Jakarta  - Indonesia's proposals to toughen anti-terrorism measures in the wake of deadly hotel bombings in July have triggered unease among Muslim communities and activists who fear the new measures could be used to trample human rights.

A senior counterterrorism official has proposed Indonesia revise its anti-terrorism laws, which were passed in 2002 after the Bali bombings, to include provisions that allow police to detain suspected terrorists for up to two years without trial.

Ansyad Mbai, the head of the counterterrorism desk at the Security Ministry, said the current provision allowing police to detain terrorist suspects for no longer than seven days often let militants involved in attacks off the hook.

The proposal came after two suicide bombers blew themselves up at Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels on July 17, killing seven people and wounding 53.

Police have also come under fire after a spokesman said intelligence officers would monitor sermons in mosques as part of a crackdown on religious speeches promoting terrorism.

Strong public reactions forced police to backtrack with national police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri saying no such plan existed.

"Such a move is inappropriate and excessive," said Amidhan, the head of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas, responding to the news of the mosque-monitoring plan.

"Terrorism in Indonesia is carried out by clandestine organizations, and terrorists don't use mosques or public religious sessions to spread their ideas," he said.

The police revelation that one of the hotel suicide bombers was an 18-year-old high school graduate who lived in a Jakarta suburb has shocked the nation.

Police said the teenager was recruited by a militant operative through religious lessons in his neighbourhood mosque.

Authorities said they suspected that fugitive Malaysian-born militant Noordin Mohammed Top, Indonesia's most wanted man, was the mastermind behind the hotel bombings as well as other deadly attacks since 2003.

Police initially believed they had killed Noordin in a raid on a house in Central Java last month, but DNA tests proved that the slain man was named Ibrahim, whom police said helped plan the hotel bombings.

The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based conflict-resolution think tank, said marriages and a network of radical schools have helped Noordin get the protection he has needed to elude police.

Since July's bombings, the military has been trying to strengthen its anti-terrorism role, which has also sparked concern among activists that the army was seeking to regain the clout it enjoyed during the autocratic rule of president Suharto, when political Islam was suppressed and dissidents could be jailed for 100 days without charges.

The National Commission on Human Rights warned authorities to respect human rights in fighting terrorism after the chief of the Central Java military command was quoted by the media as urging the public to be wary of foreign people "with beards, turbans and flowing garb," seen as symbols of piety among some Muslims.

"Freedom and human dignity must not be compromised and limited, let alone being eliminated," said Saharuddin Daming, a commission member.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation with more than 80 per cent of its 230 million people following Islam. Most Indonesian Muslims are moderate, and women can be seen in public wearing sleeveless shirts and shorts.

Sirikit Syah, an activist with a media watchdog, warned in an opinion piece published by the Sabili Islamic magazine that religious profiling could be counterproductive in the fight against terrorism and could lead to social discord.

"Life in Indonesia for religious people is getting harder," Sirikit said.

"Some Muslims have had to fend off accusations of being Wahabbists because they wear all-covering clothes and grow beards," she said, referring to the hard-line version of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia.

"It's time that stigmatization and stereotypes against our Muslim brothers stopped," she wrote. (dpa)