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The Prosperous Justice Party on Wednesday urged the government not to use the highly publicized discovery of a nest of terrorists operating in Aceh to disturb the public’s focus on the Corruption Eradication Commission’s investigation into the Bank Century scandal.

Hidayat Nur Wahid, a senior member of the Islam-based party, also known as the PKS, and the former head of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), questioned the timing of the raids in Aceh and Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta.

“There are various anomalies with the terrorist issue because it blew up shortly after the House declared its stance on the Century case,” said Hidayat, currently a member of House of Representatives Commission I, which oversees defense and foreign and political affairs.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party have been under intense pressure after coalition partners the Golkar Party and the PKS determined that the bailout, approved by Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, was illegal and showed indications of corruption.

Hidayat, who the PKS had pushed to partner with Yudhoyono in last year’s presidential elections, said that besides the Century case, the raids and the killing of terrorist mastermind Dulmatin also coincided with Yudhoyono’s visit to Australia and ahead of US President Barack Obama’s trip to Indonesia. He said the timing was curious because Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf having said the migration of terrorists to the province had been detected a year ago.

Hidayat questioned why the government had taken so long to act and acted when it did.

“This has raised speculation on whether the current move against terrorists is a request or project from Australia. I just hope that it’s not true,” he said.

However, intelligence expert Wawan Purwanto expressed doubts that the pursuit of terrorists had been used to divert public attention from the Century case.