The Jakarta Post, October 16, 2002
Laskar Jihad dissolved, endes Ambon presence
Sri Wahyuni and Octovianus Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Ambon/Yogyakarta
The hard-line Laskar Jihad group, widely accused of sparking violence in several parts
of Indonesia, was disbanded in a surprising move that came amid the intense hunt for
terrorists blamed for the bombings in the resort island of Bali.
On Tuesday the group began ceasing its presence in the Maluku capital of Ambon,
where it had helped Muslims fight Christians in three years of sectarian conflict, and
sent home at least 700 of its members and their families, all from Java.
Thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands of others displaced during the
conflict, which ended after representatives of the warring groups signed a peace
accord last February.
Laskar Jihad leader Ja'far Umar Thalib said on Tuesday that the group's parent
organization, the Communication Forum for Ahlussunnah Waljamaah (FKAW), had
also been dissolved for specific reasons.
"We have disbanded ourselves; there has been no external pressure involved in this
decision," he told The Jakarta Post at his residence in Yogyakarta.
Ja'far denied the dissolution was linked to Saturday's terror attack in Bali, which killed
nearly 200 people, mostly foreigners.
He said FKAW and Laskar Jihad could no longer be maintained because many of
their members had become involved in practical politics, committed a breach of its
moral code and violated the principles of the organization.
Some executives of Laskar Jihad had established ties with Muslim politicians,
including Vice President Hamzah Haz, Zainuddin M.Z. from United Development Party
of Reform and Achmad Sumargono from the Crescent Star Party, Ja'far said, adding
that such a move was the kind of practical politics that the group had avoided for
years.
The violations of morals and the organization's principles, which, he said, were often
indulged in by Laskar Jihad activists, respectively included posing for photographs and
having face-to-face interviews with female journalists.
He said the decision to dissolve Laskar Jihad was issued on Oct. 6, 2002, despite the
fact that the group appeared to be shutting down its headquarters in Yogyakarta only
nine days later.
The main office, located in Degolan village, Sleman regency, some 17 kilometers
north of Yogyakarta, was locked and teaching activities there were halted.
Neighbors said they still saw some people at the headquarters on Monday, but no
longer found any of them by Tuesday morning.
The group's online website www.laskarjihad.co.id has been closed since Saturday.
Activists of the militant group, who usually raise funds from motorists on streets in
Yogyakarta and Jakarta, have disappeared.
Ja'far said the closure also affected all the Laskar Jihad branch offices in 26 provinces
across the country, including those in the troubled towns of Ambon in Maluku and
Poso in Central Sulawesi.
The Muslim hard-line group had a presence in every province apart from Banten,
Bangka Belitung, North Maluku and North Sulawesi.
Ja'far is standing trial for defaming President Megawati Soekarnoputri during a speech
in Ambon in April.
In Ambon, the 700 returning Laskar Jihad members left the city's Yos Sudarso harbor
for Jakarta aboard the ship KM Doloronda. Ahead of their departure, they and local
Muslims staged a motorcade along the main streets close to the Muslim areas
across the city.
Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. Soenarko and other local senior security and
government officials witnessed the departure of the Muslim hard-liners.
Hundreds of local Muslims also bade farewell to the returning Laskar Jihad members,
with some of them observed to be sobbing.
The remaining 300 members are scheduled to leave Ambon next week.
Around 3,000 Laskar Jihad volunteers were sent to Maluku and 750 others to Poso
during the sectarian conflict.
Soenarko told journalists that the members had left Ambon "voluntarily" and that the
Maluku civil emergency authorities, led by Governor Saleh Latuconsina, had not
forced them to abandon the province.
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