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The Age [Melbourne], Friday 28 September 2001
Bin Laden gave to Indonesians
By LINDSAY MURDOCH, INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT JAKARTA
Indonesia's third largest Muslim group got funds from and had a "very special" relationship with Osama bin Laden's terrorist organisation, one of its leaders said yesterday.
Al Chaidar, who heads one of 14 factions of the radical Darul Islam movement, told The Age that bin Laden's organisation had sent more than 1.2 billion rupiah, the equivalent of about $A243,000, to fund anti-Christian operations in Indonesia.
"Yes, we've got funding and assistance from the Osama bin Laden group since we went helping Afghanistan in the 1980s," Mr Al Chaidar said.
But Mr Al Chaidar, who has written 18 books on radical Muslim groups, claimed that bin Laden had nothing to do with the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
"I think Osama bin Laden has been made a scapegoat by America," he said.
Earlier, Mr Al Chaidar was quoted by the Jakarta-based Rakyat Merdeka newspaper as saying that bin Laden's representatives had twice travelled to Indonesia's Maluku islands where Muslims have been waging a jihad against Christians.
Mr Al Chaidar was quoted as saying representatives had also visited Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh, at the northern tip of Sumatra, where more than 30,000 soldiers and police have launched a brutal operation against separatist rebels.
"The relationship between Darul Islam and Osama bin Laden is just undeniable," Mr Al Chaidar said.
His comments contradict Indonesian security officials' denials that bin Laden's al Qaeda organisation has links to Indonesia.
The comments will embarrass President Megawati Sukarnoputri who, during a visit to Washington last week, offered Indonesia's support for the US anti-terrorist campaign and described the September 11 attacks as "the worst atrocity ever inflicted in the history of civilisation".
The US has vowed to crush organisations that do business with bin Laden, who it has named as the key suspect in the US attacks.
Mr Al Chaidar said that Darul Islam had maintained an "intensive relationship" with Afghanistan since thousands of its members had gone there to help fight the Russians in the 1980s.
Copyright © The Age Company Ltd 2001.
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