Indonesia's defense minister told police Monday to crack down on attempts to intimidate Americans after militant Muslim groups roamed international hotels and the airport in Central Java city looking for US citizens.
"Arbitrary acts by members of the public, including conducting sweeps, are anarchic. We strongly discourage those acts," Defense Minister Matori Abdul Jalil was quoted as saying by the Detikcom news portal.
Jalil urged local officials and police to take stern action against anti-American raids, saying they would shatter international confidence in Indonesia and undermine its economic recovery.
But militant Muslim leaders in Solo remained defiant and Monday said they planned to go ahead and expel US citizens if Washington persisted in attacking Afghanistan.
Some 3,000 Muslims staged a rally in the Central Java city of Solo against the US planned military operations in Afghanistan.
"We will expel American citizens if they (the US) attack Afghanistan without any clear reasons," the leader of the Surakarta Islamic Youths Front, Mudzakir, was quoted as saying by Detikcom.
The US embassy, already on high alert, told its nationals to avoid all travel to Central Java province. It reiterated warnings first issued last month of possible extremist attacks against US facilities and citizens.
On Sunday six militant groups, each of about 25 to 30 men, separately checked five hotels in Solo city with the aim of forcibly evicting them from the country. No US citizens were found.
A group also tried to intercept any Americans arriving at the international airport there, an airport security official said Monday.
"A small number of people came here yesterday and asked if any Americans were arriving. There wasn't any American passengers," Sukarno told AFP. "We told them to leave and they did."
The hotel sweep came despite a call by the central Java military commander, Major General Sumarsono, for Muslims to refrain from intimidation in the face of possible US reprisal strikes on Afghanistan.
The embassy urged its citizens "to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to reduce their vulnerability."
Anti-American protests have mounted in several cities and towns in Indonesia after US officials singled out Saudi-born Muslim radical Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect behind the deadly attacks on New York and the Pentagon on September 11.
Hard-line Indonesian Islamic groups have threatened to raid US facilities and expel Americans nationwide if Washington strikes Afghanistan.
The government of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has condemned the September 11 attacks and pledged to join the US war on global terrorism.
Moderate Muslim groups have also condemned the "sweeps" in search of US citizens,
"We do not need to expel US citizens, staging protests would be enough. Indonesia is an open country," said Imam Addaruqutni, who heads the youth group affiliated to the second largest Muslim organization, the Muhammadiyah.
Police have deployed hundreds of snipers and crack personnel to guard 17 key US facilities in the capital.
Later on Monday some 20 people burnt the US and Israeli flags during a protest outside the heavily guarded US embassy. They brandished toy guns and pictures of bin Laden but there were no clashes with police.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Indonesia would ratify several UN conventions on terrorism to lay a firm legal basis for its fight.
"We deem it necessary to strengthen our legal instruments at home. We will ratify the UN conventions," Wirayuda told the state-run Antara news agency in an interview Sunday in Houston in the United States.
He said President Megawati Sukarnoputri would announce Indonesia's intention to sign the conventions during her meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York on Monday -- JAKARTA (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
