CBSNews, Tuesday January 18, 2005
Give and take of tragedy: Islamic group in Indonesia offers aid
and courts support
By BRIAN MURPHY
AP Religion Writer
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) An Islamic group with suspected links to al-Qaida is
on a dual mission across this devastated corner of Indonesia: collecting the dead and
seeking new followers among the survivors.
The two-tier outreach of the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, or Indonesia Holy Warrior
Assembly, is an example of how the relief response to the tsunami tragedy can serve
as an opportunity to widen support in a country under international pressure to closely
watch radical Islamic activities.
As the region slowly claws back from epic destruction, the Mujahidin has also started
to blur the lines between offering assistance and polishing its image. Collecting
bodies is a pressing service here, as thousands of corpses rot in the tropical heat.
"It would be a lie to say that we are not trying to win over people's hearts to our side,''
said Jamal Aldin, a volunteer from Jakarta who led one of the body-collection brigades
Tuesday. "The survivors will see the work we are doing and maybe they will follow us.''
The group whose leaders wear black vests with "Mujahidin'' written on the back has
distributed Qurans and information about its views on correct Islamic principles, such
as head scarves and avoidance of Western culture. It also keeps a detailed log of
local volunteers to call on later.
Another radical group, the Islamic Defenders Front, has set up a camp for survivors in
a cemetery in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. But its agenda is mostly confined to
opposing perceived un-Islamic activities such as bars and nightclubs. The Mujahidin's
background is considered more worrisome.
The group takes its cues from Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric now on trial as the alleged
leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaida-linked terror cell accused in the 2002 Bali
nightclub bombings that killed 202 people and the 2003 attack on the J.W. Marriott
hotel in Jakarta that claimed 12 lives.
Mujahidin members also took part in Christian-Muslim fighting in eastern Indonesia in
recent years that claimed thousands of lives. Many of the anti-Christian fighters were
members of violent Majelis Mujahidin subgroups, including Laskar Mujahidin, which
has also set up a tsunami relief operation in Aceh.
"There's certainly been some overlap between Jemaah Islamiyah and the (Mujahidin),''
said Sidney Jones, an expert on Indonesia's Islamic radical organizations for the
International Crisis Group.
Any attempt to gain serious footholds in Aceh province could run up against the area's
traditional independence and face a backlash from separatist rebels. Three years ago,
another radical Islamic group, Laskar Jihad, tried to open branches in the province but
residents drove it out.
But Aceh officials have since agreed to introduce more Islamic principles into the
province's legal codes a move backed by the Mujahidin and a compelling reason to
make new inroads.
"We are not going away after this disaster like America and the other countries,'' said
Shobbarin Syakur, a Mujahidin coordinator who runs an Islamic clothing store in
central Indonesia. "We want to strengthen the Islamic identity in every part of the
country.''
He praised Bashir, but denied any support for violence. Still, he grew angry when
discussing the presence of U.S. troops off the coast of northwestern Indonesia which
suffered the most deaths and damage from the Dec. 26 disaster that took more than
162,000 lives in 11 nations.
"America must be careful here,'' he said. "There will be trouble if they try to use aid for
political purposes.''
The body hunt remains the Mujahidin's main mission.
About 20 volunteers part of the Mujahidin's 250-member force in Aceh gathered
Tuesday in rubber boots and gloves, surgical masks dangling below their chins. They
walked out of the camp under the Mujahidin's huge black flag decorated with a sword
and Quranic script.
The first stop was a city canal, where the remains of a victim were spotted floating
amid planks and dried palm fronds. A cloud of flies buzzed around the corpse.
The volunteers snagged it with a stick, but the body was so severely decomposed
that it began to break apart.
One young man mumbled an Islamic prayer for the dead.
A short while later, the body hunters marched through the no man's land that used to
be a well-groomed neighborhood. The place spoke of the sea's unstoppable power:
huge fishing boats wedged against homes, flattened concrete power pylons, stoves
and refrigerators resting on sand bars. Small rivers wound through the foundations of
homes. Tiny crabs fed off scum around a sunken chest of drawers.
The Mujahidin volunteers carried back three bodies wrapped in black plastic and tied
to flotsam lumber. They will be given Muslim burials.
"Look at that,'' said Aldin, the team leader. "The bodies keep coming. The job here will
not be done for a long, long time. People will see that we will stay until it's done.''
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
©2005, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved
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