South China Morning Post, Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Indonesia
Islamic extremism gains a foothold in Christian Papua
Indonesia's armed forces are accused of guarding Laskar Jihad training camps
operating near the PNG border
JOHN MARTINKUS in Jakarta
On December 28 last year a car carrying the wife and daughter of a prominent Papuan
human rights activist was ambushed by unidentified gunmen between the border
posts of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
More than 40 bullets were fired at the vehicle and the wife and daughter of Johannes
Bonay, head of ELSHAM - a group that monitors human rights abuses in Papua -
were among the three seriously injured in the attack.
When an Indonesian police investigation team visited the scene on January 1 they too
were shot at and forced to flee. The list of suspects in the attack is a long one. The
mainly Christian Papua province-PNG border area has become home to Islamic
fighters of Muslim extremist group Laskar Jihad, Papuan militia groups trained by
Indonesia's Kopassus special forces, and Free Papuan Movement (OPM) guerillas.
Mr Bonay cannot carry out the investigation into who shot his wife and daughter,
although such incidents are usually the domain of his organisation. "When we go
there we are going into a very dark cloud. There are armed men and you don't know
whether they are militia, [Indonesian military], OPM or Laskar Jihad," he said.
A police investigation into the shooting said Indonesian had been seen in the area at
the time of the ambush, but inquiries are continuing. What has emerged is that the
northern area of the Papua-PNG border is now a training area for Islamic militants
backed by the Indonesian military.
"Laskar Jihad is now in several forms," says Thom Beanal, head of the
pro-Independence Papuan Presidium Council. "They can be militia or a kind of military
supporting group, with some local Papuans recruited by the military," he said. "Laskar
Jihad is consolidating itself here. When they said they disbanded in the Malukus after
the Bali bombing, it does not mean that they have stopped their activities here."
The Islamic militants of Laskar Jihad have been arriving in Papua from the conflict in
Ambon for the past two years. The setting up of an office in the town of Sorong last
year was a front for their activities in that area which locals say included the
establishment of 12 training camps that were in remote areas and guarded by
members of Kopassus. According to presidium member Willy Mandowen, the office in
Sorong was visited by members of Jemaah Islamiah before the bombing in Bali last
October.
Now they are operating in the border area with Papua New Guinea. "They have
weapons from the Indonesian military. They are trained in these camps by
Kopassus," says Lawrence Mehui, who has carried out an investigation of these
groups for the presidium.
In the transmigrant settlements near the town of Arso, close to the border, the
Javanese members of Laskar Jihad have been recruiting and training transmigrants
and local Papuans in conjunction with members of Kopassus. "We have information
from when Kopassus had a meeting with the local people in Arso in November. The
local people come and tell us that there is a direct connection with the Kopassus
members and the Islamic groups," says Lawrence Muhui.
ELSHAM says the groups of Laskar Jihad and locally recruited militia on the border
are being formed into operational support groups for military operations trained by
Kopassus. "If we analyse the reports made by the people and the investigations made
by the police we can ascertain that Kopassus is behind this," Mr Mehui said. "The
rhetoric of the Laskar Jihad groups fits comfortably with the aims of the Indonesian
military in Papua. One of their objectives is to protect the unity of Indonesia in Papua.
They are using Islam to claim they are fighting against the Kaffir here in Papua," says
Mr Bonay.
ELSHAM says the border activity has been accompanied by 20 recent unsolved
murders.
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