Bashir: Jakarta risks angering God

The suspected leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group is as defiant as ever despite facing charges which could see him sentenced to life imprisonment. He issued a statement read to followers on Sunday.

RICHARD S. EHRLICH
JAKARTA, Indonesia

An imprisoned Muslim extremist leader, allegedly linked to al-Qaeda and on trial for treason and deadly church bombings, told his followers on Sunday that they must fight to impose Islamic laws dating back 1,300 years and not worry about being called "terrorists''.

"I say do not be afraid of being labelled as trying to overthrow [the government] or as terrorists when you are carrying out Islamic Sharia law in full,'' Abu Bakar Bashir said in a speech read out to 3,000 followers at a meeting of the Mujahiden Council of Indonesia (MMI) in Solo city, in central Java island.

Mr Bashir's base is in Solo, where he headed an Islamic school allegedly attended by some of the Bali bombers.

"The Indonesian government must not discredit Muslims wanting to perform their religious duties and should not arrest clerics, religious leaders or religious teachers because that will anger God,'' Mr Bashir was quoted as warning in a speech sent from his Jakarta prison.

Mr Bashir's speech was delivered five days after a Muslim who was allegedly backed by al-Qaeda blew himself up in a car bomb at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, killing 11 people and injuring 150.

Mr Bashir's speech was read out to stern-faced followers who endorsed it by shouting, "Allah Akbar [God is great]'', including men dressed in camouflage uniforms with their heads wrapped in chequered scarves to conceal their faces.

Mr Bashir, a fiery orator, was accused of being a leader of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, but he has claimed the US CIA created al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah to persecute Muslims throughout the world.

"The Jemaah Islamiyah organisation, designated as a foreign terrorist organisation [by Washington], is an extremist group known to have cells operating in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and is known to have connections with al-Qaeda,'' the US State Department said on Friday.

Jemaah Islamiyah was blamed for the October 2002 bombing on Bali island which killed 202 people and the JW Marriott hotel bombing. A taxi driver, Edi Heryanto, who was severely burned in the Marriott hotel blast perished in a Jakarta hospital on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 11.

Mr Bashir's followers at the MMI conference met to demand imposition of sharia law throughout Indonesia, based on the Muslim holy book the Koran, written more than 1,300 years ago.

Sharia law metes out severe punishments, including amputation of a hand for theft, and the stoning to death for adultery and other crimes.

Indonesia is home to the world's largest population of Muslims, but sharia law has never been popular. The organisers of Sunday's rally backed candidates in Indonesia's last national election, but they failed to win any seats in parliament.

Hours before the Aug 5 bombing of the JW Marriott hotel, the white-bearded Mr Bashir testified in a Jakarta court that Sharia law could justify the series of church bombings across Indonesia on Christmas Eve 2000, which killed 19 people.

"If those examples had reasons which were not based on sharia law, it is obviously wrong. But if there is a sharia reason then, from the religious point of view, it is right, but not from the national law's point of view,'' Mr Bashir told the court.

He was arrested several days after the October 2002 Bali bombing and accused of involvement in the Christmas assaults on the churches, which he denies.

Mr Bashir is also accused of teaching and preaching with the alleged commander of the Bali bomb plot, Mukhlas, also known as Ali Ghufron, who is currently facing trial in Bali.

Mr Bashir is also alleged to have known Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, who was convicted on Aug 7 and sentenced to death by firing squad for buying the van and explosives used in the Bali bombing.

There are 33 other suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members awaiting trial for involvement in the Bali bombing.

Asia's most wanted fugitive, suspected Jemaah Islamiyah leader Hambali -- whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin -- reportedly attended Mr Bashir's Islamic sermons, as did alleged Bali bomber Imam Samudra.

"A lot of information, and the progress of our intelligence work, confirms that Hambali is Abu Bakar Bashir's vice chairman,'' Indonesian Defence Minister Matori Abdul Djalil told reporters in October 2002.

"It is illogical if Abu Bakar Bashir says that he doesn't know about the [Christmas] bombings in Indonesia.''

Mr Bashir and Hambali are suspected of being the masterminds behind Jemaah Islamiyah.

Hambali is also suspected of orchestrating a meeting of al-Qaeda members in January 2000 in Malaysia with two men who hijacked planes in the Sept 11, 2001 attack on America which killed about 3,000 people.

Sunday's rally in Solo and demands for sharia were legal but Mr Bashir's continued sway over his followers was expected to cause concern in Jakarta, Washington and elsewhere because several Jemaah Islamiyah members were believed to be plotting more terrorist attacks.

"I affirm that this group [Jemaah Islamiyah] is behind the Marriott bombing, based on intelligence reports following the arrest [in July] of nine suspects who are also JI members,'' Mr Matori told reporters.

"There are many more Jemaah Islamiyah members on the loose in Indonesia,'' the minister said on Friday.

"Because of this, I am sure that JI is behind all of this.''

The fugitives possess deadly skills, including bomb-making, he said. "Each one of them has special abilities received from training in Afghanistan and Pakistan.''

Investigators on Sunday sought evidence linking the Bali bombing and the Marriott hotel attack, based on possible similarities in the mixture of explosives, detonation by mobile phone and the scraping off of the vehicles' identification numbers.

Police identified Asmar Latin Sani, 28, from Indonesia's Sumatra island as the driver of the Toyota mini-van that exploded at the Marriott hotel, after finding his scarred and blistered severed head after it had been hurled by the blast on to the hotel's fifth floor.

Jemaah Islamiyah began in the mid-1980s fighting to create an Islamic "caliphate'' in Southeast Asia -- which would unite Muslim-majority regions of the southern Philippines, southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia -- where sharia law would be imposed.

Islam's Prophet Mohammad was born in the city of Mecca in the year 570 and died in Medina in 632, creating the two holiest cities in present-day Saudi Arabia.

The prophet turned Medina into the world's first Islamic society -- with rules that became sharia laws and a constitution regarded as Islam's first political document.

* Richard S. Ehrlich is a former UPI correspondent who has reported from Asia for the past 25 years.