EDITORIAL - Porous borders

As easily as he slipped into the Philippines despite being wanted for the worst terrorist attack in Southeast Asia, Indonesian bomb technician Dulmatin sneaked out, returning to his home country. On Tuesday, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on a visit to Australia which lost 88 of its citizens in the nightclub bombings in Bali in 2002, announced with pride that Dulmatin had been killed in a police raid on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Security analysts had predicted that Dulmatin, Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist with a $10-million prize on his head, was in line to succeed Noordin Mohammad Top as head of Jemaah Islamiyah, the terror cell that has been blamed for bomb attacks in Bali and Jakarta. JI, in tandem with the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has also been blamed for the bombings of the Light Rail Transit in Manila as well as other targets in Metro Manila on Dec. 30, 2000, and the attack on the SuperFerry in Manila Bay that left over 100 people dead or missing.

Dulmatin was believed wounded by government troops in Mindanao in 2006. Indonesians are not the only ones wondering how he managed to return to their country, and how many other JI militants cross borders easily. Authorities are still looking for Dulmatin’s JI companion, Umar Patek, who is also believed to be hiding in Mindanao.

The neutralization of terrorists in Indonesia is a welcome development, but the two countries clearly have to do more in controlling border crossings. JI militants had taught bomb-making and other lethal skills at training camps maintained by the MILF over a decade ago. After government forces overran the camps, the training continued in other areas. MILF elements and the Abu Sayyaf were believed to have provided Dulmatin and Umar Patek sanctuary after the 2002 attack in Bali.

Terrorists are not the only ones who shuttle regularly between the two countries. The porous borders have been exploited by human traffickers, gunrunners, drug dealers and smugglers. With Dulmatin dead, the Philippines must do its best to prevent other terrorists from turning the country into their sanctuary.