Indonesian protesters
2001 (AP)
Indonesian protesters
2001 (AP)
(CBS) It was a deadly calling card - bomb blasts across Manila that killed more than 20.
The attacks were carried out by a gentle-looking man named Roman al-Ghozi, reports CBS News Correspondent Barry Petersen. In court, he confessed to possessing a ton of explosives, all done in the name of a shadowy Asian terrorist group directly linked to al Qaeda.
"They [al Qaeda] have supported the group that has become very active in the region called Jemaah Islamiah," said Robert Gelbard, the former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.
Jemaah Islamiah has sent some recruits to al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. They got both money and inspiration from Osama bin Laden. They hatched plots, among them to bomb U.S. embassies in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Also in Singapore, they filmed plans to murder American sailors at a bus stop and blow up U.S. warships.
That scheme was discovered. In Singapore and Malaysia, dozens were arrested. But in Indonesia, no action at all.
With it's population numbering 90 percent Muslim - and a fragile coalition democracy coming together after decades of dictatorship - there is no stomach here to challenge any Muslim group. And that is dangerous not just for Indonesia, but for America's war on terrorism, because Jemaah Islamiah has a big vision and followers are willing to fight and die for it.
Their dream is a Pan Islamic state - stretching from Muslim parts
of southern Thailand and Cambodia down throughout all of present-day
Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia into Brunei and on to the southern Philippines.
It would be all-Islamic, all fundamentalist and all anti-American.
Ralph Boyce is the current U.S. ambassador to Indonesia. He's also served in other southeast Asian countries and has heard about the Pan Islamic State.
"I think it very unlikely (but) certainly a concern," he said. Asked what would make it happen, he said "I think that a lack of communication, a sense of alienation as you say, if the economic situation goes south and stays that way."
The greatest danger in Indonesia are the slums, and there are a lot of them. It is here where anti-western fundamentalism takes root and flourishes, where desperation mutates into anger.
Anger that was found in a small city in central Java where thousands
rallied to hear Abubakar Ba'asyir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah,
praying for the health of the al Qaeda leadership.
On Friday's CBS Evening News, in his first ever American television interview, Abubakar Ba'asyir speaks openly of his dream of an Islamic State and his rage against America.
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Abubakar
Ba'asyir (CBS)
JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 19, 2002
(CBS) His name is Abubakar Ba'asyir and for the thousands who rally to his call, his message is blunt: Kill the Israelis. Join the mujahaddin. Fight America. Respect Osama. Allah directs this.
Back at his school in central Java, where he gave CBS News his first ever interview with American television, he says there's a war going on between America and Islam.
The United States attacked Afghanistan arbitrarily. It is fighting against Islam. But it cannot defeat Islam. Sooner or later, the United States will be destroyed by fighting against Islam," said Ba'asyir.
He looks like a kindly grandfather, but intelligence sources in Southeast Asia label him a terrorist, the spiritual leader of a group with direct connections to al Qaeda - a group called Jemaah Islamiah.
CBS News Correspondent Barry Petersen reports that Jemaah Islamiah followers plotted to blow up U.S. embassies in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, and kill American sailors. When the plot was foiled, the operational mastermind known as Hambali disappeared.
Hambali and Ba'asyir are old friends.
"When I met him five years ago, he was a good Islamic teacher. He is not a terrorist," said Ba'asyir.
And who is?
"The United States attacked Afghanistan without reason. They are the terrorists," said Ba'asyir.
A school located in the heart of Indonesia is called al Muk-Min - The Believers. But here they don't believe in democracy. They are taught to fight for only one kind of Indonesia: a fundamentalist, Islamic regime.
Ba'asyir preaches jihad, holy war, telling young, impressionable students to ask their parents for permission to go fight the Jews in Palestine.
America might want to see the suspected terrorist locked up, but the U.S. supports Indonesia's new democracy and that means the U.S. supports free speech, even if it's against democracy.
The gamble here is that democracy will be far more appealing to this nation's Muslims than anti-western, Islamic fundamentalism. And, if so, democracy could turn Indonesia from a wary friend into a strong U.S. ally. So, for America, the most useful weapon in the war on terrorism in Indonesia may be patience.