President not disappointed by police`s failure to get Noordin

Wednesday, 12 August  2009

ANTARA News Agency

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is not disappointed about the fact that anti-terror police failed to get Noordin M Top in their recent raid in Temanggung, a minister said.

Yudhoyono in fact praised the police for being able to catch a number of terrorists, Minister/State Secretary Hatta Rajasa said here on Wednesday.

The police`s successful raids, including in Temanggung (Central Java) and Jatiasih (Bekasi, West Java) should be appreciated following the bomb blasts which hit JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta last July 17, Rajasa said after accompanying the head of state in receiving four new foreign ambassadors at the Merdeka Palace.

In hunting terrorists, the police not only targeted fugitive Malaysian-born extremist Noordin M Top but also other suspects such as Ibrohim, he said.

The police had made significant achievements by arresting and killing a number of terror network members, he said.

A new regulation was needed to limit the movements of terrorists who were still at large in the country, he said.

"It`s time to issue a new law that will make us more capable of fighting terrorism in order to protect the people and the country," he said.

Earlier, Inspector General Nanan Soekarno, a spokesman of the National Police, announced that the terrorist who was killed in a police raid in Temanggung last Saturday (Aug. 8) was Ibrohim, not Noordin M Top.

Ibrohim played an important role in the bombing of the JW Marriot and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta last July 17, 2009, where nine people were killed and and 53 others, including foreigners, were injured.

The Indonesian government was determined to intensify efforts to find Noordin M Top and other terrorists following the bombings of two hotels in the Mega Kuningan area in Jakarta last July 17, 2009.(*)