Talk to terrorists: Bali victim father By Lauren Ahwan September 10, 2004
THE Jakarta embassy bombing showed Australia must negotiate with terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiah, Brian Deegan, whose son Joshua died in the 2002 Bali bombings, said today.
Australia needed to rethink its foreign policies, he said.
Mr Deegan, a former magistrate who is running against Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer in the federal election, called on Mr Downer to meet Jemaah Islamiah (JI) to negotiate an end to the terror.
JI, a terror group linked to al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for yesterday's car bomb attack outside the Australian embassy that killed nine people and injured at least 180.
Mr Downer flew to Jakarta last night. Mr Deegan said Mr Downer should meet the leaders of JI while he was in Indonesia.
"He is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, it's his portfolio. If we are at some kind of war, then we should negotiate," Mr Deegan said.
"He (Mr Downer) should speak to the head of JI and ask him: 'Why? What's the problem?'
"He went to North Korea and spoke to our alleged enemies and tried to be diplomatic there.
"I think it's now time we became diplomatic elsewhere."
Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out negotiating with terrorists and today said Australia was a terrorist target long before the Iraq war, citing the Bali bombings.
But Mr Deegan said the Bali blasts were directly linked to Iraq and called on the government to rethink its foreign policies.
"By that time (when the Bali blasts occurred), Australia had made it abundantly clear, through Mr Howard, that Australia was part of the coalition of the willing," he said.
"The Bali bombings were a protest of western countries aligning themselves with the US against Iraq.
"The Government must reconsider its foreign policies.
"It needs to rethink its policies on whether or not it accepts its role as, perhaps, a mediator in the Asian region."
Mr Deegan denied negotiating with JI was akin to giving in to terrorism.
"This is not an organisation run by rabbits," he said.
"This is a well-informed organisation, a political organisation, that's run by very intelligent people.
"They're not out to convince our country to become religious, although I do accept they are trying to convince Indonesia.
"They are fighting us because of our policies of improperly entering other countries."
