The Star, Thursday, September 19, 2002
Police: Indon Muslim militant gave speech calling for war
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A police officer testified Thursday that he had overheard
Indonesia's best-known Muslim militant urge his followers to wage war on Christians
in a trial closely watched as a test of Jakarta's willingness to curb religious
extremism.
Jafar Umar Thalib, the leader of the Laskar Jihad militia, is on trial for inciting violence
against Christians in the religiously divided eastern province of Maluku.
The trial is being closely watched by the United States, which hopes Indonesia - the
world's largest Muslim nation - can serve as a bulwark against Islamic extremism.
Jakarta touted Thalib's arrest in May as evidence of the government's cooperation in
the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
Prosecutors are basing the charges on a speech Thalib allegedly gave in April, in
which he instructed his followers to ignore a government-sponsored peace agreement
between Muslims and Christians. In the speech, he also allegedly insulted President
Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Two days later, masked gunmen attacked a Christian village in the province, killing 12
people.
"I heard Jafar say that from today there will be no more talk of reconciliation,'' said
Ferry Ukolli, a policeman who had been on guard outside the mosque where Thalib
gave the speech.
"Then (Thalib) said: 'Go home and prepare for war.' I heard the speech clearly. It drew
my attention because there was talk of war,'' Ukolli testified.
Prosecutors also played a recording of the alleged speech in which a speaker can be
heard urging his followers to "go home and prepare bombs.''
The East Jakarta District Court was packed with about 150 Thalib supporters.
Dressed in robes and wearing white headdresses, they booed and heckled the
witness.
Thalib - who has denied the charges - appeared relaxed during the hearing.
His attorneys argued that Ukolli's testimony was unreliable because he is a Christian
and was not inside the mosque at the time.
If convicted, Thalib could face six years in prison.
He remains free pending the verdict.
Laskar Jihad is blamed for fomenting the bloodshed in Maluku. As many as 9,000
people died since 1999 in fighting between Muslims and Christians in the region,
2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) east of Jakarta. - AP
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