Perhaps this has something to do with the United States refusing to cooperate with the Indonesian (or any other) authorities in the war on terror. Remember Hambali, the alleged mastermind of JI and al-Qaeda's main guy in SE Asia? The mastermind that has been sitting in US custody for over a year and the Indonesians haven't been able to get access to question him.

Do you expect a fairminded judge to accept a US intelligence agent to speak for Hambali in court?

I disagree. The US is reluctant to turn over Hambali because they have little faith in Indonesia's legal system - a perfectly understandable concern if the Bali bombing trials are anything to go by. The US in fact has offered Indonesia help in clamping down on extremist terror but Indonesia has been only half-hearted in accepting it. That is why Indonesia, far more than Malaysia and other SE Asian countries, remains a focus for terror groups.

Huh? Checking US State Dept. Travel Warnings shows that southern Thailand, Malaysia, and the southern Philippines are all accounted for.

There was a warning issued for Indonesia a few days before the latest blast telling Americans not to hang out at places that look American. Most of the warning though deals with kidnap gangs (Abu Sayaf) operating in the east across the Malaysian, Philippines and Indonesian borders and the usual sectarian violence in Aceh, Papua, and Malaka, not JI terrorism.

Beyond not handing Hambali over to the Indonesians, they wouldn't even let the Indonesians question him directly while he was in US custody. The best the Indonesians could get was to pass questions to the US Intelligence and then wait for US Intelligence to give them answers back. And this is part of why the prosecutors had such difficulties with the Bali bombing case. Take away your key conspirator and prosecutor's cases tend to go "poof".

Sigh... given that only a few weeks ago Indonesian officials were still saying that JI didn't exist, I guess it has to be considered progress that a ban is even being discussed.

Tom:

Don't let the fact that you know nothing whatsoever about Indonesia from standing in the way over a nothier mindless anti-American rant.

The current government won't ban JI because Megawati (1) is a demonstrated weakling who (2) has made appeals to the Islamic right a fundimental part of her campaign and therefore (3) she is fearful of doing anything that might upset them.

Megawati's current vice-president is Hamzah friggin' Haz for Christ sake, the self professed "close friend" and defender of JI leader Bashir.