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TEMPO Magazine, No. 04/II/October 2-8, 2001
Cover Story
Indonesia's Afghan-Trained Mujahideen
A story of Indonesia's own mujahideen.
Jihad is the key to heaven and the highest jihad is to fight in the path of God. These words by the khatib echoed through the mosque-cum-headquarters of the Islamic Youth Movement (GPI) on Jalan Raya Menteng in Central Jakarta during the weekly Friday prayers, last week.
Over the past few weeks the movement's HQ has been a hotbed of anti-American demonstrations in Jakarta. In one corner of the building, two teenaged youths, dressed in white with matching white skull caps, were filling out a registration form to sign up as volunteers to fight the Americans, if and when Washington goes ahead with its plan to invade Afghanistan.
This was not the first time Indonesians have signed up to fight in a jihad. Hundreds registered in the same GPI building in 1994 to fight in Bosnia but only eight passed the rigid test. The eight, who have since returned to Indonesia from the war, are now part of a group of instructors who train aspiring mujahideen. "Besides the eight, we also have 15 former combatants in Afghanistan with us," says Handriansyah, commander of this GPI Brigade.
No data are available on the number and whereabouts of Indonesian volunteers who have since returned following the end of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. But army intelligence sources put the number at around 800. "The figure is based on data gathered in 1988 when most of the volunteers were still in Malaysia," says an army intelligence officer. Ayip Syafruddin, a spokesman for the Laskar Jihad Ahlusunnah Wal Jamaah, agrees, saying the number certainly exceeds 400.
Most of the Indonesian mujahideen who went to fight in Afghanistan in the 1980s went there on their own. There were no registration centers as there are today. The volunteers traveled thousands of kilometers, mostly overland, before reaching Afghanistan.
"They traveled like the proverbial musafir kelana, wayfarers who spent the night in one mosque after another on their way. With only Rp2 million to sustain them, they made it to Afghanistan after a long, arduous journey." says Syafruddin. The route took them through Batam, Singapore, Malaysia, Patani in south Thailand, India, and Pakistan where they crossed the border via Peshawar into war-torn Afghanistan.
Most of the volunteers were members of Muslim youth organizations which had lost favor with the New Order government of then president Suharto. The late Abdullah Sungkar was a leading force behind the sending of Indonesian volunteers to Afghanistan. A religious teacher at Pesantren Ngruki, an Islamic boarding school in Solo, Central Java, Sungkar was arrested, tried and sentenced to nine years in prison in 1985 for opposing Suharto's imposition of Pancasila as the sole foundation of any organization in Indonesia, leaving no room for Islam.
Sungkar appealed the decision. The High Court's ruling which reversed the decision was challenged by the prosecution. It was while the case was pending that Sungkar fled to Malaysia where he mobilized young Muslims to fight in Afghanistan
Abdullah Hehamahuwa, former chairman of the Muslim Students Association (HMI) who himself went to Afghanistan in 1979 confirmed that most of the Indonesian mujahideen were political exiles banished by Suharto for alleged involvement in the so-called Jihad Commando Movement. "They were people who were forced to leave their country to Malaysia where they signed up for jihad in Afghanistan," says Hehamahuwa, who is now a member of the House commission tasked with investigating state officials' wealth,
Not every volunteer was accepted into the mujahideen army. Only those with credentials from recognized Muslim organizations in their counrties were accepted and sent to training camps. There the recruits were first subject to religious exhortations by the mullahs before undergoing the rigors of battle and survival training in the harsh mountains. "The harsh weather—the scorching heat of the day and the biting cold at night—chapped your skin badly," recalls Dedi who was among the first Indonesian volunteers in Afghanistan. Only after they were well adept with their weapons and well acclimatized to the weather, were the volunteers sent to battle.
Many of the hundreds of volunteers were Indonesians studying at universities in Malaysia and Pakistan before joining the mujahideen army, including those studying at the Islamic International University in Kuala Lumpur and Al-Maududi Institute of Islamic Studies in Karachi.
One of those student mujahideen is Ustad Djafar Umar Thalib, the commander of Laskar Jihad Ahlusunnah Wal Jamaah. Djafar was a student at the Al-Maududi Institute of Islamic Studies when he decided to join the mujahideen in Afghanistan following a quarrel with a faculty member.
In Afghanistan Djafar initially joined the As Sayaf faction and later the Djamilurrahman faction which operated in Kunar near the Khyber Pass. Syafruddin, an associate, recalled that Djafar used to carry an AK-47 assault rifle. He was also adept at operating Soviet-made RPG launchers and bazookas against Russian tanks
Djafar's battle exploits earned the respect of fellow Indonesian mujahideen who belonged to the Group of 272, signifying the number who made it back to Indonesia. 'Most of those in the group are now in Ambon to join the Laskar Jihad, spread out on remote islands with little contact with the outside world," says Syafruddin.
In 10 year's time, there could be a new generation replacing Djafar Umar Thalib. Today, they are in their teens, volunteering to fight in Afghanistan, just waiting for the US to attack.
Edy Budiyarso
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