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Another bombing possible as coherent steps yet to be taken
Another bomb attack could still happen as the nation’s various law enforcement institutions have yet to comprehensively integrate their intelligence data while Home Affairs Ministry had yet to update the nation’s civil registry, experts say
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nother bomb attack could still happen as the nation’s various law enforcement institutions have yet to comprehensively integrate their intelligence data while Home Affairs Ministry had yet to update the nation’s civil registry, experts say.
Experts on intelligence and law enforcement agreed that the nation’s largest weakness was the lack of an integrated intelligence data and an overlapping – if not contradictory – civil registry system.
“We should be worrying because intelligence from the military, of the government, of the police and of civil institutions had not been coordinated well,” said Bambang Widodo Umar, an expert on national security from the University of Indonesia, Sunday.
“This is the most exploitable aspect in Indonesia’s security compared to Malaysia and Singapore,” he added.
He said another bomb attack would not occur in the near future though, as large scale sneak attacks such as those using suicide bombers tend to wait for awhile before striking again.
AC Manulang, an expert in intelligence, agreed that intelligence data from several institutions tend to contradict each other and create a hole in the nation’s security.
“I’ve actually heard intelligence saying that Noordin M. Top is already in Java, and it’s impossible to tell because the other intelligence data do not support that theory,” he said.
He urged the public to remain aware as the bombing in Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott proved that terrorists cell in the country were still active.
“Whatever the case, a possibility of another bombing attack in the near future are still on the horizon,” he said. Meanwhile, the police had intensify their questioning of MA or TH, a man arrested in East Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Saturday for suspected of being connected to a terrorist network, by bringing in Densus 88, the nation’s counter-terror forces.
Sr. Comr. Hery Subiansauri, spokesperson for the South Sulawesi Police, said Densus 88 was brought in due to MA’s alleged facial similarity to Noordin M. Top.
“We are intensifying our investigation by bringing in Densus 88 because the arrest of MA was done due to his facial similarity with Noordin M. Top,” he said.
“We would also be coordinating with the National Police on our investigation processes,” he added.
