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Denounce Terrorism, Promote Tolerance
The Jakarta Globe
Four days after the tragic, inhuman and cowardly bomb attacks on the
Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels, there has been an outpouring of
national grief. Political and religious leaders have condemned the
sinful and cruel attacks, but so far in measured tones.
While
the nation grieves more loss of innocent life and contemplates the evil
in our midst, many questions remain unanswered. There can be no excuses
for the failure of the police and intelligence forces to stop this
latest attack. The security forces must move swiftly to apprehend the
perpetrators and the masterminds of this cruel assault on our sense of
security and well-being. If indeed the masterminds behind Friday’s attacks are
the same individuals who orchestrated previous attacks, they must be
captured and tried with haste before they can do more damage.
Malaysian-born terrorist Noordin M. Top remains at large and has escaped
numerous attempts by the police to capture him. The police must redouble their efforts to apprehend
this criminal. Our intelligence efforts must be stepped up, but that
goes without saying. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must establish a
special task force led by a senior and respected police officer to
coordinate the capture of Religious leaders, especially Muslim scholars and
imams, must condemn terrorism clearly and forcefully if we are to
eradicate this menace from our society. Hasyim Muzadi, the chairman of
Nadhlatul Ulama, has begun that process by declaring that the terrorists
do not represent Islam.
While he was right is declaring that religion is not
terror and terror is not religion, as the head of the largest Muslim
organization in the country, he needs to go further and publicly
denounce the bombers. The longer-term solution must be to ostracize
radicalism in all its forms from our society and promote respect and
tolerance for all faiths.
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