Indonesian militant group Laskar Jihad has regularly received attention over the past two years for their unrelenting attacks on Christian populations on the islands of Moluccas and Sulawesi.  More recently, the Muslim organization has been scrutinized for its possible links with other international terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.

Laskar Jihad, or ‘Holy War Warriors,’ was founded in 2000 by Jafar Umar Thalib, who spent several years studying in Pakistan and fighting alongside the mujahidin in Afghanistan in the late 1980s.  Jafar himself admits to having met Osama bin Laden there but dismisses having any respect for or ties with him, saying the al Qaeda chief “knew nothing about true religion.”  According to Jafar, al Qaeda operatives approached him in the summer of 2001 at his headquarters in Ambon in the Moluccan islands promising funding and training in return for Laskar Jihad’s cooperation.  But Jafar rejected the offer and told them not to return to Indonesia.  Laskar Jihad members adhere to the Wahhabi creed of Islam espoused by bin Laden — television is banned in Laskar camps and women wear burqa — but Jafar determined that al Qaeda’s ideology is not in line with true Islam.

Nevertheless, Indonesian and U.S. authorities continue to be wary of Laskar Jihad’s motives and connections, particularly in light of recent reports that Southeast Asian terrorist groups long believed to be domestic militants in fact have links with international terrorists.  Jafar acknowledges that his group has ties with Malaysia-based Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM), a terrorist organization recently made prominent as probable al Qaeda collaborators.  Indonesia’s National Intelligence Agency also claims to have evidence that al Qaeda fighters have been fighting on Sulawesi island, where hundreds of Laskar members recently arrived to mount assaults on Christians.  Furthermore, Laskar Jihad has evidently received money from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Libya and Afghanistan — a report that matches Jafar’s claim that he visits countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Yemen to discuss his mission.

The emerging al Qaeda connections aside, Laskar Jihad continues to be a concern for the Indonesian government as it mediates peace talks between Muslims and Christians on the troubled islands.  With over 10,000 fighters, Laskar Jihad is the largest and most organized militant Muslim organization in Indonesia.  It incited conflict on the eastern Indonesian islands in 2000 when it sent around 5,000 armed militia men to the Moluccas region with the mission of quelling what it sees as Christian separatist movements.  Laskar Jihad’s classification of Christians there as kafir harbi — or belligerent infidels, the most dangerous category of non-Muslims — gives them the religious basis to kill.  Since its inception, the group has been blamed for the death of thousands and for the creation of massive refugee flows out of targeted cities.

In stark contrast to its tactical violence, Laskar Jihad proclaims a peaceful three-part mission: social work, Muslim education and “security mission.”  Its burgeoning membership attests to the sense of Islamic identity it provides to otherwise alienated Muslim men.  Jafar initially recruited people from poorer and uneducated segments of the population, and still gives remuneration to many fighters in the Moluccas.  The group fulfills its social mission by providing medicine and food to refugees and teaching the Koran to Muslims.  However, when tasked to fight Christians, many volunteers have said they felt deceived because they had joined to assist in humanitarian activities.  When they sought to return home, leaders threatened to kill members who refused to fight against Christians.  These reports notwithstanding, the attacks on the United States last fall — which Jafar openly extolled — and the subsequent U.S. campaign in Afghanistan have inspired another 500 or so men to join the group since Sept. 11.  Laskar Jihad has since maintained a consistently anti-American rhetoric.

Indonesia has been blamed for its slow and hesitant commitment to the war against terrorism.  President Megawati deals with the need to back the United States while maintaining Islamic support at home, and to stringently crack down on terrorists while upholding democratization.  In this regard Laskar Jihad is no exception to Jakarta’s list of predicaments, but the matter is confounded by the group’s oblique but well-known link with the Indonesian military (TNI).  Jakarta’s hands-off policy with TNI — which is now under civilian control after decades of dictatorship ended with Suharto — has enabled generals to retain old links with radical group such as Laskar Jihad.  The support the militant group continues to receive from the highest levels of the Indonesian military ensures its survival.  Sympathizers within TNI are believed to provide the group with cash, and possibly arms, and to order Moluccan officials not to crack down on Laskar Jihad members.  According to Western intelligence sources, Laskar Jihad was actually founded with covert backing of military hardliners who wished to destabilize the post-Suharto reformist government of Abdurrahman Wahid.  Jafar branded former president Wahid as anti-Islamic, claiming that his government was “positioned to oppress Muslim interests and protect those of the infidels.”

Though Laskar Jihad claims to raise most of its funds from Muslim communities, it is also believed to be relying heavily on money embezzled from the Army.  Western intelligence has confirmed that at least $9.3 million has been transferred from the Army’s main fighting section to the militant group.

In the past three months, the government has mediated landmark peace agreements between Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas and the Suwalesi.  However, advancing concerns over the TNI’s ties to the group, Laskar Jihad representatives were markedly absent from the negotiating table.  Since the group is widely seen to be the prime perpetrators of the ongoing violence on these islands, the durability of the peace deal remains to be seen.  On the Moluccas, Laskar fighters mounted renewed violence when its radio station, the Voice of Maluku Muslim Struggle (SPMM) was banned following the peace deal.  In the Sulawesi, the 7,000 Laskar fighters far outnumber the 2,000 or so police and army troops there — a foreboding presence amidst the push for peace.

 

By Reyko Huang CDI Research Analyst

Printer-Friendly Version

BACK TO THE TOP    TERRORISM PROJECT HOME    LINKS    CDI HOME