By Mark Forbes in Denpasar
THE Indonesian Government has endorsed a court's decision to outlaw the radical Jemaah Islamiah network, sparking intense debate about whether the move is a turning point in the region's battle against terrorism.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Kristiarto Legowo, told the Herald the administration had to respect the legal process and the court's decision. "I think the essence here is it [JI] is now banned and that we are all bound by it."
He declined to say whether the Government would formally list JI as banned or discuss new moves against the network. JI members carried out the Bali bombings and a string of other terrorist attacks in a campaign to impose an Islamist state across the region.
Last year the Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, said it was impractical to outlaw JI as it was not a "formal organisation".
Sentencing JI's former leader and military commander to 15 years in jail on Monday, the South Jakarta District Court ruled they were caretakers of an "illegal organisation".
The Singapore-based terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna hailed the verdict as a "huge victory against terrorism", but others questioned how the ban would be enforced and whether it was legally binding.
A police spokesman, Abubakar Nataprawira, indicated there were no plans to use the court's verdict to crack down on JI members. General Nataprawira said police "only deal with people who commit crime, whose actions have clearly violated the law on terrorism".
Australia welcomed the court's decision. The Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, said yesterday that it was a significant move and "assessing its full ramifications may take some time".
Mr Smith said Indonesian officials would be carefully examining the verdict, but it was up to Jakarta to decide whether to issue a formal ban against JI.
Canberra has urged Indonesia to outlaw JI since its role in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, was revealed. Banning the region's most dangerous terrorist network would send an important public message and enable the arrest of key leaders, Canberra argued.
The International Crisis Group director and JI expert Sidney Jones said the verdict came "closer to banning JI as an organisation and closer to declaring it an illegal organisation than anything we've had thus far".
The decision "may make it easier for the police to actually arrest and charge individuals who are also members of the [JI] central command", Ms Jones said.
A law lecturer at the University of Indonesia, Rudy Satrio Makatardjo, said the Attorney-General's office and the courts had the authority to ban organisations, although lower court decisions needed to be confirmed by the Supreme Court.
"Only when the case has reached Supreme Court will it be a final, legal binding decision," he said. "Only then it is formally banned."
with Karuni Rompies