I S I M NEWSLETTER 1 1 / 0 2 Current Issues 7 Southeast Asia MARTIN VAN BRUINESSEN The Violent Fringes The 12 October bombing in Bali that killed more than 180 people seemed to vindicate the claims of those who had been accusing the Indonesian authorities of deliberately ignoring the presence on Indonesian of Indonesia's Islam soil of Islamic terrorists connected with al-Q aci d a network. More sober voices commented that domes- tic power struggles, rather than international terror- For fourteen years, Sungkar and B aca s y i r ism, might be responsible for this outrage. It was the remained in Malaysia, living in a village with largest, but by no means the first major bomb explo- a circle of their closest disciples and travel- sion in Indonesia. ling around delivering religious sermons. They were visited by radicals from Indonesia Indonesia has seen many bomb explosions and other regions of Southeast Asia. After since the fall of Suharto in May 1998, and in Suharto's fall, they returned to Indonesia. many cases military personnel appear to be Sungkar died in Jakarta during his first re- involved. There are also, however, a number turn visit; B aca s y i r settled again in his p e- of small but conspicuously violent radical Is- s a n t r e n at Ngruki near Solo. The establish- lamic movements that engage in jihad in ment of the Majelis Mujahidin in August such places as the Moluccas and Central Su- 2000 gave him a very public profile. lawesi or act as vigilante squads raiding nightclubs, discotheques, and other dens of Other groups i n e q u i t y .1 Surprisingly perhaps, several of There are a number of other, loosely con- these militias maintain close relations with nected and to some extent competing un- factions in the military or political élite. derground networks that continue the struggle for an Islamic state in Indonesia. Laskar Jihad They go by the old name of Darul Islam or al- The largest and best organized of the vari- ternatively NII/TII, abbreviations for Islamic Abu Bakar ous Muslim militias Ð until it was suddenly State of Indonesia/Islamic Army of Indone- B aca s y i r holding a disbanded in early October, only days before sia. They are not known to have been in- news conference the Bali bombing Ð was the Laskar Jihad, volved in major violent incidents recently. in Solo. which was established in response to the The Front Pembela Islam (FPI, Front of De- onset of civil war between Christians and fenders of Islam), with its members dressed Muslims in the Moluccas, in 2000.2 I d e o l o g i- been described by some experts as the rilla techniques and sent them to fight a in white flowing robes and white turbans, cally this movement is very close to the Saudi Southeast Asian branch of al-Q aci d a. Four al- jihad in the Moluccas. At least dozens, possi- has been conspicuous in numerous demon- religious establishment. Its leader, J acf a r leged members of this network are often bly a few hundred, of its members gained strations in Jakarta. They carried out numer- Umar Thalib, had studied with strict Salafi mentioned as its chief terrorists: Hambali, combat experience in Afghanistan in the ous raids on bars, brothels, and nightclubs ulama in Saudi Arabia and Yemen and taken alias Ridwan Isamuddin, a West Javanese ac- 1980s; many more are likely to have fought in Jakarta and the nearby hill districts, caus- part in jihad in Afghanistan in the 1980s. cused of masterminding the bombing of in the southern Philippines. ing great material damage but few casual- After his return to Indonesia, he became one churches in 10 Indonesian cities at Christ- The term J e m a a hI s l a m i y a h has been used ties. Their leader, Habib (Sayyid) Rizieq Shi- of the leading lights of the Indonesian Salafi mas in 2000, and of taking part in a series of repeatedly during the past twenty years by hab, also studied in Saudi Arabia and is a movement, which promoted, Wahhabi style, bombings in Manila in 2000 (still at large); police authorities as the name for a loose firm proponent of the application of the an apolitical Islam based on a strictly literal Abdur Rahman al-Ghozi, an East Javanese, network of radicals in which B aca s y i r, be- s h a r ica in public life. He appears to have ex- reading of the Qur'an and h a d i t h. Most mem- arrested in the Philippines in January 2002, sides another preacher of Arab descent, Ab- cellent relations with members of the mili- bers appeared to be students or university who reportedly confessed to having taken dullah Sungkar, played a central role. They tary and political élite. The Front is definite- graduates and dropouts. Religious leader- part in the same bombings in Manila in 2000 jointly led an Islamic boarding school near ly the least ideologically motivated of the ship is provided by young men, mostly of and in preparations for attacks on US assets the town of Solo since the early 1970s, and militant groups listed here, and it is believed Arab descent like J acf a r himself, who have in Singapore; Muhammad Iqbal bin Abdur- they joined the underground Darul Islam that its successes in bringing demonstrators also studied with Arabian Salafi ulama. rahman, alias Abu Jibril, of Lombok, author movement opposing the Suharto regime to the streets are primarily due to financial Laskar Jihad had the visible support of ele- of a book on the obligation for every Muslim and striving for an Islamic state. incentives. Not long after 12 October, Rizieq ments in the police and armed forces. It to carry out jihad, and a recruiter for jihad in They contributed to this movement ideas Shihab was arrested (for reasons apparently moved thousands of fighters to Ambon and the Moluccas, has been detained in Malaysia that they borrowed from the Egyptian Mus- unrelated to the Bali bombing) and the later to other conflict areas in Central Sulawe- since January 2002 and accused of acting as lim Brothers (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun). The Front was ordered to disband, which the si, West Papua, and Acheh. In all these areas, a financial conduit for al-Q aci d a; and Agus struggle for an Islamic state, according to members did without any sign of protest. a close cooperation with the Indonesian mili- Dwikarna, who was arrested at Manila Air- these ideas, was a step-by-step process in The ease with which FPI and Laskar Jihad tary, notably the Special Forces (Kopassus) port in March 2002 when the authorities al- which the activist had first to engage in could be disbanded once the military au- developed. legedly found a large amount of explosives moral self-improvement, then to be part of thorities really demanded so not only indi- Following 11 September, Laskar Jihad im- in his luggage. Dwikarna is the commander a 'family' (u s r a h) of like-minded people who cates the degree to which both have come mediately took pains to distance itself from of a Muslim militia, Jundullah, in his native guide, help, and control one another. These under military influence but also reflects the Usama bin Laden. J acf a r Umar Thalib de- province of South Sulawesi. are steps towards the building of an Islamic fact that they accept the (secular) govern- clared that he had met Usama back in the Abu Bakar B aca s y i r is alleged to be the community (j a m aca h i s l a m i y a h), which in ment of Indonesia as legitimate in principle 1980s when he fought in Afghanistan but did spiritual leader of this network, although he turn is a precondition for the establishment Ð unlike the Majelis Mujahidin, which wishes not consider him as a good Muslim. The cannot be directly linked to any of the inci- of an Islamic state. From their Islamic school to transform it into an Islamic state and has Laskar Jihad website reproduced a fatwa by dents. All four men named above have an near Solo, B aca s y i r and Sungkar set up a net- not been known to court military or civilian the late grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdu- undeniable direct connection with him, work of committed young Muslims, some of élite factions. laziz bin Baz, in which Usama bin Laden was however: al-Ghozi studied at his school, Abu them quietist, some of them militants, all of declared an erring sectarian and rebel, whose Jibril paid a recent visit to the school and them opposed to the Suharto regime, orga- example no pious Muslim should follow. took part in the founding conference of a nized in 'families' that together were to con- In April 2002, the Laskar Jihad challenged militant organization that chose B acasyir a s stitute a true community of committed a peace agreement between Ambonese its leader, and Dwikarna is a committee Muslims, a j a m aca hi s l a m i y a h. Christians and Muslims that had been bro- member of that same organization. Hambali Facing arrest in the mid-1980s, B aca s y i r kered by cabinet ministers. A Christian vil- is reported to have lived near B aca s y i r d u r- and Sungkar escaped to Malaysia.