Indonesians Bristle at Criticism Over Verdict for Islamic Cleric

[Darranar]

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept. 6 — Indonesians across the political spectrum are lashing back at international criticism of the verdict in the trial of the militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who was acquitted of terrorism charges on Tuesday. The Indonesians say that the United States refused to share intelligence information that would have helped convict him and that it is unseemly for Western democracies to criticize the outcome of a public trial.

The court found that the cleric was not the leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist organization, and it sentenced him to four years for sedition, arising from his support for an Islamic state.

"This nascent democracy does not need any backlash from the U.S. and its allies," the moderate Jakarta Post, the country's largest English-language daily, wrote in an editorial on Friday. "What it does need is honest global cooperation in its war against terrorism."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/07/international/asia/07INDO.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting indeed.

[Aidoneus]

1. it's subtle, but what I found interesting about the verdict..

was that they didn't equate "terrorism" with his sedition charge. That shouldn't be an accomplishment, but considering their part in the global campaign to roll back the democratic rights ("war on terra") gained through past popular struggles against all of these statist regimes that use propaganda about JI as some regional bogeyman, that's a bit notable.

[Darranar]

2. That would have been stupid...

If they had, the jury could well have aquitted him of that too - or am I misunderstanding you?

[Aidoneus]

3. well

Like much of the rest of the world, the Indonesian state has been using "terrorism" as a new excuse to bully and harass political rivals in a few cases, control the flow of public debate, and most notably pass all sorts of new laws that attack popular democratic rights and freedoms (the main thrust of this international campaign), in the name of "fighting terra".

Considering the tremendous puffing up of JI as the regional Boogeyman In Every Closet that all of the region's governments have gotten into the habit of doing, and also that Ba'syir has been promoted for months as its leader, it just seemed a bit surprising to me that he wasn't made an example of by the state under that new international formula of "opponent of the state & US power = international terrorist conspiracy" (replacing the old "enemy of the state & US power = international communist conspiracy" formula of decades previous). Probably isn't anything special..just little things and trends I notice, a plot twist that didn't make sense with the past hype. :shrug:

[Darranar]

4. Okay...

I think the government expected him to get convicted for both, which of course didn't happen.

[Aidoneus]

6. that could be

reminds me a bit of the mob trials, they want a guy for being a mobster, but can't prove anything, so they get him for jaywalking & tax evasion. Just seems odd, all of these governments hype Ba'asyir for months as the head of this shadowy international arch-terrorist group (so secret that only the usual crop of intelligence agencies and self-interested politicians seem to know anything about it) and then find that he's not the head of the group and nail him for immigration violations and "sedition"..

Maybe not so surprising, it seems the regional heads aren't playing along as energetically with the "terrorism" issue lately, doesn't seem to be on the agenda of the next regional meeting of ASEAN/AIPO.

[bemildred]

5. Watching an Indonesian "bristle" sounds interesting.

(I are bored tonight.)

The noise level in Manila is rising. Lots of denials that
anything is going on, a few small demos that I can find. You
seen anything?

[Aidoneus]

7. a bit from a week ago

talks about a "conspiracy to destabilise the govt", some people calling for GMA to resign (and her firing back at them as being "enemies of the constitution" or somesuch), opinion pieces comparing the current corruption to discredited past figures like Estrada.. "intelligence reports" suggesting future anti-govt demonstrations.. Arroyo framing her regime in terms of "defending democracy", detractors claim "What democracy?" (very good editorial on inq7.net of the same name).

That "coup attempt" (which struck me as more of a theatrical demonstration than any power grab attempt) seems to have helped the govt's popularity, for now anyway, people seem to fear a military takeover more than the current crop of cheats and liars (can't say I blame 'em, though I'd take a more 'pox on the both of them' stance). :shrug:

[bemildred]

8. Thnx.

I had not thought of it as a psyop to shore GMA up.
:tinfoilhat:

I suppose if she settles with MILF etc. she might need some
other "threat".

Sen. Dequiros writes with a certain passion.

[Aidoneus]

9. mm.. didn't think of it as that

mentioned it as an after-effect, but :tinfoilhat: I can't say that wouldn't make sense too.

[dArKeR]

10. Indonesians say US being unseemly

Indonesians across the political spectrum are lashing back at international criticism of the verdict in the trial of the militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who was acquitted of terrorism charges on Tuesday. The Indonesians say that the US refused to share intelligence information that would have helped convict him and that it is unseemly for Western democracies to criticize the outcome of a public trial.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/09/08/2003066988