REUTERS, Thursday March 16, 5:24 PM
One in 10 Indonesians back suicide bombings - survey
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Eleven percent of the people in Indonesia, the world's most
populous Muslim country, believe suicide attacks against civilian targets are
sometimes justifiable, a survey said on Thursday.
Though the number is relatively small, analysts say the findings of the Indonesian
Survey Institute (LSI) are a wake-up call for Indonesian leaders and moderate clerics
who fear a tiny radical Muslim fringe may be making inroads into the general public.
Suicide bombings blamed on Islamic militants have killed hundreds in recent years in
Indonesia, a country whose population of 220 million population is around 85 percent
Muslim -- most of them following a moderate form of the religion.
The government has been making an extra effort to counter militant Islamic ideas
since the discovery of videos last November showing the last words of suicide
bombers who killed 20 people in restaurants on Bali island last year. Authorities and
moderate clerics were shocked that young Indonesians could talk so blithely about
the horrific bombings.
"Religious radicalism, when it is translated into violent methods in the name of
religion, has received enough support -- one in every 10 Muslims in Indonesia," LSI
senior researcher Anies Baswedan said. "It seems small, but this is already quite a
big support for extreme acts."
The survey, based on 1,200 respondents across Indonesia's 33 provinces, showed
11.2 percent believed suicide bombings were justifiable on occasion while 0.5 percent
said the method could always be justified to defend Islam from its enemies.
The survey also revealed that 8 percent support masterminds of past suicide
bombings, including Noordin M. Top, the most wanted terror suspect in Indonesia,
who authorities say is an expert in recruiting young suicide bombers among the
country's impoverished masses.
Police believe Top, a key operative of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant
network, is on the run in rural areas of Indonesia's main Java island.
Anti-terror campaigns in Indonesia have faced hurdles, including perceptions the
United States is out to attack Islam, as well as the ample space given to militant
voices and their sympathisers in the Indonesian media.
SHARIA SUPPORT
The survey also found that almost half the respondents back stoning as a punishment
for adulterers while support for other extreme elements of Islamic sharia was also
significant.
However, LSI said the findings could be misleading.
"Agreement to ideas based on sharia was quite high but this trend was not reflected
in the support for political parties that fight for the imposition of sharia in Indonesia,"
Baswedan said.
"Agreement...does not equal to willingness to support (sharia) applications," he said.
The current parliament, elected in 2004, is dominated by parties against imposing
strict sharia laws nationwide.
In their personal lives many Indonesians follow liberal practices, or mix ancient
traditional religions and magic with Islam in ways that do not square with what they
profess to be their beliefs.
The survey also showed that while more than 70 percent support the moderate beliefs
of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim group in Indonesia, minority respondents are
more favourable to ultra-conservative groups than liberal ones.
Only 2.5 percent back the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) while 11 percent agreed with
causes advocated by the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) of Abu Bakar Bashir,
who has been convicted on terrorism charges and identified by intelligence officials as
the leader of Jemaah Islamiah.
MMI wants to Indonesia to become an Islamic state, while Jemaah Islamiah has
advocated a regional Islamic government.
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