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Indonesia has long been recognized as a nation ripe for fundamentalist violence, due in part to the actions of several Islamist/Wahhabist groups. In recent months, these organizations have stepped up their violent campaigns against Christians and Westerners, while also increasing the number of attacks against fellow Muslims, actions which threaten Indonesia's delicate religious and ethnic balance. This column by Amy Chew in the New Straits Online details the rise of jihadist groups in Indonesia (thanks to Nicolei):
ARMED with sticks and stones, hundreds of Indonesian Muslim extremists descended on the Ahmadiyah, a small peaceful Muslim group in Bogor, West Java, in July.The attackers set fire to the women’s dormitory and knock- ed down a gate fronting the Ahmadiyah complex as its followers looked on helplessly. Some 300 policemen were on guard but failed to prevent the attack.
Shortly after, Emilia Renita, 38, a Shia Muslim in Jakarta started receiving threatening messages on her mobile phone saying: "Shias are deviant. Their blood is halal."
"I was shocked. I am Muslim and yet I am threatened. What more for those who are non-Muslims?" she said.
The surge in radicalism was partly triggered by 11 decrees issued in July by the official Council of Indonesian Ulamas (MUI) which banned the Ahmadiyah, liberalism, pluralism and secularism as anti-Islam.
More disturbing than the rise of Islamist activity in Indonesia, however, is the inaction on the part of the government:
The authorities have done little to prevent the attacks or take action against the radicals, emboldening them further."The Government is afraid," said former President Abdurrahman Wahid who is also a Muslim ulama.
"Why should the Government be scared of the extremists when in fact they are only a small group," said Abdurrahman, who is affectionately known as Gus Dur.
He headed the country’s largest Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, for 15 years before stepping down in 1999 to assume the presidency. NU claims 40 million followers and is known as the face of moderate Islam.
The Government appears to be hesitant and uncertain about how to deal with the situation, fearing a backlash from the Muslim majority.
The Liberal Islam Network (JIL) says the radicals’ newfound boldness reflects the growing conservatism in segments of the Government.
"They (in government) are not liberal. They are liberal and modern in other matters but when it comes to religion, they are conservative," said Hamid Basyaib, JIL’s co-ordinator.
A must read article.
Posted by Patrick at September 20, 2005 10:01 AM
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Hinduisms Revival in Indonesia
Posted by: Vikrant_Camberleykar![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 20, 2005 11:31 AM
Two things written by the reporter that don't sit well:
"the majority of Muslims do not support the radicals"
Time and time again in supposedly objective reports like this one there inevitably comes this phrase. The reporter offers not a shred of evidence to support this claim, but reports it as a fact as objective as the blue sky on a clear day.
"Indonesia has stood out in Southeast Asia as the country which waged a bloody and relentless battle to gain independence from the Dutch in 1945. The war was won with Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists fighting side by side, diverse but united and ultimately victorious."
I wonder how accurate this rosy picture is, of Muslims uniting with their Infidel brethren to fight the evil Western Dutch.
at September 20, 2005 2:14 PM
The bloody and wholesale ethnic cleansing that took place in in the Indonesian Borneo provinces of Central and West Kalimantan in 2001 against the Madurese people who had settled there has never been explained adequately to the international community.
Yet, the international community appears to have shrugged it off anyway. Certainly no well-known figures in the international community have ever pressed the indonesian government for a believable explanation. One source, perhaps not especially credible, reported that tens of thousands of Madurese were slaughtered in these two Indonesian Borneo provinces.
We need to look again at this horrible Indonesian event in light of this event's position in the timeline of global terrorist events. Was this terrorism-related?
PROBABLY.
This horror that took place here was perperated by the Dayak 'tribespeople' (who have recently been converted to Islam by unknown converters)against the Madurese transmigrant folk (who are also Muslims we might add) was never as mentioned explained to the world or examined by anti-terrorism authorities as far as I know. There does not seem to have been much investigation into the Dayak perpetrators of this crime by Jakarta or anyone else. Justice was never served. And that is a red flag.
Why were the Madurese murder victims never sought justice for? Is Jakarta covering it up?
Would an investigation end up implicating Jakarta?
Didn't Jakarta value Madurese lives sufficiently to find and prosecute their attackers? Apparently it did not. The world should not let this go. We need to know who it was exactly, names, faces, links etc.
The explanation for this horror could very well lurk in the Indonesian national government's new crowd of jihadist politicians in Jakarta. Certainly, if they were involved in the ethnic cleansing they would want it covered up and would possibly try to block investigations into the affair.
One such possible jihadist thug (or at least accomplice)is in Jakarta, an MP in the Indonesian Parliament, a 'businessman' who hails from the province of Central Kalimantan. This man is actually a timber pirate--he built an empire equalling the equivalent of several billion US dollars by stealing timber (via illicit logging)from the primary rainforests of the Tanjung Puting "Reserve" over the past generation. The man's name is Abdul Rasyid and is reported to have purchased a seat in the Indonesian Parliament (we kid you not). The Indonesian government is very quiet about him and others like him.
This high-profile criminal and evidently non-elected politician could easily have provided a link between Jakarta and the 2000 ethnic cleansing against the Madurese (and we can explain Jakarta's jihadist motive for perpetrating this event as well and will later).
Abdul Rasyid has plenty of contacts with the Dayaks as a leading economic player in these two provinces and conducts business throughout Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan. He had the political means and opportunity to set up the whole murderous thing--the conversion of the dayak people, the propaganda to attack the Madurese, the means to supply the Dayaks with the weapons and intellignce to use on the Madurese people, and the actual ethnic cleansing itself. Much of the killing was done Islamic-style (beheadings, machete hackings, etc).
If I needed a go-between Jakarta jihadists and jihadists in Kalimantan (and incidentally al-Qaeda terror training camps have existed in Central Kalimantan in the past by the way, Omar al-Faruq an Iraqi al-qaeda operative in SE Asia revealed this as did Spanish al-Qaeda operatives who were arrested in SE Asia and the EU) jihadists Abdul Rasyid would be my choice.
What may have happened in Kalimantan was Jakarta's jihadists creating an instant mujahideen army, however crudely. Who knows, Jakarta jihadists may have been plotting to smuggle this lovely bunch into and through Mexico and into the USA to attack the American infidels. In short, the Jakarta jihadists may have used the Madurese people as "target practice" for slaying the infidels.
If so, Ousamah bin Looney Tunes would love Jakarta for this one.
Or the targets for jihadist violence could have been and may still be domestic 'infidels'.
The evidence is for now only circumstantial, but this infamous Kalimantan episode is EXTREMELY SUSPICIOUS in view of the recent events in Southeast Asia and the rise of global jihadism. And in view of the fact that Jakarta has not even bothered to punish the pereptrators of this atrocity--it has yet to look for those who murdered thousands of the folk it is allegedly assigned to protect.
Indonesia and the Jakarta government must therefore be considered EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
Our apologies to Gus Dur.
at September 20, 2005 3:44 PM
pythagoras
Your comment seems very unlikely,the Dayaks converting to islam to attack the Madurese is totally out of order.
The madurese are amongst the most fanatical moslems here in indonesia
So how about a link to support this slander against our friends the Dayak 'tribespeople'
The only thing about the article is Indonesia and the Jakarta government must therefore be considered EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
at September 21, 2005 2:48 AM
As an offshore neighbour to the South I can't comment on Indonesian affairs with the same validity as shiva but I will say that I agree that the Jakarta Government is extremely dangerous (and I doubt that is the worst of their ills).
The majority of the Indonesian Government are Muslim (and have, I would imagine, little to fear from growing fanaticism amongst the Indonesian Muslim community) and would stand to lose very little indeed if Abu Bakar Bashir's friends and associates in Jemaah Islamiah get their wish of a "South East Asian Muslim Superstate" living under Sharia Law.
Australia and all those who value an alliance with her would do well to watch Indonesia very closely over the following months. I imagine Jihadwatch will be living up to its name in this respect - I can only hope that our friends around the world will do the same.
Posted by: Razorskarr at September 21, 2005 3:48 AM
SHIVA--
THERE CERTAINLY ARE COMMUNITIES IN CENTRAL KALIMANTAN MARKED "MUSLIM DAYAKS." WITH SIGNS INDICATING THIS, NO LESS. I personally know people who have seen this--although admittedly this is secondhand information. Some Dayak people DID convert to Islam during the 1990s, whether or not you knew it. It is to these and only these Dayaks I refer to. I was not referring to the others, Shiva.
If you had read my post clearly you would have understood tha.
Apparently you missed another fact I mentioned: there were al-Qaeda terrorist training camps operating in the province of Central Kalimantan during the past decade. This is not my opinion--I read it. We are not yet convinced that this was a mere coincidence. We think that the Madurese being driven out of this province could be related to this. Even if the Madurese ARE fanatical (which I didn't know).
Once a person is inculcated by Islamic ideology, killing non-Muslims actually becomes VIRTUOUS. There are now Dayaks who belong to this categorization. This is not slander. It is an OBSERVATION.
The only people I intentionally "slandered" would be the Jakarta clique of Islamists and the illegal loggers of Central Kalimantan (of which Abdul Rasyid is the leader of the pack it would seem). And with good reason, I think you will agree.
In addition, Muslims generally have very little compunction about slaughtering each other as we saqw in the 1980s with the Iraq-Iran war. So I doubt Jakarta would be as unlikely to target Madurese as you think.
But possibly you are right.
However, at the end of the day some DAYAK TRIBESPEOPLE ARE NOW MUSLIM CONVERTS. Get over it.
at September 21, 2005 9:34 PM
This happened during the time of Gus Dur,and his
main supporters are Madurese.I also would like to point out that it is not in the best interests of Jakarta to drive out the Madurese from Kalimantan.
The Dayaks involved where not moslem,In this case,where-ever/whatever sourse you have is not very reliable.Thet are slander the Dayaks so as to discredit Jakarta,Which is unnecessary when we look at the evil morons that make up the Indonesian goverment.
So why dont you supply a link
REGARDS
SHIVA
at September 22, 2005 2:30 AM
SHIVA--
Most of what I have written here came from mainstream periodicals over the years--and not off the Internet.
A conservation that oprates in Central Kalimantan's Tanjung Puting National Park which is not affiliated with any political dealings reported some of the things I mentioned (namely sightings of Muslim Dayak villages).
It should also be remembered that it WAS Dayak tribespeople who massacred large numbers of madurese. And it is really ONLY THOSE Dayaks responsible for this that I mention.
Citing an event and those involved does not constitute slander--if the allusion is true. And it is. Therefore I did not 'slander' the Dayaks.
By the way, some claim the term "Dayak" is derogatory in itself. Each tribe should be referred to by its proper name, which is NOT Dayak. So some would claim YOU are adding insult to injury.
Lighten up.
I merely referred to a historical event. And the goal was the same: identifying Jakarta complicity.
Posted by: pythagoras at September 22, 2005 8:24 PM
pythagoras
Okay I am aware that you are pointing to Jakarta,so may-be I am going over the top.This has a lot to do with the fact,that I have quite a lot of knowledge concerning the Madurese.In fact my wife happens to be from that ethnic group.So when I state that are the amongst the most violent groups in Indonesia,I am talking first hand.
As for"the dayaks"what they done may in many peoples eyes seem evil,it proved to be more effective in dealing with the moslem/madurese problem,than what we are attempting.
I am not happy about what happened,I am even less Happy that moslems are pushing us into the same situation.As you are aware there is no concept of compromise
Most of what I have written here came from mainstream periodicals over the years--and not off the Internet.
HOW MUCH CAN WE RELY ON THIS
A conservation that oprates in Central Kalimantan's Tanjung Puting National Park which is not affiliated with any political dealings reported some of the things I mentioned (namely sightings of Muslim Dayak villages).
JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE AN IMAN/MOSQUE IN THE VILLAGE,DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE MUSLIM,AND IF SO,THEM ISLAM IS ONLY SKIN DEEP.THE CALL OF THE CLAN/TRIBE RUNS FAR DEEPER.
I see this all the time here.The beliefs of the Dayaks is not recognized,so when they want an ID card,they become muslim by default,and this applies to all Indonesians.80% of indonesias muslims are not muslim.This is a fact,that many people overlook.
at September 23, 2005 12:39 AM
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