MISNA - Missionary Service News Agency, 27/2/2003 18:25
Indonesia
Militant Muslim Group Revives Paramilitary Wing, "We Shall
Return To Fight Against Immorality"
General, Standard
An Indonesian militant Muslim group has revived its paramilitary wing. It was
announced today by one of the leaders of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) Siroj
Alwi, who sustained that the group has nearly 7 million registered members. Known
for carrying out violent attacks on bars and nightclubs, the Laskar FPI section of the
Islamic Defenders' Front will re-form next month, Siroj Alwi said. Furthermore, the
group is best known for organising raids against alcohol vendors in the capital Jakarta,
in what members described as an effort to stem "immoral" behaviour.
The Laskar FPI broke up last November, following the Bali attack carried out last 12
October, in which over 200 people were killed. Laskar FPI has insisted its dissolution
in November is unconnected to the Bali bombings, but analysts say the group may
have been anxious to distance itself from radical Islam in the weeks after the attacks.
Furthermore, in relation to the Bali attack, Indonesian police arrested Muhammad
Rizieq Shihab, leader of the FPI. However, after been questioned, investigators
excluded that the Laskar FPI was involved in the attack.
Now that the group is once again active, Siroj Alwi affirmed that the FPI would stick to
their original mission, which is that of fighting against all kinds of immorality. "New
recruits are already being accepted and given 'morality training'", said Siroj Alwi. A
spokesman for the police force in Jakarta, Senior Commissioner Prasetyo, said the
police would only go after the Laskar FPI "if they turn anarchic again and conduct
raids and sweeping operations." "They are free to reorganise themselves, but if they
go and break the law we will arrest them," Prasetyo said.
Another much larger paramilitary organisation, Laskar Jihad, also dissolved in
November. Laskar Jihad has been blamed for the deaths of thousands of Christians in
the Moluccan islands. Its leader, Jafar Umar Thalib, was last month cleared of
charges of inciting religious hatred. Though in the past few weeks, the guerrillas that
acclaim 'jihad' (holy war) reappeared in Ambon, administrative capital of the Moluccas,
as well as in Papua, extreme eastern province of Indonesia, tormented by separatist
guerrilla warfare. [BP]
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