| JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, due to be released from prison next month, had "intense and deep" involvement in the planning and execution of terror attacks, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge charged Wednesday. . . . Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, Ridge said he hoped Bashir could "be brought to justice in a different way" in the future. He did not elaborate. The United States government believed that Bashir had an "intense and deep involvement in the planning and execution of terrorist activities," Ridge said after meeting with Indonesiaâs Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. . . . [Bashir] was not directly implicated in the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, and was instead convicted on the forgery and immigration charges. . . . Bashir fled to Malaysia in 1985 to escape a crackdown on Islamic radicals by former dictator Suharto I was always told it was a âguided democracyâ. [Bashir] returned to Indonesia after Suhartoâs fall in 1998 and pressed ahead with his mission to replace the secular government with an Islamic one based on Muslim law Which is precisely why the Indonesian government will do something about Bashir. Patience and inclusiveness are extremely prized in Indonesian culture, and the expectation is that the government should be able to include even people like Bashir in respectable society; however, as Suhartoâs reaction to the communist coup should show -- press too far and the pleasantries end. It is too bad Suharto let the absolute power get to him; he should have followed the Singapore model. . . . Despite criticism that it has been soft on Bashir, Indonesiaâs secular government has been praised for its investigation into the Bali and Marriott attacks, in which about 150 suspects have been arrested. So far, three militants have been sentenced to death and 29 others to between 3 years and life imprisonment over the two attacks. |