The fight against Jemaah Islamiah is going better than it might seem

The Economists' article on the Jakarta blasts is supportive of Indonesia and kinda shows it as different from the rest of its south east asian neighbours who havenot done much regarding the Terror linkages adn actionable evidences. Interesting one but I still wonder why Terrorism ?

Jul 23rd 2009 | BANGKOK
From The Economist print edition

EPAAs many thorns as petals

CROSS-BORDER co-operation tops the agenda whenever ministers in South-East Asia meet, as they did this week on the Thai island of Phuket. Until now, legitimate businesses have struggled to build a common presence in the region. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Jemaah Islamiah (JI), an extremist group blamed for suicide bombings at two fancy business hotels in Jakarta on July 17th.

The group cross-pollinates jihadists from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. It feeds on sectarian strife, lax policing and anti-Western hatred. Indonesia has felt the brunt of its rage: one of the two hotels hit last week, the JW Marriott, was bombed in 2003. In 2002 over 200 people died in suicide bombings in Bali.

Since then, Indonesia has arrested hundreds of JI suspects. Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines have nabbed others. The threat appeared to be contained, if not removed. Indeed, a good security record helped Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono easily win a second term in an election on July 8th.

The terrorists may have exploited a post-election lull by security forces. One of their targets was a monthly breakfast meeting of Western executives. A third bomb was later found at the hotel in a room where the terrorists had stayed. Police are trying to identify two suicide bombers who were among the nine dead. Their enquiries have led them to al-Mukmin, an Islamic boarding school in Java that has produced perpetrators of previous JI atrocities, such as the 2003 Marriott attack.

By eerie coincidence, an Australian think-tank published a report on July 16th that pointed to a renewed JI threat. The report’s co-author, Noor Huda Ismail, has a fine vantage point: he is an al-Mukmin alumnus turned security analyst. He says that JI hotheads share a commitment to anti-Western violence, even though the organisation has become somewhat factionalised. The group blamed for the Jakarta bombings is led by Noordin Top, a Malaysian. Other senior operatives are loose in the lawless southern Philippines, which serves as a regional training base for jihadists. A recent surge in bombings there may be JI’s handiwork. A JI cell leader in Singapore who escaped from jail in 2008 was recently recaptured in Malaysia.

Indonesia may have let its guard down but it is no longer the weak spot in South-East Asia’s fight against terrorism. Its American-trained specialist police have rolled up JI cells and sent suspects to trial, so that Indonesia’s overwhelmingly Muslim population can see justice being done. In contrast, Singapore and Malaysia have detained terror suspects without trial. Indonesia has also persuaded reformed jihadists to try to talk their brethren out of their beliefs, with mixed results. Some are being released from jail, which Mr Ismail says could be destabilising. What Indonesia has not done is close radical schools like al-Mukmin or figured out how to counter JI ideologues like Abu Bakar Basyir, the choleric cleric controversially acquitted of involvement in the Bali bombings. A job for Mr Yudhoyono’s second term, perhaps.