Indonesia plans emergency anti-terrorism measures

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri prepared yesterday to enact emergency anti-terror measures, her most decisive move yet to crack down on militant Islamic groups following the Bali bomb blasts.

In London, Australian Prime Minister John Howard described Islamic extremism as "dangerous and evil", but urged his compatriots to show tolerance towards moderate Muslims in the wake of the bombings.

Australia bore the brunt of the casualties from a car bomb that ripped through a nightclub on the Indonesian island on Saturday night, killing more than 180 people. Two other bombs went off in Bali around the same time.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but suspicion has fallen on al Qaeda and an Indonesian based group, Jemaah Islamiah, which some link to Osama bin Laden's network.

Two Indonesians are being questioned in connection with the blasts. Bali Police Chief Budi Setyawan said neither was from Bali, but gave not further information on the interrogation.

Investigators said the C4 plastic explosives that demolished the Sari nightclub and nearby bars on Kuta Beach were packed into the roof of a minivan.

They said that type of explosive was not made in Indonesia.

An authority on al Qaeda, citing documents from a US interrogation of a member of the network, said an unidentified Saudi supplied funds to Jemaah Islamiah to buy explosives that could have been used in Bali.

The information was gathered in US interrogations of Omar al-Faruq, a Kuwaiti linked to al Qaeda who was arrested in Indonesia in June and later handed over to US authorities in Afghanistan, said Rohan Gunaratna, author of the book "Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror".

The money was delivered earlier this year, said Gunaratna, who has seen the US interrogation papers. The amount sent by the Saudi donor was $74,000, the Financial Times said.

Gunaratna said the explosives were bought from Indonesian army officers who sold the material illegally.

The C4 explosives are the same material used in the al Qaeda-linked bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden in Yemen two years to the day before the Bali attack.

Australia said it could take weeks to identify many of the charred and mutilated victims of the nightclub blast.

Thirty-three Australians have been confirmed dead and 140 are missing, prompting fears of a backlash against Muslims living in Australia.

But Howard told BBC World Television he did not expect that to happen.

"Australians are a very tolerant, open people and I encourage them to remain so," he said. "What they're angry about is militant Islam and so are ordinary Muslims, and they should be."

In her strongest move yet against extremist Islamic groups, Indonesia's Megawati prepared to bypass parliament and issue an anti-terrorism decree that would give police stronger powers to act against suspects.

With the United States and jittery Asian neighbours piling pressure on Indonesia to take firm action, a top presidential aide said the anti-terror decree would be issued "as soon as possible".

Neighbours Singapore and Malaysia have used tough security laws to round up dozens of members of Jemaah Islamiah. They complain others are taking refuge in Indonesia.

Malaysia said five suspected militants, including one linked to al Qaeda, had been detained yesterday.

Asian countries point a finger at a Muslim cleric living in Indonesia, Abu Bakar Bashir, as leader of Jemaah Islamiah which they say has planned acts of terror throughout the region.

Bashir denies any knowledge of the group or links to terrorism, and yesterday he told reporters "the bombings were engineered by infidels to launch war against Islam". He has previously blamed the United States.

An anti-terror bill has been languishing in draft form as the government tries to come up with a version acceptable to parliament.

The bill has sparked controversy in a country struggling to build a stable democracy after decades of authoritarian rule, and wary of any legislation that could curb new-found freedoms.

It is deeply unpopular with some Muslim groups on which Megawati's government relies for support.

Chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he could not give details of the decree as it was still being prepared by the justice minister.

Mentioning Bashir by name, he said if there were any indications Jemaah Islamiah leaders in Indonesia were involved in terrorism, "then we will take legal steps as necessary".

The national police spokesman denied a Washington Post report that a former Indonesian air force member had confessed to building the bomb. "There hasn't been any confession from anyone," Saleh Saaf told Reuters. "It's only a rumour."