The Australian, October 13, 2005
Weird Wahid claim may inflame
Sally Neighbour
THE famously eccentric former president Abdurrahman Wahid's claim that Indonesian
police or Intelligence may have been behind the 2002 Bali bombing is bizarre and
disturbing, not because it is convincing, but because it could further confuse the
terrorism debate in Indonesia.
At this stage, it is a wholly unsubstantiated assertion that smacks of the kind of wild
conspiracy theory that abounds in Indonesia, and which only serves to obfuscate the
debate about the need for a more concerted crackdown against the terrorist threat.
However, it is true that at times the Indonesian military has tolerated or even
encouraged the radical Islamist movement. In the 1970s the revival of the Darul Islam
(Abode of Islam) group and its campaign for an Indonesian Islamic state was secretly
encouraged by the military apparatus in an effort to flush out opponents to Suharto,
who were arrested and jailed.
Evidence of military backing for the Islamists emerged again in December 2000, when
JI co-ordinated attacks against Christian churches, killing 19 people and injuring 120
in a dozen cities.
In one city, Medan in North Sumatra, the perpetrators included a shadowy figure
named Fauzi Hasbi, a defector from the rebel movement GAM turned army informer.
He was also a close associate of Abu Bakar Bashir and heavily involved with JI. His
role was documented by the ICG's Sidney Jones in her December 2002 report, titled
How the Jemaah Islamiyah Terrorist Network Operates.
In the aftermath of the 2000 church bombings, many blamed the attacks on the
Indonesian military, which was the usual suspect in such atrocities. At the time, JI's
existence was unknown. In the years since, extensive evidence has emerged proving
the bombings were a co-ordinated JI campaign.
The military link in Medan, which was never thoroughly investigated, was an anomaly.
What it revealed was not a systemic connection between JI and the Indonesian
military, but rather JI's ability to tap into a range of sympathetic groups and individuals
in order to achieve its aims.
Apart from the Medan connection, there has been no further evidence of Indonesian
armed forces involvement in JI's terrorist operations. There is evidence that the military
is deeply implicated in fomenting sectarian strife in troublespots like Sulawesi and the
Maluku islands, but this is quite different from suggesting its involvement in terrorism.
As for the 2002 Bali bombings, at last count 36 JI members and operatives had been
arrested, tried and convicted over the attacks. Among the masses of evidence there is
not a skerrick to support any suggestion of military or police involvement.
Mr Wahid is not the first to try to deflect blame for the upsurge in terrorism from the
radical Islamist movement. If he has any evidence he should produce it as a matter of
urgency.
Sally Neighbour is a reporter for ABC's Four Corners and author of In the Shadow of
Swords.
© The Australian
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