The Jakarta Post, (11/18/2001 5:57:09 PM)
Darul Islam says splinter faction behind Jakarta bombings
JAKARTA (JP): Darul Islam, an Indonesian Muslim organization, revealed on Sunday
that splinter factions within the group were involved in two blasts that rocked Jakarta
earlier this month, reports said.
Darul Islam spokesman Al Chaidar was quoted by Metro TV private television station
as saying that three splinter groups were involved in both explosions at the Australian
International School in South Jakarta and a blast at Petra Protestant Church in Koja,
North Jakarta, earlier this November.
No one was injured during the attacks.
"The explosions at the Australian School and at the Petra Church were carried out by
people within the Darul Islam movement," he was quoted as saying.
Al Chaidar, however, refused to name the splinter groups but said Darul Islam was
conducting its own investigations and that their actions did not have the support of the
group.
He added that it was possible more blasts could take place around Christmas, but did
not say if these might be carried out by the splinter factions.
It was not clear why Al Chaidar revealed the information.
Asked if he thought his comments would put his life at risk, he said "it will carry even
higher risks if it is not unveiled."
"Regarding Australia, I assume they wanted to act in response to what has been done
by the Australian public," he told Metro TV, referring to attacks on Muslims in
Australia following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
A series of fatal blasts hit churches across Indonesia on Christmas Eve last year, and
police have linked the attacks to several radical Muslim groups.
The group is an offshoot of the largely West Java-based Darul Islam movement that
took up arms to fight for an Islamic state in Indonesia in the 1950s.
The current Darul Islam group also has the same aim for Indonesia but has attracted
little publicity compared with other radical Muslim groups in the country in recent
years.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has practiced religious
tolerance since long before it achieved independence in 1945. The State protects five
religions, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam, and
several traditional beliefs such as Javanese Kejawen andChinese Kong Hu Cu.
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