Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesians must prevent the nation’s youth from being recruited by terrorists after a teenage suicide bomber killed himself and five others at the JW Marriott in Jakarta last month.

“Let’s protect our citizens and youth from deviant and extreme thoughts that can lead them to terrorism,” Yudhoyono said in a speech in parliament to celebrate the nation’s 64th Independence Day, which occurs Aug. 17. “Our strategy is first to overcome the root causes, and secondly to prevent and eliminate acts of terror any time, anywhere.”

A four-year peace in Indonesia was shattered when terrorists struck the Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta, killing seven people and the two suicide bombers on July 17. Indonesian police killed three militants in two separate raids on Aug. 8 after the attacks and said Southeast Asia’s most-wanted man Noordin Mohammad Top probably planned and recruited the young suicide bombers.

Dani Dwi Permana, 17, was the suicide bomber at the Marriott, while a man identified as Nana Maulana, 28, blew himself up at the Ritz Carlton, said Eddy Saparwoko, head of the police’s victim identification unit.

Some 17 people involved in Indonesia’s spate of terror attacks graduated from the al-Mukmin Islamic school in Ngruki, Sukoharjo, according to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. Ngruki is also home to Abu Bakar Bashir, a Muslim cleric jailed for 2 1/2 years for his role in the 2002 bombings of nightclubs in the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people.

Bashir, the alleged spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, is also one of the founders of al-Mukmin.

Pay ‘More Attention’

“There needs to be far more attention to a network of JI- affiliated schools,” Sidney Jones, a security analyst at International Crisis Group, said in a report. Rather than close the schools, the state should “design programs that will entail more interaction with and observation by the Indonesian government,” Jones said in the report.

Close to the school in Ngruki, stores sell books such as “Awaiting the Destruction of America and Europe,” and “Judging the Status of Rulers Who Reject Sharia,” as well as a book written by a terrorist executed for the Bali bombings.

An Internet posting yesterday claiming to come from Noordin said he’ll keep fighting U.S. interests in Indonesia after purportedly escaping the Aug. 8 raid in Central Java.

Indonesia-based Web site bagustv.com posted the purported message, claiming to have received it via e-mail. Indonesian police spokesman Ketut Yoga Ana said authorities weren’t aware of the Internet message.

‘Never Be Complacent’

“I ask the police and the other security forces to never be complacent,” Yudhoyono said in a prepared speech. “Boost awareness, prevent and eliminate terrorism to its roots, wherever, whoever they are and whatever their motives.”

Malaysia-born Noordin, who escaped from a police shootout four years ago, is suspected of being involved in strikes that have killed almost 300 people in Indonesia since 2002.

The threat of terrorism won’t slow Indonesia’s economic growth, Yudhoyono said.

“In this situation of crisis, our economy still can grow over 4 percent a year, one of the highest” in the world, he said. “Our targets are the reduction of poverty and unemployment numbers as well as the improvement of quality in welfare services.”

The $514 billion economy’s growth this year may be the fastest among the Group of 20 nations after India and China, according to International Monetary Fund data.

Indonesia’s poverty rate fell to 14.1 percent in March from 16.7 percent in 2004, while the unemployment rate has shrunk to 8.1 percent in February from 9.9 percent in 2004, Yudhoyono said.

Indonesia’s military will complete selling businesses this year, Yudhoyono said.

“This year we will complete the transfer to the state, businesses owned by the Indonesian Armed Forces that have long sparked controversy,” he said. The armed forces “will then be able to concentrate on conducting main duties.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Achmad Sukarsono in Jakarta asukarsono@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 14, 2009 00:51 EDT