VOA News, 11 Dec 2002, 15:12 UTC
Jemaah Islamiyah Uses Videos to Gather Support
Patricia Nunan, Jakarta
Fears about Islamic extremism in Southeast Asia are on the rise, especially following
the terrorist bomb attack on the Indonesian island of Bali, believed by some to have
been the work of the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. It appears that
extremists are using videos - sold at local markets - to win support.
The market outside the Istiqlal mosque is packed as worshippers leave Friday
prayers. Much of what is for sale is ordinary: clothes, perfume, toys. Th! ere are also
video compact discs - VCDs - for sale.
Most of the VCDs are the usual fare, pirated copies of movies, music videos and
karaoke music. Others are educational, such as videos of the Islamic holy sites in
Saudi Arabia, or messages from moderate preachers promoting religious tolerance.
Some videos aim to recruit members or solicit funding for militant Islamic groups.
One video is titled The Bloody Maluku Conflict. It shows refugee camps and young
women making Molotov cocktails. It also shows fighting between Muslim and
Christian mobs, which has flared in Indonesia's Maluku province sporadically since
late 1999. There is gory footage of wounded being treated in clinics, and pictures of
mass graves allegedly containing the bodies of dead Muslims.
Human rights group say at least 3,000 people have died in the Maluku fighting.
Communal fighting has also erupted in Central Sulawesi, primarily in the town of
Poso.
Sidney Jones is an ! analyst with the International Crisis Group office in Jakarta. She
says the images are meant to anger Muslim viewers. "They would go to a house and
show them one of these tapes and people would naturally get very angry at the
brutality of what they see," she said. "People getting killed and it's one image after
another that's drilled into the heads of the viewers."
One VCD has something else, parts of a speech by Abu Jibril, an alleged extremist
leader now in detention in Malaysia. He is suspected of being a financial conduit for
the al-Qaida terrorist network in Southeast Asia.
In the VCD, bodyguards with machine guns flank Mr. Jibril. He holds a copy of the
Islamic holy book, the Koran, in one hand, and a pistol in the other.
Mr. Jibril says holy war cannot be enforced without the Koran in the left hand, and iron
in the right. He says we cannot hold just the Koran without the iron.
ICG's Ms. Jones says the VCD is used to persuade young men to jo! in militant
groups. "And after the tape is over, they have a discussion about jihad, about holy
war, about what you need to do to resist this kind of oppression of Muslims," said Ms.
Jones. "And often that would lead to an invitation to take part in some kind of
quasi-military training and after a month or two months, it led to people going out to
Maluku or Poso."
In a report released by the International Crisis Group on Wednesday, Ms. Jones
concludes that the Maluku and Poso conflicts helped galvanize Indonesians to join
radical groups, such as Jemaah Islamiyah.
The United States charges that JI is linked to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The group
seeks to set up an Islamic state across Southeast Asia.
The governments of Singapore and Malaysia say they have thwarted at least two JI
plots in the past year to blow up Western targets in the region.
Suspicion has fallen on the group for the October 12 bombing on the Indonesian resort
island of Bali.! Despite arresting a handful of suspects linked to JI, police have not
officially said the group was involved.
Some of the videos for sale, however, have intriguing links to JI and al-Qaida.
This VCD made in 2000, titled Live Purely or Die As a Martyr features, among other
things, the funeral of a Muslim leader killed in the Maluku conflict. His name Abu
Dzar.
Abu Dzar, Ms. Jones says, was the father-in-law of Omar al Faruq, a Kuwaiti
suspected of working for al-Qaida. Mr. al Faruq was arrested in Indonesia and turned
over to U.S. authorities. He is suspected of planning attacks against Western
embassies in Southeast Asia to coincide with the anniversary of September 11
attacks.
Whether Abu Dzar had links to JI is not clear.
The credits on the video say it is produced by KOMPAK - a Muslim group once led by
Agus Dwikarna. Dwikarna is now serving a 17-year prison sentence in the Philippines
for possessing illegal explosives. The Philippines ! government says he is a JI leader.
What is not known is how many of these videos have been produced or how many
people they inspired to support radical groups. The video, however, ends by giving
details on how to make donations to KOMPAK through an international bank in the
Indonesian city of Bandung.
|
