Indonesian security forces were on high alert yesterday after the execution of three Islamists over the 2002 Bali bombings amid fears of a violent extremist backlash, police said.
“We’re still on alert for any security disturbances after the executions,” national police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said, saying the readiness level was at its highest.
Indonesia stepped up security at tourist spots and embassies ahead of the execution of the bombers behind the 2002 attacks on the resort island of Bali, which killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.
Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra were executed by firing squad shortly after midnight on Sunday on a prison island off southern Java.
Their funerals in their home villages turned into rallies for hundreds of Islamic extremists bent on jihad or “holy war” with the West, even though the vast majority of Indonesian Muslims are moderates.
Noor Huda Ismail, an expert on the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network, which was allegedly behind the Bali carnage, said he had seen more than 20 JI militants from Malaysia and Indonesia at the funeral.
“That occasion unified these people to share contacts and for making strategies,” he said after attending the chaotic funerals for Amrozi and Mukhlas in Tenggulun, east Java.
Several senior JI militants remain at large in Indonesia.
They are believed to include Malaysian-born former accountant Noordin Mohammad Top, an alleged terrorist recruiter and the self-proclaimed leader of a group called al-Qaeda for the Malay Archipelago.
Police meanwhile said they had arrested two men on the weekend for making bomb threats in protest at the executions. The Australian and US embassies received bomb threats last week, along with shopping centers and hotels around Jakarta.
Australia, which lost 88 nationals in the Bali attacks and had its embassy here car-bombed in 2004, has warned against unnecessary travel to Indonesia. The US has told citizens in the country to keep a “low profile.”
Until the end, the bombers expressed no remorse for their “infidel” victims and claimed they wanted to die as “martyrs” for their dream of an Islamic caliphate spanning much of Southeast Asia.
Sentenced in 2003, they launched at least four failed legal challenges, which delayed their executions and kept them in the media spotlight.
Hundreds of supporters briefly clashed with police as the bodies of Mukhlas and Amrozi — the latter dubbed the “smiling assassin” for his courtroom antics — were delivered to their family in Tenggulun.
The vast majority of Indonesian Muslims had little sympathy for the militants and were embarrassed by the extremists’ behavior.
The head of the country’s top Islamic body, the Indonesian Council of Ulamas, said on Sunday the bombers could not be considered “martyrs.”
“Someone who killed others will not die as a martyr unless they waged a war in the name of religion. They were not fighting for religion,” Umar Shihab said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was