Information gleaned from a laptop computer belonging to slain terrorist Noordin M. Top reveals his network was planning attacks against the government, police announced Tuesday.
That marks a shift from the terrorist network's usual target of foreign nationals and foreign-owned assets, police say.
"Their main target previously was distant enemies or anything related to foreign interests," Sr. Comr. Tito Karnavian, from the National Police's Detachment 88 counterterrorism unit, said at a press conference.
"But they've recently looked at targeting enemies closer to home, like the government, which they claim has facilitated the democracy introduced by foreign countries."
Tito added police had also found a new pattern in the terrorists' movements when analyzing the July 17 attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta.
"Previously, there was an interval between one attack and the next, as in the 2002 Bali bombings, the 2003 Marriott bombing, the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing and the 2005 Bali bombing," he said.
"But based on our investigations into the recent hotel bombings, they seemed to have planned a series of terror attacks. This is an important finding for us."
He said he could not yet reveal what the next targets were to have been.
Terrorism expert Mardigu W.P. warned that despite Noordin's death, Indonesia remained a "soft target", in the sense that terrorists could still attack foreigners and their assets in the country.
"If Indonesia becomes their hard target, they could attack Indonesian assets too, and that needs time and money to research if we're to nip it in the bud," he said.
Police have blamed the terror attacks on Jamaah Islamiyah, reportedly the Southeast Asian affiliate of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda. Three suspects in the recent blasts remain at large. Mardigu suggested the police continue monitoring flows of money that could be diverted to terrorist activities.
Detachment 88's Sr. Comr. Petrus Golose pointed out Noordin's network had a host of funding sources, "from individual donations all the way to foreign funding," he said.
Police also showed video recordings found in Noordin's laptop, which showed the two suicide hotel bombers, Dani Dwi Permana and Nana Ikhwan Maulana.
The June 21 and 23 clips showed them jogging and resting in a field in front of the two hotels.
Police said the footage was recorded by the fugitive Syarifudin "Udin" Zuhri bin Jaelani Irsyad, the suspected recruiter of the bombers.
Also on show was a letter purportedly written by Udin to his family, to inform them he now worked in a well-organized outfit.
"We have leaders, treasurers, those tasked to recruit new members, clerics who can give edicts or direction, those assigned to protect the mujahid *fighter* family, to find explosives and weapons, and to build networks, domestic and international," the letter read.
The letter added Udin held an important position in the Southeast Asian network of al-Qaeda.
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