EDITORIAL - Catch the masterminds

Under tight security, the people of Bali gathered around a memorial at the heart of its tourist district yesterday to remember the 202 people who died in the nightclub bombings on Oct. 12, 2002. Indonesia’s world-renowned island resort continues to suffer from the consequences of the terrorist attack, which was compounded by three suicide bombings that killed 20 people on Oct. 1 last year.

Indonesia is seen as the home of Jemaah Islamiyah, the terror cell loosely linked to al-Qaeda that operates in Southeast Asia. JI has been tagged in the two Bali bombings as well as two other terrorist attacks in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. Apart from Indonesia, JI is believed to be most active in the Philippines, where security officials say the group is training recruits in bomb making under the protection of the Abu Sayyaf and certain members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The three groups have been held responsible for terrorist attacks on the Light Railway Transit in Manila and three other spots in Metro Manila in December 2000, the bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay in February 2004, the bus bombing in Makati on Valentine’s Day last year, bombings of the Davao International Airport and wharf as well as other attacks in Mindanao.

If Indonesia is the home of JI, the Philippines has become its training ground. And the two men identified as the masterminds of the 2002 bombings in Bali are among those conducting the training. Indonesian fugitives Dulmatin and Umar Patek, with a combined bounty of $11 million, are being hunted down in Sulu together with Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani. The terrain in Sulu is difficult, but the military should not let its prey get away. Janjalani has eluded pursuers for years. Now that the military says it is closing in on him, the elusive terrorist and his two Indonesian cohorts must not be allowed to escape. The capture of these three men should be the country’s way of remembering those who lost their lives in Bali.