Australia Fails to Persuade Indon to Ban JI

This will be a quick summary of what I will blog in greater depth later - have to rush off shortly.

Australia has failed to persuade Indonesia to ban the terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiah (JI) for reasons I had already blogged just a couple of days ago. The Indonesian top brass are either afraid of offending domestic sensitivities or in some cases have sympathies and associations with JI.

Ever since former President Suharto went down and the military with him, secular Indon nationalism had given way to the rise of the Islamic movement. It would be a very brave (and perhaps suicidal) Indonesian president who dares to ban such a revered organization as the JI.

I will also attempt to tie various accusations together, namely:

(1) the hands of the Indon military in the recent Bali bombing.

(2) US/Australian governments' involvement in the same bombing.

(3) possible release of the notorious Dr Azahari after being apprehended by Indon security forces.

(4) and the JI powerful influence in Indon

But basically, Australia and the current Indon government have to perform some tight rope balancing act to continue its current relationship while satisfying two diametrically opposed domestic constituencies and their two very different world views.