DON'T TURN ANTI-TERRORISM INTO POLITICAL COMMODITY : STUDENTS' ORGANIZATION

Jakarta, Aug. 26 (ANTARA) - A university students' organization has reminded that the fight against terrorism should not be made into a 'political commodity'.

The fight against terrorism should not be made into a political commodity or merely an effort to please the United States, the main sponsor of the "war on terror", Muhammad Item, public advocacy chairman of the Central Presidium of the Indonesian National University Students' Movement (GMNI), said here on Wednesday.

He was asked about a statement by Police Chief Bambang H Danuri who denied that the police headquarters had issued a policy on the monitoring and supervision of religious propagation activities in the country.

He got an impression that a public opinion building on fight against terrorism was 'a bit too much' and caused news on monitoring of Islamic preachings.

The media tended to blow up anything related to terrorism and even treated it as if it was a 'commercial commodity'.

In fact, he believed that fight against terrorism should be based on intelligence operation which did not need publicity.

He also opined that television stations' live broadcast when police raided terrorist hideout like what had happened recently, was exaggeration.

Item agreed that terrorism is a grave human rights crime and must be regarded as a common enemy.

He urged the government, especially the police, to involve various parties, particularly networking existing in the community, in the fight against terrorism, instead of relying on the help of foreign countries. He also said anti-terrorism must be conducted not just to please the US.

He said he appreciated the police's efforts in fighting terrorism so far, but he reminded that it was not the only main tasks of the police.

According to Item, police have many responsibilities including in managing the traffic, which are particularly chaotic in big cities.