The Jakarta Post, August 09, 2006
Police tell jihadists to stay home
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Police vowed Tuesday to prevent citizens from leaving for Lebanon as hardline groups
continued to recruit volunteers to join a declared jihad against Israel.
"We will stop them if they want to go to war," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen.
Anton Bachrul Alam said, although he did not specify what measures would be taken
against the "jihadists".
He said the action would only worsen the situation in Lebanon and it was banned by
the state.
"Their departure for the Middle East would be a violation of our state Constitution,
which says that Indonesia should pro-actively contribute to world peace," he was
quoted as saying by AFP.
"The volunteers' departure to fight is certainly not contributing to peace and therefore
is a violation of the Constitution.
"Showing solidarity for the Lebanese doesn't mean that we have to hold up weapons
and join in the war. We can help the Lebanese people by supporting their basic
needs, such as for food and drugs."
Anton said the National Police supported the government's plan to send military
troops to Lebanon under the UN peacekeeping force.
Several hardline Muslim groups have opened recruitment for volunteers on a jihad for
Lebanon.
They include the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), which is led by cleric Abu
Bakar Ba'asyir, who was convicted of conspiring in the 2002 Bali bombings.
The MMI opened recruitment posts Tuesday in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.
Dozens of MMI members, in black balaclavas and barefoot, held a roll call inside the
group's headquarters before jogging in formation for some 10 minutes in the
surrounding neighborhood.
MMI leader Irvan S. Awwas said in Yogyakarta that before departing for Lebanon,
volunteers would undergo mental and physical training.
"Mental preparation is the most important part since once they depart, they must be
ready for the possibility of not coming back to the country and dying there," he said.
However, the MMI admitted that the volunteers faced financial constraints in traveling
abroad, with each needing about Rp 15 million (US$1,648) to go on the jihad.
The Islam Defenders Front also opened a recruitment post in Pekalongan, Central
Java, on Aug. 1.
As of last Saturday, the group claimed it had 30 volunteers willing to go to Lebanon.
Another hardline group led by little-known activist Suaib Didu boasted last week that it
had sent more than 200 jihadists abroad to attack Jewish interests in countries that
back Israel, but experts doubted the group was serious.
Didu led a street parade last Saturday by dozens of volunteers willing to go to
Lebanon in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. (07).
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