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JI ban may do little for safety: govt
The federal government will push Indonesia to outlaw Jemaah Islamiah (JI) but warns banning the terror group may do little to make it safer for Australians abroad. Labor wants the government to step up pressure on Indonesia to ban the group, which is thought to be behind blasts at three Bali restaurants on the weekend, killing 22 people, including up to four Australians. Prime Minister John Howard said the government - which had raised the matter with Indonesia before - would do so again. But he warned it would not necessarily make it safer for Australians holidaying in Bali. "Australians travelling to Bali would only be safer if the capacity of people in Bali to carry out terrorist attacks was reduced," he told reporters. "The question of whether declaring illegal in Indonesia has that affect or not will depend on a whole lot of things over which the Australian government does not have control." Two Australians, 16-year-old Brendan Fitzgerald and Jennifer Williamson, 48, are confirmed among the dead from the latest attack. Authorities are continuing the painstaking task of identifying another two bodies, believed to be Newcastle couple Colin and Fiona Zwolinski, both aged in their mid-40s. The government has strengthened its travel advice for Indonesia, warning Australians in Bali to avoid the upmarket Seminyak area after media reports of more bomb threats. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the new advice was based on media reports as well as what security agencies describe as gossip, such as text messages. "They haven't been corroborated but nevertheless we thought ... it was appropriate to include that in the travel advisory," he said. Australia will give Bali and its people a $1 million handout to cope with the aftermath of the latest bombings, which many fear will decimate the economy of an island that survives on tourism. The funds will be provided through AusAID and will include $100,000 to boost capacity at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, which provided initial treatment to many of the blast victims. Five Australians injured in the attack are still recovering in a Singapore hospital, while nine from a group who were airlifted to Darwin will be transferred to a hospital in Newcastle on Wednesday. Darwin doctors have filled dozens of large shopping bags with shrapnel recovered from the wounded bomb victims and will hand it to Australian police who are helping Indonesia with the blast investigation Australian Federal Police officers have interviewed around 5,000 people returning from Bali to gain an insight into what happened on Saturday night. Indonesian detective believe the suicide bombers who targeted cafes in Kuta and at Jimbaran Bay were helped by accomplices - who may have even detonated the bombs by remote control with mobile phones. Chief among the suspects are JI operatives Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Top, who are suspected of involvement in the 2002 Bali bombing, as well as attacks on the Australian embassy in Jakarta and the Marriott hotel. Labor believes banning JI could go a long way to towards denying it new recruits. "If the Indonesian government bans JI, it means the schools are shut down," Opposition Leader Kim Beazley told reporters. "If the schools are shut down, one comprehensive area of JI recruitment is denied them. "If you take a look at how they've operated over a substantial period of time, there is no doubt in my mind that were the Indonesian government to ban them, it would seriously disrupt their activities." The government will again ask Indonesia to outlaw the group but is circumspect about the impact it would have on terrorist activity. Mr Downer said the impact of outlawing JI should not be exaggerated but acknowledged it was an important symbolic gesture. "(It's important) the state makes it perfectly clear its profound disapproval of the activities of that organisation," he said. |
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Tuesday
Oct 4 18:54 AEST