With most to lose
Ambitious Vice President Hamzah Haz tries to salvage his presidency hope after the Bali blast after supporting radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Oct 24, 2002

After actively courting radical Muslim leaders with alleged links to terrorist groups, Vice President Hamzah Haz has apparently moved into a post-Bali damage-control mode.

Ten days after the explosion on the island killed nearly 200 people, the conservative leader of Indonesia's largest Muslim Party, paid a visit to the stricken island to condemn the attack.

Police are seeking the terrorists of the worst bombing in history that Hamzah Haz had - prior to the bombing - insisted did not exist in Indonesia.

Haz is, of course, no militant or terrorism advocate himself. But he had blatantly played the "Muslim card" to improve his chances for the 2004 presidential election.

What caused him to shift his stand was the arrest of the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), cleric Abu Bakar Bashir with whom he had a close relationship.

When Bashir was called in by police for interrogation several months ago followuing charges by Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines that his al Qaeda-linked JI was a terrorist organisation, Hamzah Daz invited him to his house for dinner.

The idea of Indonesia's vice president entertaining an alleged terrorist leader linked to plots to blow up several Western embassies in neighbouring Singapore apparently did not bother him.

(Five months ago, he also visited another Islamic militant leader, Laskar Jihad commander Jaafar Umar Thalib when he was detained at the police headquarters on suspicion of attacking Christians in Muluku.)

It was his stout defence of Bashir's alleged terrorist plots that has now come back to haunt him.

The death of so many foreign - especially Australian - tourists (leading to strong international pressure on Jakarta) and Bashir's subsequent arrest that had caused his political fortune to plumet.

The change is aimed at moving back towards the rest of the cabinet and parliament, which passed new laws to act against terrorists.

He had found himself isolated when the two largest Muslim parties, including his own, threw their support behind President Megawati.

After 10 days of reluctance, he finally moved to distant himself from Bashir and salvage his tattered ambition to defeat Mrs. Megawati for the presidency in two years' time.

There is growing support for anti-American views among Indonesians. Many Muslims oppose Mrs. Megawati supporting the US, which they believe has an anti-Islam agenda.

But the Bali bombs have shifted the public mood, somewhat. Indonesians are shocked that local militants have joined al Qaeda foreigners to bomb their country, a Muslim society.

The post-Bali mood is still one of wariness of Americans but mixed with anger against their own troublemakers.

Indonesians - except for a small minority - are now less tolerant of extremists who run training camps for fighters as well as politicians who support them.

Police warning that a second attack will likely place in Indonesia has hardened this feeling that Indonesia itself - not America - is the victim of domestic religious fanatics.

This is a backlash on Haz himself. In his visit to Bali, Haz admitted publicly for the first time that terrorists had established a presence in Indonesia.

Without naming Bashir, he condemned the bombing and said the government would act against the perpetrators, even if they were religious scholars. "We will not protect them or forgive them," he said.

"This action is uncivilised, it's aimed to break up Indonesia and to paralyse the economy.

"They don't want to see any recovery in the Indonesian economy and want to distance Indonesia from the rest of the world," the vice president said.

He is down but not out. His many critics do not give him a high chance of winning the presidency race.

If he is forced out, none of Indonesia's neighbours, America or Australia will shed a tear. Foreigners and moderate Indonesians still harbour deep suspicion of him.

Two rears is a long time and politics in Indonesia is uncertain.

He may stand a good chance if Mrs. Megawati stumble on the economy and fails to shut down extremist groups in the country, while not angering 200 Muslims in the country.
Seah Chiang Nee