ancestors. See the difference."
Kamoro youth figure Thomas "Tom" Kamipeyau said one of the tales often told by elderly Kamoro was the story of the origin of Kokonau. The word Kokonau is derived from Koka and Nau, which respectively mean women and slaughter.
"A long time before the Portuguese and Dutch came to our island, the Asmat people came and hunted our women. They killed most of the mothers and young women while the men ran into the jungle," said Tom, who is a teacher and is currently continuing his studies at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura.
"When the Portuguese people came they only met a bunch of frightened men. And they could not communicate because of the language, and only pointed in the direction of their village, saying 'koka nau', or our women were slaughtered," he said.
This folktale makes it clear the nature of the Kamoro.
"The Asmat were forced to defend their survival because they were praise pieces for other, stronger tribes as well, while the Kamoro had a kind of laid-back lifestyle living off the generosity of nature," Muller said at his house in Pigapu village.
Pigapu is about 30 kilometers west of Timika, the capital of Mimika regency, which is home to mining company Freeport.
"And Freeport ended up with the losers," Muller quipped. "But as the Bible says, the last shall be the first and the first shall be the last."
In terms of culture, the Kamoro have got off to a late start compared to the Asmat, whose wood carvings have been displayed at museums and galleries around the world.
Muller has worked with PT Freeport Indonesia as a special consultant and sort of liaison with local communities. Despite the ups and downs of the job, Muller has shown that what he does can make a difference.
One of his ideas was the Festival Kamoro, locally known as Kamoro Kakuru, which has proven to be a very effective way of introducing the arts and culture of the Kamoro to a wider audience.
The festival was inspired by the yearly Asmat auction that was set up and carried out by Bishop Al Sowada, a Roman Catholic missionary of extraordinary vision who also set up the Asmat art museum in Agats.
While its main objective was to preserve the cultural heritage of the Kamoro, the festival also serves as a forum to generate income for carvers and the women who weave grass to make bags.
Besides dance performances, canoe races and cooking demonstrations of traditional food, the festival also features an auction of Kamoro carvings.
During the most recent Kamoro Kakuru, held from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2, the top price paid for a carving was Rp 7 million. The highest price ever paid at the festival was Rp 11 million, and that was last year.
Although more and more Kamoro are showing an interest in carving, Muller is not sure if carving is the way to generate sustainable income for the people, as "few of the people have good taste when it comes to carving. Many learned the skills from their parents, but they still have a lot more to learn".
Slightly different from the carvings of the Asmat, the works of the Kamoro range from mbitoro, yamate (a kind of shield) and wemawe (the carving of the images of ancestors in an elbows-on-knees position), to tongkat (walking stick), eme or tifa (drum), and mbiikao masks (large masks worn over the head and shoulders for ceremonies).
"It has taken time to make the Kamoro people understand that their carvings are worth something. The arrival of people from Freeport or Jakarta will help them realize that their art has value," Muller said.
As a coastal tribe, most Kamoro rely on fishing for their livelihood. And nature has been very generous.
The Kamoro living on the coast travel to kapiri kame (shelters made of pandanus leaves) inland where they have easier access to sago trees and other resources from the tropical rain forest.
Sago palms are scattered in the wild and the Kamoro just fell the trees and break up the pith in the trunk. A felled sago tree, if left to rot, will produce one of the Kamoro's favorite delicacies: koo, or the sago grub.
Another favorite delicacy is tambelo, a kind of mollusk found in felled mangrove trees. Both delicacies are always eaten raw.
In his book, Between the Tides, cowritten with David Pickell, Muller said the Kamoro was a culture -- like many others in Papua -- facing a delicate, sometimes humorous, and occasionally painful process of change.
The question is how this change will shape the lives and the culture of the Kamoro.
Photo caption:
Hungarian-born Kal Muller wears traditional costume to show Kamoro people that they should feel proud of their tradition and culture. (JP/P.J. Leo)
Taken from The Jakarta Post
When asked briefly to describe the Kamoro people of Papua, celebrated photographer and ethnologist Kal Muller said: "The Kamoro people are lovers, not fighters."
There are about 18,000 members of the Kamoro, one of dozens of tribal groups in Papua. They live in the southwest coastal area of Mimika regency in West Papua. Geographically, they are close to tribal groups like the Asmat, Amungme and Sempan.
Muller, who was born in Hungary, has spent decades living with the Kamoro. He compared the Kamoro with the neighboring Asmat tribe, which is well known for its outstanding carvings.
He said the Asmat were much closer to the traditional way of life of their ancestors than the Kamoro. The Dutch administration and the Roman Catholic Church, which set up their Kamoro headquarters in Kokonau in the mid-1920s, forbade and discouraged many elements of the Kamoro's traditions.
"To the Asmat, the Kamoro people are like their praise pieces. The Asmat have a stronger character and are more aggressive than the Kamoro. In the past, the Asmat people hunted down Kamoro people to show off their power. You know the Asmat people have the bisj, a totem-like pole that is made every time they kill an enemy. The Kamoro have a similar carving, the mbitoro, but it is made to praise their ancestors. See the difference."
Kamoro youth figure Thomas "Tom" Kamipeyau said one of the tales often told by elderly Kamoro was the story of the origin of Kokonau. The word Kokonau is derived from Koka and Nau, which respectively mean women and slaughter.
"A long time before the Portuguese and Dutch came to our island, the Asmat people came and hunted our women. They killed most of the mothers and young women while the men ran into the jungle," said Tom, who is a teacher and is currently continuing his studies at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura.
"When the Portuguese people came they only met a bunch of frightened men. And they could not communicate because of the language, and only pointed in the direction of their village, saying 'koka nau', or our women were slaughtered," he said.
This folktale makes it clear the nature of the Kamoro.
"The Asmat were forced to defend their survival because they were praise pieces for other, stronger tribes as well, while the Kamoro had a kind of laid-back lifestyle living off the generosity of nature," Muller said at his house in Pigapu village.
Pigapu is about 30 kilometers west of Timika, the capital of Mimika regency, which is home to mining company Freeport.
"And Freeport ended up with the losers," Muller quipped. "But as the Bible says, the last shall be the first and the first shall be the last."
In terms of culture, the Kamoro have got off to a late start compared to the Asmat, whose wood carvings have been displayed at museums and galleries around the world.
Muller has worked with PT Freeport Indonesia as a special consultant and sort of liaison with local communities. Despite the ups and downs of the job, Muller has shown that what he does can make a difference.
One of his ideas was the Festival Kamoro, locally known as Kamoro Kakuru, which has proven to be a very effective way of introducing the arts and culture of the Kamoro to a wider audience.
The festival was inspired by the yearly Asmat auction that was set up and carried out by Bishop Al Sowada, a Roman Catholic missionary of extraordinary vision who also set up the Asmat art museum in Agats.
While its main objective was to preserve the cultural heritage of the Kamoro, the festival also serves as a forum to generate income for carvers and the women who weave grass to make bags.
Besides dance performances, canoe races and cooking demonstrations of traditional food, the festival also features an auction of Kamoro carvings.
During the most recent Kamoro Kakuru, held from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2, the top price paid for a carving was Rp 7 million. The highest price ever paid at the festival was Rp 11 million, and that was last year.
Although more and more Kamoro are showing an interest in carving, Muller is not sure if carving is the way to generate sustainable income for the people, as "few of the people have good taste when it comes to carving. Many learned the skills from their parents, but they still have a lot more to learn".
Slightly different from the carvings of the Asmat, the works of the Kamoro range from mbitoro, yamate (a kind of shield) and wemawe (the carving of the images of ancestors in an elbows-on-knees position), to tongkat (walking stick), eme or tifa (drum), and mbiikao masks (large masks worn over the head and shoulders for ceremonies).
"It has taken time to make the Kamoro people understand that their carvings are worth something. The arrival of people from Freeport or Jakarta will help them realize that their art has value," Muller said.
As a coastal tribe, most Kamoro rely on fishing for their livelihood. And nature has been very generous.
The Kamoro living on the coast travel to kapiri kame (shelters made of pandanus leaves) inland where they have easier access to sago trees and other resources from the tropical rain forest.
Sago palms are scattered in the wild and the Kamoro just fell the trees and break up the pith in the trunk. A felled sago tree, if left to rot, will produce one of the Kamoro's favorite delicacies: koo, or the sago grub.
Another favorite delicacy is tambelo, a kind of mollusk found in felled mangrove trees. Both delicacies are always eaten raw.
In his book, Between the Tides, cowritten with David Pickell, Muller said the Kamoro was a culture -- like many others in Papua -- facing a delicate, sometimes humorous, and occasionally painful process of change.
The question is how this change will shape the lives and the culture of the Kamoro.
Photo caption:
Hungarian-born Kal Muller wears traditional costume to show Kamoro people that they should feel proud of their tradition and culture. (JP/P.J. Leo)
Taken from The Jakarta Post
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
'Bikinis and booze caused bombings'
Simon Kearney in Surabaya
October 10, 2005
AUSTRALIANS had declared a moral war on Muslims in Indonesia with their drinking and skimpy clothes in Bali, the eldest brother of three of those responsible for the 2002 attacks said yesterday.
Muhammed Khozin told The Australian at his home in Tenggulun, East Java, that his community didn't care about the October 1 Bali bombings because they were not linked to people from his village.
Mr Khozin's younger brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas were sentenced to death and Ali Imron to life imprisonment for their roles in the attacks on the Sari Club and Paddy's bar, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Mr Khozin said the behaviour of Westerners in his country was to blame for the radicalism adopted by his brothers.
"Alcohol, bikinis, that kind of thing makes Muslims angry. Don't do that when visiting a country with a Muslim majority," he said. "I'm sorry, Australian culture makes war on morality. They come to Bali with bikinis, they make war on morality. Not physical war, morality war. Respect the culture and religion of Indonesia."
His son, 19-year-old university student Afif, said there would be no end to terrorism while Australians continued going to Bali and behaving without respect for Muslim culture.
He believed the first Bali bombing committed by his uncles was justified because it discouraged tourists in Bali. "If Muslims died in that action, the Muslims will go to heaven," he said.
Afif said Muslims and Christians would only live side by side when Christians learned to respect Muslim culture.
Mr Khozin runs the Al-Islaman boarding school in the village that he founded with his late father 30 years ago. Such schools, known as pesantren, are seen as a breeding ground for terrorists.
He said if Canberra wanted to stop radicalism in Indonesia, it should teach Australians to be more respectful of Islam.
Moreover, Australia could help fund facilities at Islamic schools like his, which are mainly in poor areas and are under-resourced, to help better educate Muslims in Indonesia.
"Please give to us because maybe that's the way to make the relationship with Indonesia and Australia better," he said.
He taught his students the concept of "dakwah", which means to confront people who do things that are wrong and tell them to stop.
But he did not subscribe to the view of radicals that they should act to physically erase something they did not agree with.
His brothers had a different view of Islam to his but he believed they were still good people. He called on the Indonesian Government to return them to their community, where they could be rehabilitated.
"The community have a dream. If Amrozi came back here, he will do things like that."
Taken from The Australian
October 10, 2005
AUSTRALIANS had declared a moral war on Muslims in Indonesia with their drinking and skimpy clothes in Bali, the eldest brother of three of those responsible for the 2002 attacks said yesterday.
Muhammed Khozin told The Australian at his home in Tenggulun, East Java, that his community didn't care about the October 1 Bali bombings because they were not linked to people from his village.
Mr Khozin's younger brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas were sentenced to death and Ali Imron to life imprisonment for their roles in the attacks on the Sari Club and Paddy's bar, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Mr Khozin said the behaviour of Westerners in his country was to blame for the radicalism adopted by his brothers.
"Alcohol, bikinis, that kind of thing makes Muslims angry. Don't do that when visiting a country with a Muslim majority," he said. "I'm sorry, Australian culture makes war on morality. They come to Bali with bikinis, they make war on morality. Not physical war, morality war. Respect the culture and religion of Indonesia."
His son, 19-year-old university student Afif, said there would be no end to terrorism while Australians continued going to Bali and behaving without respect for Muslim culture.
He believed the first Bali bombing committed by his uncles was justified because it discouraged tourists in Bali. "If Muslims died in that action, the Muslims will go to heaven," he said.
Afif said Muslims and Christians would only live side by side when Christians learned to respect Muslim culture.
Mr Khozin runs the Al-Islaman boarding school in the village that he founded with his late father 30 years ago. Such schools, known as pesantren, are seen as a breeding ground for terrorists.
He said if Canberra wanted to stop radicalism in Indonesia, it should teach Australians to be more respectful of Islam.
Moreover, Australia could help fund facilities at Islamic schools like his, which are mainly in poor areas and are under-resourced, to help better educate Muslims in Indonesia.
"Please give to us because maybe that's the way to make the relationship with Indonesia and Australia better," he said.
He taught his students the concept of "dakwah", which means to confront people who do things that are wrong and tell them to stop.
But he did not subscribe to the view of radicals that they should act to physically erase something they did not agree with.
His brothers had a different view of Islam to his but he believed they were still good people. He called on the Indonesian Government to return them to their community, where they could be rehabilitated.
"The community have a dream. If Amrozi came back here, he will do things like that."
Taken from The Australian
Jakarta turns blind eye to holy wars
Indonesia's Christians fear going to church as authorities sanction sectarian violence, writes Sian Powell
October 10, 2005
FROM the recent suicide bombings in Bali, to the forcible closing of churches in West Java and persecution of so-called heretical and liberal Muslims, the march of militant Islam is leading to a sense of increasing intolerance across Indonesia.
In the province of Aceh, militants were this week out to commemorate the holy fasting month of Ramadan by menacing discos and bars.
As many as 23 so-called "wild" or unlicensed Christian churches in West Java have been forced to close by militant Muslims in recent months, according to prominent Christians, who fear they are facing a surge of bigotry.
Muslims considered insufficiently orthodox have also been under threat. Hundreds of militants recently attacked mosques, as many as 33 houses and a number of cars in Cianjur, West Java, because the property belonged to the "heretical" Islamic Ahmadiyah sect. Ominously, the militants say their actions are condoned by both the state and by peak Islamic bodies.
Muhammad Mu'min, chief of the Anti-Apostasy Movement Alliance (AGAP), says the proliferation of illegal churches must be stopped, because the spread of Christianity damages the fabric of Islam in Indonesia. "The substance of closing 'wild' churches is an apostasy issue," he says. "Many of our brothers have converted to non-Muslim religions, especially Christianity, because of overt or covert activities, and even with force."
Conversion from Islam to another religion is a very serious matter in Indonesia. Leaving Islam is considered a sin by Muslims, and apostates are reviled. Three Indonesian Christian women from Indramayu in West Java were each jailed for three years earlier this month for inviting Muslim children to church events, and apparently thereby luring them away from Islam.
Mu'min says Christians will stop at nothing to convert Muslims. "(They use) forceful acts; like beatings, and sexual harassment, and worse. One reverend was captured and sentenced to 12 years in prison," he says.
The violence can hit even humanitarian organisations. Around the same time as the Cianjur violence, seven former counsellors at a cancer and drug rehabilitation centre in Probolinggo, East Java, were sentenced to prison terms of between three and five years for insulting Islam -- militants had earlier raided the centre, driving out patients and vandalising the interior. A few weeks earlier, two Christian congregations in Bekasi were forced to pray in the streets, after extremists blocked the way to their churches.
This intolerance, in a nation long famed for its easygoing and gentle brand of Islam, seems to stem from the edicts of Indonesia's highest Islamic authority, the Indonesian Council of Scholars (MUI). In July, the MUI issued a much-criticised series of decrees outlawing liberal interpretations of Islam, religious pluralism and secularism.
The 11 fatwas also banned interfaith marriage and prayers performed with people of other faiths, as well as renewing a decades-old ban on the heretical Muslim sect Ahmadiyah.
Ignored by most Muslims, the edicts were seized upon by a lunatic fringe of militants, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the newer umbrella organisation AGAP. Indonesia's beleaguered Christians, comprising about 9 per cent of the nation's population of roughly 230 million, have been feeling particularly threatened. Long inured to violence in the conflict zones of Ambon and Poso, where internecine warfare has claimed thousands of lives, they now fear going to church on Sundays. As well as using the MUI fatwas as justification for the forcible closing of churches, the militants say the Indonesian Government has given them every right to take action against churches without licences.
A 1969 ministerial decree says permission must be sought from the local administration head and local residents for the construction of a place of worship. In largely Muslim Indonesia, this often means no permission is forthcoming for Christian churches, so Christians use houses, shops, hotels, and even office towers for worship. Concerned by the widespread and often violent attacks on these unlicensed churches in recent months, the Government has promised to revise the decree -- but Christians remain anxious.
A former head of the Indonesia Church Association, Reverend Nathan Setiabudi, says he is compiling a detailed list of the violence. "The problem is, the national police chief thinks the people coming down to the streets (to attack churches) are justified," he says. "I still think it's against the law, and it has nothing to do with the decree."
There is freedom of religion in Indonesia, which recognises five official creeds, including Christianity and Catholicism (an interesting separation), but Mr Setiabudi fears there is a plot afoot to meddle with the status quo.
"There are those who have power who have no heart, victimising and setting Muslims and Christians against each other as happened in Ambon and Poso," he says. "They bombed Tentena (a market in the Christian town of Tentena in Sulawesi was attacked in May, killing 20). Now they are closing churches. If we allow it, there could be another Ambon or Poso on a national scale." Christians and liberal-thinking Muslims are appalled both by the upsurge in violence and the authorities' seeming unwillingness to do anything about it.
Although MUI head Umar Shihab has condemned the violence, the edicts that nurtured it have not been withdrawn.
"We have members in the MUI," says Mu'min. "The first time we closed a wild church, it was at the MUI's request. They asked me directly, 'Please help us close them'. So we helped them."
The hardliner, who has in the past been arrested for anti-alcohol and anti-gambling violence, says his movement has the support of prominent Muslims.
Asserting the AGAP organisation has members throughout Indonesia, Mu'min says he is ready for battle.
Ordinarily a small team would be sent to close a church, he says, but if the Christians resist, there will be violence.
"If they bring a mob, we will bring our mob, ready for physical battle."
From The Australian
October 10, 2005
FROM the recent suicide bombings in Bali, to the forcible closing of churches in West Java and persecution of so-called heretical and liberal Muslims, the march of militant Islam is leading to a sense of increasing intolerance across Indonesia.
In the province of Aceh, militants were this week out to commemorate the holy fasting month of Ramadan by menacing discos and bars.
As many as 23 so-called "wild" or unlicensed Christian churches in West Java have been forced to close by militant Muslims in recent months, according to prominent Christians, who fear they are facing a surge of bigotry.
Muslims considered insufficiently orthodox have also been under threat. Hundreds of militants recently attacked mosques, as many as 33 houses and a number of cars in Cianjur, West Java, because the property belonged to the "heretical" Islamic Ahmadiyah sect. Ominously, the militants say their actions are condoned by both the state and by peak Islamic bodies.
Muhammad Mu'min, chief of the Anti-Apostasy Movement Alliance (AGAP), says the proliferation of illegal churches must be stopped, because the spread of Christianity damages the fabric of Islam in Indonesia. "The substance of closing 'wild' churches is an apostasy issue," he says. "Many of our brothers have converted to non-Muslim religions, especially Christianity, because of overt or covert activities, and even with force."
Conversion from Islam to another religion is a very serious matter in Indonesia. Leaving Islam is considered a sin by Muslims, and apostates are reviled. Three Indonesian Christian women from Indramayu in West Java were each jailed for three years earlier this month for inviting Muslim children to church events, and apparently thereby luring them away from Islam.
Mu'min says Christians will stop at nothing to convert Muslims. "(They use) forceful acts; like beatings, and sexual harassment, and worse. One reverend was captured and sentenced to 12 years in prison," he says.
The violence can hit even humanitarian organisations. Around the same time as the Cianjur violence, seven former counsellors at a cancer and drug rehabilitation centre in Probolinggo, East Java, were sentenced to prison terms of between three and five years for insulting Islam -- militants had earlier raided the centre, driving out patients and vandalising the interior. A few weeks earlier, two Christian congregations in Bekasi were forced to pray in the streets, after extremists blocked the way to their churches.
This intolerance, in a nation long famed for its easygoing and gentle brand of Islam, seems to stem from the edicts of Indonesia's highest Islamic authority, the Indonesian Council of Scholars (MUI). In July, the MUI issued a much-criticised series of decrees outlawing liberal interpretations of Islam, religious pluralism and secularism.
The 11 fatwas also banned interfaith marriage and prayers performed with people of other faiths, as well as renewing a decades-old ban on the heretical Muslim sect Ahmadiyah.
Ignored by most Muslims, the edicts were seized upon by a lunatic fringe of militants, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the newer umbrella organisation AGAP. Indonesia's beleaguered Christians, comprising about 9 per cent of the nation's population of roughly 230 million, have been feeling particularly threatened. Long inured to violence in the conflict zones of Ambon and Poso, where internecine warfare has claimed thousands of lives, they now fear going to church on Sundays. As well as using the MUI fatwas as justification for the forcible closing of churches, the militants say the Indonesian Government has given them every right to take action against churches without licences.
A 1969 ministerial decree says permission must be sought from the local administration head and local residents for the construction of a place of worship. In largely Muslim Indonesia, this often means no permission is forthcoming for Christian churches, so Christians use houses, shops, hotels, and even office towers for worship. Concerned by the widespread and often violent attacks on these unlicensed churches in recent months, the Government has promised to revise the decree -- but Christians remain anxious.
A former head of the Indonesia Church Association, Reverend Nathan Setiabudi, says he is compiling a detailed list of the violence. "The problem is, the national police chief thinks the people coming down to the streets (to attack churches) are justified," he says. "I still think it's against the law, and it has nothing to do with the decree."
There is freedom of religion in Indonesia, which recognises five official creeds, including Christianity and Catholicism (an interesting separation), but Mr Setiabudi fears there is a plot afoot to meddle with the status quo.
"There are those who have power who have no heart, victimising and setting Muslims and Christians against each other as happened in Ambon and Poso," he says. "They bombed Tentena (a market in the Christian town of Tentena in Sulawesi was attacked in May, killing 20). Now they are closing churches. If we allow it, there could be another Ambon or Poso on a national scale." Christians and liberal-thinking Muslims are appalled both by the upsurge in violence and the authorities' seeming unwillingness to do anything about it.
Although MUI head Umar Shihab has condemned the violence, the edicts that nurtured it have not been withdrawn.
"We have members in the MUI," says Mu'min. "The first time we closed a wild church, it was at the MUI's request. They asked me directly, 'Please help us close them'. So we helped them."
The hardliner, who has in the past been arrested for anti-alcohol and anti-gambling violence, says his movement has the support of prominent Muslims.
Asserting the AGAP organisation has members throughout Indonesia, Mu'min says he is ready for battle.
Ordinarily a small team would be sent to close a church, he says, but if the Christians resist, there will be violence.
"If they bring a mob, we will bring our mob, ready for physical battle."
From The Australian
Friday, October 07, 2005
Bali bombers from 'new generation': Police
DENPASAR, Bali (AP): The suicide bombers who attacked three tourist-packed restaurants on Bali island were part of a "new generation" of terrorists, and were likely recruited only recently, the officer in charge of the investigation said on Friday.
Two key leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked militant group Jamaah Islamiyah are suspected of masterminding the near-simultaneous attacks that killed 22 people, including the three bombers, but terrorism experts say they may be working with other groups or individuals.
Bali police chief Maj. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika said the bombers were likely recently recruited specifically to launch the weekend attacks on three crowded cafes on Bali.
"There is an indication they are a new generation," he told reporters Friday.
The bombers' severed heads were found meters from the blast sites, and photographs of their swollen but easily identifiable faces have been circulated nationwide and shown to several jailed Jamaah Islamiyah members.
So far, no one appears to recognize them. (**)
Taken from The Jakarta Post
Two key leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked militant group Jamaah Islamiyah are suspected of masterminding the near-simultaneous attacks that killed 22 people, including the three bombers, but terrorism experts say they may be working with other groups or individuals.
Bali police chief Maj. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika said the bombers were likely recently recruited specifically to launch the weekend attacks on three crowded cafes on Bali.
"There is an indication they are a new generation," he told reporters Friday.
The bombers' severed heads were found meters from the blast sites, and photographs of their swollen but easily identifiable faces have been circulated nationwide and shown to several jailed Jamaah Islamiyah members.
So far, no one appears to recognize them. (**)
Taken from The Jakarta Post
$10m bounty on Bali bombs suspect
The US is offering a $10m reward for information leading to the capture or death of a key suspect in the Bali bombings three years ago.
Officials say the suspect, known as Dulmatin, is an electronics specialist and a senior figure in the Islamic militant group, Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
More than 200 people were killed in the bomb attacks in 2002.
Only al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and Iraq insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have a higher US bounty.
Both men have a price tag of $25m on their heads.
Al-Qaeda link
JI is also suspected of being behind last week's bombing attack in Bali, which killed 22 people.
Dulmatin, a Indonesian also known as Amar Usman, is believed to have set off one of the 2002 bombs with a mobile phone.
He is also suspected of having worked alongside another Malaysian, Azahari Husin, to assemble the massive car bomb, as well as the explosives vest used by a suicide bomber who attacked the nearby Paddy's Bar.
In his mid to late 30s, he believed to be hiding in the Philippines and is thought to have trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.
The US Department of State has also posted a $1m reward for the arrest of a second JI member, identified as Umar Patek, for his suspected help in coordinating the operation on the ground for the 2002 bombings.
"The United States is determined to bring these men to justice for their crimes," state department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Taken from BBC News
Officials say the suspect, known as Dulmatin, is an electronics specialist and a senior figure in the Islamic militant group, Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
More than 200 people were killed in the bomb attacks in 2002.
Only al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and Iraq insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have a higher US bounty.
Both men have a price tag of $25m on their heads.
Al-Qaeda link
JI is also suspected of being behind last week's bombing attack in Bali, which killed 22 people.
Dulmatin, a Indonesian also known as Amar Usman, is believed to have set off one of the 2002 bombs with a mobile phone.
He is also suspected of having worked alongside another Malaysian, Azahari Husin, to assemble the massive car bomb, as well as the explosives vest used by a suicide bomber who attacked the nearby Paddy's Bar.
In his mid to late 30s, he believed to be hiding in the Philippines and is thought to have trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan.
The US Department of State has also posted a $1m reward for the arrest of a second JI member, identified as Umar Patek, for his suspected help in coordinating the operation on the ground for the 2002 bombings.
"The United States is determined to bring these men to justice for their crimes," state department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Taken from BBC News
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
All Aussies accounted for in Bali
October 3, 2005 - 11:17AM
All Australians are believed to be accounted for in Bali following the deadly blasts across the resort island, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Bruce Bilson said today.
Mr Bilson confirmed two Australians had been identified as among the 26 people killed in the blasts while another two were feared dead.
More than 120 people were injured in the near simultaneous blasts in restaurants in bustling Kuta and on the seafront at popular Jimbaran Bay.
The Australians identified as killed include 16-year-old Brendan Fitzgerald, from Busselton in Western Australia, and 48-year-old Jennifer Williamson, a mother from Newcastle in NSW.
In addition to the two Australians named, the government believes a Newcastle couple — Fiona and Colin Zwolinski, a mining company executive — are also among the dead.
"I would anticipate for there to be four Australian fatalities," Mr Bilson told ABC radio in Melbourne.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has altered its travel advice last night, warning that Australians in Bali should exercise extreme caution and remain in their hotels if possible.
Qantas has put on three relief flights to help people leave Bali. Two of the flights left yesterday, while the third departed from Sydney this morning and is expected to return at 9.20 tonight.
Confirming identities
Mr Bilson said disaster victim identification experts from the federal police were working with Indonesian authorities to confirm the identities of two bodies believed to be those of Australians.
At this stage we believe they are (all accounted for) bar the two (where) the identity issues remain unresolved," Mr Bilson said.
"At this stage, two are quite seriously injured but are receiving the medical care that should provide the support that they need.
"There's been a number of flights out of Bali, some to Indonesia and also a number to Darwin carrying both injured Australians and injured Indonesian and Japanese tourists as well.
"All Australians that were injured have now been evacuated. Two that were previously hospitalised have now been released and that's encouraging news."
Mr Bilson said the department of foreign affairs had received about 3,500 telephone calls from Australians trying to establish the welfare and location of loved ones.
This map shows where the attacks took place.
This map shows where the attacks took place.
He said the bombings came as the number of Australians travelling to Bali reached record levels.
Suicide bomber
Senior counter-terrorism officials claimed a suicide bomber ignited each of the three blasts on Saturday night, but intelligence sources said two bombs were buried and detonated underneath tables on Jimbaran beach.
Investigators have seized an Australian tourist's video of a dinner party on the beach, which features vision of a black-shirted figure running towards the site of the blast shortly before the explosion.
Prime Minister John Howard said the Bali bombers were cowards who had shown blind hatred and indifference towards their victims. He said Australia would help catch those responsible.
Two of 21 injured Australians were flown to Singapore yesterday, and Australian officials were trying to evacuate more of the seriously injured last night. In total 105 people have been admitted to hospital in Bali.
The blasts have rocked Bali and alarmed Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who inspected the blast sites on Jimbaran beach and Kuta Square yesterday and vowed to catch the culprits. He said investigations indicated that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.
JI modus operandi
The director of counter-terrorism for Indonesia's National Security Ministry, Major-General Ansyaad Mbai, said the three attackers entered the packed restaurants wearing explosive vests. The remains of their bodies were found at the scenes, he said.
"I have seen them. All that is left is their head and feet," he said. "By the evidence we can conclude the bombers were carrying the explosives around their waists."
General Mbai claimed the two most-wanted Jemaah Islamiah operatives in South-East Asia, Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Top, were behind the attacks.
"The modus operandi of Saturday's attacks is the same as earlier ones," he said.
Dr Yudhoyono revealed that specific intelligence from the Philippines had led him to warn a month ago of an imminent terrorist strike, although Mr Howard and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said there was no warning that the attacks were coming.
The bombs detonated almost simultaneously in the early evening, with two exploded at seafood restaurants the Nyoman Cafe and the Menega, along Jimbaran Beach about 7.40pm, just as tourists were settling down for dinner. Soon after, a blast in the Raja restaurant in Kuta Square gutted the whole of the ground floor and much of the first floor.
Hospital officials said the Australian dead included a 16-year-old boy from Western Australia, Brendan Fitzgerald, and 48-year-old Newcastle woman Jennifer Williamson.
A family spokesman said the boy's 43-year-old father, Terry, was in a critical condition at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, and his 13-year-old sister, Jessica, was in a serious but stable condition.
The attacks come nearly three years after militants linked to al-Qaeda bombed two nightclubs in Bali, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians.
- AAP with Mark Forbes
Taken from The Age
All Australians are believed to be accounted for in Bali following the deadly blasts across the resort island, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Bruce Bilson said today.
Mr Bilson confirmed two Australians had been identified as among the 26 people killed in the blasts while another two were feared dead.
More than 120 people were injured in the near simultaneous blasts in restaurants in bustling Kuta and on the seafront at popular Jimbaran Bay.
The Australians identified as killed include 16-year-old Brendan Fitzgerald, from Busselton in Western Australia, and 48-year-old Jennifer Williamson, a mother from Newcastle in NSW.
In addition to the two Australians named, the government believes a Newcastle couple — Fiona and Colin Zwolinski, a mining company executive — are also among the dead.
"I would anticipate for there to be four Australian fatalities," Mr Bilson told ABC radio in Melbourne.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has altered its travel advice last night, warning that Australians in Bali should exercise extreme caution and remain in their hotels if possible.
Qantas has put on three relief flights to help people leave Bali. Two of the flights left yesterday, while the third departed from Sydney this morning and is expected to return at 9.20 tonight.
Confirming identities
Mr Bilson said disaster victim identification experts from the federal police were working with Indonesian authorities to confirm the identities of two bodies believed to be those of Australians.
At this stage we believe they are (all accounted for) bar the two (where) the identity issues remain unresolved," Mr Bilson said.
"At this stage, two are quite seriously injured but are receiving the medical care that should provide the support that they need.
"There's been a number of flights out of Bali, some to Indonesia and also a number to Darwin carrying both injured Australians and injured Indonesian and Japanese tourists as well.
"All Australians that were injured have now been evacuated. Two that were previously hospitalised have now been released and that's encouraging news."
Mr Bilson said the department of foreign affairs had received about 3,500 telephone calls from Australians trying to establish the welfare and location of loved ones.
This map shows where the attacks took place.
This map shows where the attacks took place.
He said the bombings came as the number of Australians travelling to Bali reached record levels.
Suicide bomber
Senior counter-terrorism officials claimed a suicide bomber ignited each of the three blasts on Saturday night, but intelligence sources said two bombs were buried and detonated underneath tables on Jimbaran beach.
Investigators have seized an Australian tourist's video of a dinner party on the beach, which features vision of a black-shirted figure running towards the site of the blast shortly before the explosion.
Prime Minister John Howard said the Bali bombers were cowards who had shown blind hatred and indifference towards their victims. He said Australia would help catch those responsible.
Two of 21 injured Australians were flown to Singapore yesterday, and Australian officials were trying to evacuate more of the seriously injured last night. In total 105 people have been admitted to hospital in Bali.
The blasts have rocked Bali and alarmed Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who inspected the blast sites on Jimbaran beach and Kuta Square yesterday and vowed to catch the culprits. He said investigations indicated that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.
JI modus operandi
The director of counter-terrorism for Indonesia's National Security Ministry, Major-General Ansyaad Mbai, said the three attackers entered the packed restaurants wearing explosive vests. The remains of their bodies were found at the scenes, he said.
"I have seen them. All that is left is their head and feet," he said. "By the evidence we can conclude the bombers were carrying the explosives around their waists."
General Mbai claimed the two most-wanted Jemaah Islamiah operatives in South-East Asia, Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Top, were behind the attacks.
"The modus operandi of Saturday's attacks is the same as earlier ones," he said.
Dr Yudhoyono revealed that specific intelligence from the Philippines had led him to warn a month ago of an imminent terrorist strike, although Mr Howard and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said there was no warning that the attacks were coming.
The bombs detonated almost simultaneously in the early evening, with two exploded at seafood restaurants the Nyoman Cafe and the Menega, along Jimbaran Beach about 7.40pm, just as tourists were settling down for dinner. Soon after, a blast in the Raja restaurant in Kuta Square gutted the whole of the ground floor and much of the first floor.
Hospital officials said the Australian dead included a 16-year-old boy from Western Australia, Brendan Fitzgerald, and 48-year-old Newcastle woman Jennifer Williamson.
A family spokesman said the boy's 43-year-old father, Terry, was in a critical condition at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, and his 13-year-old sister, Jessica, was in a serious but stable condition.
The attacks come nearly three years after militants linked to al-Qaeda bombed two nightclubs in Bali, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians.
- AAP with Mark Forbes
Taken from The Age
Hunt for Bali bombing masterminds
October 3, 2005 - 1:10PM
Indonesia's capital was on top alert today after the president warned of more attacks following three suicide bombings on Bali island, where a chilling video shot by a tourist showed a suspected bomber clutching a backpack as he strolled past diners moments before one of the blasts.
The near-simultaneous bombings, which killed 26 and injured 122 on Saturday, appeared to have been planned by South-East Asia's two most-wanted men, Indonesian anti-terrorism official Major General Ansyaad Mbai said yesterday.
The Age Indonesia correspondent Mark Forbes reports that while Indonesian officials feel they've made significant progress in finding those responsible for the bombings, the alleged Malaysian masterminds - Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top - have eluded authorities since the 2002 Bali bombings.
"They (police) will be focusing on individuals fairly quickly there, and there is an expectation that the investigation will move apace," Forbes said.
But neither of chief suspects were among the three suspected bombers, whose decapitated remains were found at the scenes.
The attack came three years after 202 people - 88 of them Australian - were killed in nightclub bombings on Bali, Indonesia's premier resort island.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned that terrorists could be planning more strikes in the world's most populous Muslim nation as Jakarta's police chief elevated the capital's security status to top alert, putting two-thirds of its police force on stand by.
"The terrorists are still looking for soft targets," Yudhoyono said at a news conference yesterday after getting a firsthand look at the devastation.
Last month, Yudhoyono said that the extremist network might strike Jakarta during September or October. He said over the weekend that his warning was based on intelligence that the terrorists had already prepared the explosives.
Nobody claimed responsibility for Saturday night's coordinated attacks on two packed seafood cafes in the Jimbaran beach resort and the Raja Cafe in the bustling tourist centre of Kuta, where bombers struck nightclubs in 2002.
Video footage captured one of the suspected bombers walking determinedly past local and foreign tourists who were eating dinner, sipping drinks and chatting at candlelit tables at a noodle-and-steak restaurant in Kuta.
He clutches his backpack, adjusts it slightly, and then disappears from the screen. Moments later there is a large blast, followed by gray smoke and the sound of terrified screams. Police said the video, shot by a tourist and obtained by Associated Press Television News, was part of their investigation.
Suspicion immediately fell on the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), whose members were convicted of the Bali attacks in 2002, and attacks on the JW Marriott hotel and the Australian Embassy, which together killed 22.
Scores of JI suspects have been arrested in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand since 2002, leading some officials to say the group's leadership has been crippled. But analysts say it appears to have taken on a different form, working with recruits from other organisations.
Twelve Indonesians, up to four Australian and one Japanese man were among the 26 people killed. Officials were trying to identify the nationalities of the other corpses in the morgue, a hospital statement said.
The 101 wounded included 49 Indonesians, up to 20 Australians, six Americans, six Koreans, four Japanese, officials said.
Bobby Nugroho, an Indonesian whose mother and father were killed, went to collect his parents' remains at the hospital's morgue.
"A witness said that my father was sitting facing the beach when a man opened his jacket and pulled the trigger in front of him," said Nugroho, a Jakarta-based reporter in his late 20s who works for the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizan Shimbun.
Officials said remains of three bombers indicated they had carried explosives around their waists. It was not clear if they were included in the official death toll.
"I have seen them," Major General Mbai said.
"All that is left is their head and feet."
Saturday's attacks threaten to ruin a tourist boom on the mostly Hindu island, where hotels and restaurants have in the last 18 months reported that business had exceeded pre-2002 levels. Some say it may take even longer to recover a second time around.
Veli-Matti Enqvist, 51, had been scheduled to leave Wednesday with his wife, but was one of hundreds of tourists waiting for flights at the airport.
"We finally found something ... we're going," he said.
Like 2002, the bombings took place on the busiest night of the week, just as crowds began to swell.
The head waiter at the Menega Cafe in Jimbaran said the bomb went off at his beachside restaurant between the tables of two large dinner parties. Most of the 120 diners at the restaurant were Indonesian, he said.
"Everyone started screaming 'Allah, Allah, help!'," said Wayan Subagia, 23, who escaped with leg injuries.
"One woman rushed to pick up her child but the little girl was already dead."
Near-simultaneous blasts went off at the nearby Nyoman seafood restaurant and Kuta's Raja restaurant, five kilometres away.
For months intelligence officials had received information about a terrorist attack like the latest Bali bombing - but the plot's details were not uncovered in time to thwart it, security officials said.
"The fact that there's going to be an attack was known to the intelligence community," said Ric Blancaflor, executive director of a Philippine anti-terrorism task force.
"The problem always is how to get the exact details, like where."
- AP, with Mark Forbes
Taken from The Age
Indonesia's capital was on top alert today after the president warned of more attacks following three suicide bombings on Bali island, where a chilling video shot by a tourist showed a suspected bomber clutching a backpack as he strolled past diners moments before one of the blasts.
The near-simultaneous bombings, which killed 26 and injured 122 on Saturday, appeared to have been planned by South-East Asia's two most-wanted men, Indonesian anti-terrorism official Major General Ansyaad Mbai said yesterday.
The Age Indonesia correspondent Mark Forbes reports that while Indonesian officials feel they've made significant progress in finding those responsible for the bombings, the alleged Malaysian masterminds - Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top - have eluded authorities since the 2002 Bali bombings.
"They (police) will be focusing on individuals fairly quickly there, and there is an expectation that the investigation will move apace," Forbes said.
But neither of chief suspects were among the three suspected bombers, whose decapitated remains were found at the scenes.
The attack came three years after 202 people - 88 of them Australian - were killed in nightclub bombings on Bali, Indonesia's premier resort island.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned that terrorists could be planning more strikes in the world's most populous Muslim nation as Jakarta's police chief elevated the capital's security status to top alert, putting two-thirds of its police force on stand by.
"The terrorists are still looking for soft targets," Yudhoyono said at a news conference yesterday after getting a firsthand look at the devastation.
Last month, Yudhoyono said that the extremist network might strike Jakarta during September or October. He said over the weekend that his warning was based on intelligence that the terrorists had already prepared the explosives.
Nobody claimed responsibility for Saturday night's coordinated attacks on two packed seafood cafes in the Jimbaran beach resort and the Raja Cafe in the bustling tourist centre of Kuta, where bombers struck nightclubs in 2002.
Video footage captured one of the suspected bombers walking determinedly past local and foreign tourists who were eating dinner, sipping drinks and chatting at candlelit tables at a noodle-and-steak restaurant in Kuta.
He clutches his backpack, adjusts it slightly, and then disappears from the screen. Moments later there is a large blast, followed by gray smoke and the sound of terrified screams. Police said the video, shot by a tourist and obtained by Associated Press Television News, was part of their investigation.
Suspicion immediately fell on the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), whose members were convicted of the Bali attacks in 2002, and attacks on the JW Marriott hotel and the Australian Embassy, which together killed 22.
Scores of JI suspects have been arrested in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand since 2002, leading some officials to say the group's leadership has been crippled. But analysts say it appears to have taken on a different form, working with recruits from other organisations.
Twelve Indonesians, up to four Australian and one Japanese man were among the 26 people killed. Officials were trying to identify the nationalities of the other corpses in the morgue, a hospital statement said.
The 101 wounded included 49 Indonesians, up to 20 Australians, six Americans, six Koreans, four Japanese, officials said.
Bobby Nugroho, an Indonesian whose mother and father were killed, went to collect his parents' remains at the hospital's morgue.
"A witness said that my father was sitting facing the beach when a man opened his jacket and pulled the trigger in front of him," said Nugroho, a Jakarta-based reporter in his late 20s who works for the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizan Shimbun.
Officials said remains of three bombers indicated they had carried explosives around their waists. It was not clear if they were included in the official death toll.
"I have seen them," Major General Mbai said.
"All that is left is their head and feet."
Saturday's attacks threaten to ruin a tourist boom on the mostly Hindu island, where hotels and restaurants have in the last 18 months reported that business had exceeded pre-2002 levels. Some say it may take even longer to recover a second time around.
Veli-Matti Enqvist, 51, had been scheduled to leave Wednesday with his wife, but was one of hundreds of tourists waiting for flights at the airport.
"We finally found something ... we're going," he said.
Like 2002, the bombings took place on the busiest night of the week, just as crowds began to swell.
The head waiter at the Menega Cafe in Jimbaran said the bomb went off at his beachside restaurant between the tables of two large dinner parties. Most of the 120 diners at the restaurant were Indonesian, he said.
"Everyone started screaming 'Allah, Allah, help!'," said Wayan Subagia, 23, who escaped with leg injuries.
"One woman rushed to pick up her child but the little girl was already dead."
Near-simultaneous blasts went off at the nearby Nyoman seafood restaurant and Kuta's Raja restaurant, five kilometres away.
For months intelligence officials had received information about a terrorist attack like the latest Bali bombing - but the plot's details were not uncovered in time to thwart it, security officials said.
"The fact that there's going to be an attack was known to the intelligence community," said Ric Blancaflor, executive director of a Philippine anti-terrorism task force.
"The problem always is how to get the exact details, like where."
- AP, with Mark Forbes
Taken from The Age
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Blasts in Bali tourist area
October 1, 2005 - 10:32PM
Explosions rocked a hotel and department store on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali today, leaving dozens wounded and at least two dead, witnesses and local media reports said.
There was no immediate confirmation of what caused the blasts.
Witnesses said they saw body parts, including a severed head and a leg.
Reports said two explosions happened around 1850 local time near the Four Seasons Hotel in Jimbaran on Bali's south coast, and 10 minutes later near the Matahari department store in the centre of the popular tourist area of Kuta, the site of deadly bombings in 2002, witnesses told local Metro television.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned in late August that terrorists were likely to launch an attack in Indonesia in the next two months during what has become known in the country as "bomb season" owing to a series of attacks that has occurred around this time over the past three years.
The attack in Bali in October 2002 left some 202 people dead, mostly foreign tourists. Bomb attacks on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003 left 12 dead, and an attack outside the Australian embassy in September 2004 killed 11 and injured some 180.
Police have continued to search for two Malaysian fugitives accused of being behind the attacks, Azahari and Noordin, who are also believed to be senior members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror group.
JI has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.
Although JI members have been involved in several deadly bombings in Indonesia, authorities have not officially outlawed the organisation which many Muslim leaders claim does not exist.
- DPA
From The Age newspaper
Explosions rocked a hotel and department store on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali today, leaving dozens wounded and at least two dead, witnesses and local media reports said.
There was no immediate confirmation of what caused the blasts.
Witnesses said they saw body parts, including a severed head and a leg.
Reports said two explosions happened around 1850 local time near the Four Seasons Hotel in Jimbaran on Bali's south coast, and 10 minutes later near the Matahari department store in the centre of the popular tourist area of Kuta, the site of deadly bombings in 2002, witnesses told local Metro television.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned in late August that terrorists were likely to launch an attack in Indonesia in the next two months during what has become known in the country as "bomb season" owing to a series of attacks that has occurred around this time over the past three years.
The attack in Bali in October 2002 left some 202 people dead, mostly foreign tourists. Bomb attacks on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003 left 12 dead, and an attack outside the Australian embassy in September 2004 killed 11 and injured some 180.
Police have continued to search for two Malaysian fugitives accused of being behind the attacks, Azahari and Noordin, who are also believed to be senior members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror group.
JI has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.
Although JI members have been involved in several deadly bombings in Indonesia, authorities have not officially outlawed the organisation which many Muslim leaders claim does not exist.
- DPA
From The Age newspaper
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