A number of districts in West Java, believed to be home to extremists advocating sharia (Islamic law), are now under tight surveillance to prevent the possibility of further terrorist attacks, says provincial police chief Insp. Gen. Dadang S. Garnida. “The regions in West Java that we are monitoring are those where Muslims are overly fanatic. We are conducting surveillance in those areas,” Dadang said on Saturday while accompanying President Megawati Soekarnoputri’s husband Taufik Kiemas who visited fishermen in Gebangmekar village, Cirebon regency, West Java. The tight control came as the government is drafting revisions to the antiterrorism law in order to give more powers to the military following the Aug. 5 bombing of JW Marriott Hotel that killed 12 people. The planned revisions drew fire from human rights activists and other critics, who blamed the latest terrorist attack on the poor coordination between security forces and intelligence agencies, rather than the military’s lack of power. Dadang declined to name the districts that would be monitored. Full Story
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