Intelligence experts: Indonesia should take new measures to tackle changing terrorism pattern

Xinhua reports

By Cundoko Aprilianto
    JAKARTA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Bomb attacks that have been terrorizing Indonesia since 2002 underlined the fact that the country needs a terrorism mapping to trace terrorists and to counter-attack them, intelligence experts told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
    They also said that the recent attack on two luxurious hotels in south Jakarta, JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels, suggested that the terrorists were getting more professional.
    "Since Bali bombings in 2002, I have been telling the police to make a terrorism mapping so we could trace them. We could also recognize whether they work separately or in group, so we could tackle the next terrorist act," said Suripto, a senior intelligence observer.
    He suspected that the terrorists were already controlled by bigger powers in spreading terror.
    "I suspect that several agencies with high-skilled intelligence power are controlling them. They have a lot of power and money to do that," he said.
    According to Dynno Chressbon, the director of the Study Center for Intelligent and National Security (SIKNAL), since the last few years, terrorists in Indonesia have "established cells that have nothing to do with others in the Southeast Asia".
    However, Suripto said, the terrorists have been working more professionally in an effort to create chaos and to attract the world's attention without making massive attack.
    "They have changed their pattern. In the 2002 Bali bombing, they took 202 lives, most of them being westerners, and in the second bombing in 2005, 23 lives were taken. But, in the recent attack, only nine were killed. It doesn't matter how many lives they take, the most important thing is that they consider the attack more efficient in attracting the world's attention and creating chaos," Suripto said.
    Dynno said that low explosive bombs in the two hotels were the proof that they demonstrated their power in terrorizing westerners in Indonesia.
    "Since the death of two terrorist officials who could make high explosive bomb, nobody in the cells could assemble that kind of bomb. It requires high skill to make high explosive bomb. However, with low explosive bombs, they could still terrorize us," he said.
    Dynno said that the blasts in the two hotels were caused by man-made bombs.
    "That's why metal and bomb detectors in the hotel security system didn't detect anything. The detector could only detect factory-made bombs," he said, adding that the only hotel in Indonesia that could detect the kind of bomb was Shangri-La hotel.
    Since 1962, Indonesia has been attacked by tens of bomb explosion, with half of them in Jakarta. The first attack, a bomb blast in Perguruan Cikini school complex in Jakarta in 1962, eyed the first President Soekarno. However, most bomb attacks later were motivated by the desire "to defend religion".
    In a press conference last week, religious leaders condemned the terror and urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to arrest those who masterminded the attacks. They also urged people not to link the terror with certain religion.