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Titel
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Notes on the Jihad Forces in
Maluku
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Auteur
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George J. Aditjondro, Ph.D.
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Datum
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31 juni 2000
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President Abdurrahman Wahid has currently declared
martial law in Maluku, and also a prohibition for anybody to enter the Spice
Islands. In the meantime, however, about 10,000 jihad forces are already
stationed there and continue their campaign to rid the islands from its
Christian population. Hence, it is important to expose the anatomy of these
forces.
Sociological origin:
A new stream of Muslim militants is now sweeping Indonesia, which has its
roots in the 'neo-Wahhabi' movement, a movement to 'purify' Islamic practices
all over the world to conform with the religion’s interpretation and
practices in Saudi Arabia, where it is the official sect (mazhab). It is
called 'neo-Wahhabi', after its founder, Mohammad bin Abdul Wahab. In
Indonesia, neo-Wahhabians have found a strong support among a rapidly growing
group of Muslims, outside the two largest Muslim organizations (NU and
Muhammadiyah), which is called the Tarbiyah Movement, which formed their
congregations, called jamaah salaf, among students in many prominent state universities
in the country. Among others, they are actively reviving the goal of
establishing an Islamic state (NII=Negara Islam Indonesia), which had been an
underground stream among the Tarbiyahists during the Suharto period.
One of their central figures who has publicly supported attempts to establish
an Islamic state in Indonesia is Al-Chaidar, an Achehnese, who organized the
large Muslim gathering at the National Monument (Monas) park in Jakarta which
called for the holy war to Ambon in January 2000, and was in the same month
also implicated with the anti-Christian riots in Mataram, Lombok, on January
17,2000.
In addition, the 'supreme commander' of the jihad forces in Maluku, Ustadz
(Teacher) Ja'far Umar Thalib, who earlier on founded the Ahlu Sunnah wal
Jamaah Forum in Yogyakarta, comes from this neo-Wahabian movement, having
studied the sect's teachings in Saudi Arabia and joined the Taliban armed
forces in Afghanistan (SiaR, January 28, 2000; zulfan@iname.com, April 15,
2000; personal communication with sources in Jakarta, April -June 2000).
Financial backing:
This neo-Wahhabi movement in Indonesia has been sponsored by Indonesians of
Arabic origin by setting up the Al-Irsyad Foundation, a foundation that
sponsors Al-Irsyad boarding schools (pesantren) all over the country. These
Arabic-Indonesians are not descendents of the Prophet Muhammad, who are
usually more involved in the Syi'ah sect associated with Iran. This Al-Irsyad
foundation also owns the seven hectares of land near Bogor, West Java, where
about 3,000 vigilantes carried out their military training in early April
2000 to prepare themselves for their mission to Maluku (Jakarta Post, April
10, 2000; AFP, April 9-10, 2000).
One of the main sponsors of the Al-Irsyad Foundation is Dr. Fuad Bawazier, an
Indonesian economist of Arabic origin, who had served as Finance Minister in
one of Suharto's last cabinets. Fuad Bawazier is also considered as a crony
of the Suharto family, since he also sits on the board of PT Satelindo, the
communication satellite company of Bambang Trihatmodjo, Suharto's middle son.
Serving his role as a Suharto crony, Fuad Bawazier was also a financial
backer of Abdurrahman Wahid's political party, PKB, and power broker who
persuaded Amien Rais, the current MPR speaker, to nominate Wahid as
presidential candidate. This tactic was probably driven by the fact that
Wahid -- before and after becoming president -- called for an amnesty for
Suharto, as long as he returns his ill-gotten wealth to the Indonesian
people. This position is also shared by Amien Rais.
Currently, Fuad Bawazier is allegedly also supporting Amien Rais' calls for
Wahid's impeachment, having shifted his bet from Wahid to Amien Rais to save
Suharto and his owns neck from a major anti-corruption trial (indemo@asia.com,
May 30, 2000).
Political party links:
Usually, people tend to link this jihad movement with the Moon-and-Crescent
Party (PBB = Partai Bulan Bintang), due to the public statements from
individuals such as Achmad Sumargono from KISDI and Eggi Sudjana from PPMI
who called for crusades against Christians in Maluku and other places
(Mataram and Madura).
However, my sources indicate a stronger link between this movement and the
Justice Party (Partai Keadilan). This is because the main ideologue of this
party is Abu Rido, whose real name is Abdi Sumaiti, a former Islamic religion
lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) who went to pursue his
education at the Madinah University in Saudi Arabia, and joined the
neo-Wahabi Tarbiyah movement. Abu Rido has a very strong anti-Semitic and
anti-Christian stance, and also strongly opposes other Islamic sects, which
he feels are not teaching the right doctrine.
The media (organ) of Abu Rido's Tarbiyah sect is Sabili, which began as an
underground magazine since 1989. While the financial backing for Abu Rido's
group comes from Saudi Arabia via Dr. Tontonji.
Ideologue: Rustam Kastor:
Retired Brigadier General Rustam Kastor, born in Ambon on July 9, 1939, can
rightly be called the 'ideological father' of the violence in Maluku, since
he has given a pseudo-scientific justification to send 'holy war' (jihad)
troops to Maluku to save Muslims from annihilation by Christians Moluccans,
who allegedly want to revive the 'South Moluccan Republic' -- a 1950
rebellion during the early years of the Indonesian Republic -- which mainly
consisted of Christian Ambonese.
Kastor had been the former Chief of Staff of the 8-th army command, Trikora
in Port Numbay (formerly, Jayapura) in West Papua and had also been stationed
at the TNI headquarters in Jakarta.
According to Kastor, the Protestant Church of Maluku, or Gereja Protestan
Maluku (GPM) and the Moluccan chapter of Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian
Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) do support this separatist
ambition of the RMS.
This theory was actually first raised on January 28, 1999, in a press
conference organized by two militant Muslim organizations, KISDI (Komite
Indonesia untuk Solidaritas Dunia Islam) and PPMI (Persatuan Pekerja Muslim
Indonesia). The first organization is led by Achmad Sumargono and the second
one by Eggi Sudjana (SiaR, January 29, 1999).
These organizations and their leaders came into the national spotlight during
the last years of Suharto's rule, due to their closeness to the president's
son-in-law, then Mayor General Prabowo Subianto. They all share a common
tendency of blaming all Indonesians political and economic problems to
Indonesians of ethnic Chinese origin and of Christian belief (Eklof, 1999: 134-143).
Sociologically, these Muslim militants belong to what William Liddle call
'scripturalists,' associated with DDII (Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia), or
Indonesian Islamic Preaching Council, set up by the late Islamic politician
Mohammad Natsir after his Muslim party, Masyumi, was banned by Sukarno after
the 1957 regionalist rebellion in Sumatra and Sulawesi. These Islamic stream
differ substantially from the two major Muslim organizations in Indonesia,
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, who Liddle calls 'substantiality,' in
that they still advocate the establishment of an Islamic state (1996:
266-289).
The 'RMS-GPM-PDI-P' conspiracy theory acquired some sense of credibility when
Ret. Mayor General A.M. Hendropriyono, then Minister reiterated it for
Transmigration and the Resettlement of Forest Encroachers, in a public
meeting with the Maluku governor, religious and other informal leaders,
students and youth in Ambon on Tuesday, March 9, 1999 (Kompas, March 10,
1999). Another retired general, Feisal Tanjung, instantly underlined
Hendropriyono's accusation (SiaR, March 11, 1999).
The theory then spread like bushfire as it was disseminated by the Muslim
controlled media in Indonesia, where the abbreviation 'RMS' became distorted
to mean 'Republik Maluku Serani', or the 'Christian Moluccan Republic',
thereby distorting the historical fact that Ambonese Muslims had taken part
in setting this liberation movement up as well as disregarding the totally
different tradition of separating 'church' and 'state' in the Christian
tradition in contrast to the integration of 'religious' and 'political'
communities in the Islamic tradition.
After nearly a year of being propagated by certain Muslim and pro-New Order
media, this theory was formalized by Rustam Kastor into his book (2000),
which has become a bestseller not only among Muslims in Maluku but also in
Java and Sulawesi. In fact, in the wake of the inter-religious riots in Poso,
Kastor's book has also been widely disseminated in Central Sulawesi.
Apart from the totally disrespectful language about Christians and their
religion, the book is overtly tainted with numerous nationalistic accusations
bordering to fascist claims which shows the book's strong militaristic agenda
couched in religious rhetoric. In this best seller, for instance, Kastor
blames the Moluccan student movement for preparing the ground for the
so-called 'RMS-led Muslim-cleansing operation.' The massive demonstrations in
Ambon on 18 November 1998, in which up to 5,000 students took part -- and
where the local army commander (Col. Hikayat) was eventually removed from
Ambon -- was according to Kastor, a conscious attempt to weaken the military
so that they would not be able to crush the subsequent 'RMS-led rebellion'
which aimed at cleansing Maluku from its Muslim population (2000: 33-34, 185,
197-207).
This is not where Kastor's accusations end. He also accuses Christians of
manipulating the student-led Reformasi movement to destroy the Indonesian
economy and thereby promote the Republic's disintegration by separating the
Christian-dominated provinces in Eastern Indonesia -- including East Timor
--, which would then form a new Christian-dominated country with fantastic
natural resources, since it will include West Papua, and the current province
of Maluku. The first step in this grand scheme is, according to the author,
the 'breakaway' of East Timor from Indonesia (Kastor 2000:108).
What Kastor does not mention in his book is that the Timorese and Papuan
freedom fighters have Muslims in their leadership ranks, who are certainly
not fighting to create a greater Christian Melanesian alliance. Mar'i
Alkatiri in Fretilin and Thaha Mohamad Alhamid in the Presidium of the Papuan
Council, a Timorese Besides, the wish to separate from Indonesia is certainly
not a Christian monopoly, as proven by the Achehnese people.
Apart from the more ideological inspiration through his book, Kastor has also
been personally involved in sending the Islamic vigilantes from Java to
Maluku. He was one among the six representatives of the jihad forces who went
to see President Abdurrahman Wahid in the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on
Thursday, April 6, 2000 (Kompas, April 7, 2000).
He also has spoken at several public meetings in Java and in Ambon itself,
where he kept emphasizing the need to carry out a holy war to liberate Muslim
Moluccans from their Christian oppressors (zulfan@iname.com, April 9, 2000;
AgungPrimamorista@tpj.co.id, May 30, 2000).
Military & police backing:
Considering the sociological and theological parallels between the jihad
forces in Maluku and the FPI (Front Pembela Islam) vigilantes in Jakarta
(Tempo, Jan. 23, 2000: 40-46), it is most likely that the jihad forces are
also politically backed by Wiranto and Djadja Suparman, two top army generals
who have currently been sacked by President Wahid.
In East Java, military backing for these Muslim militias comes from Mayor
General Sudi Silalahi, chief of the Brawijaya army command. I base this on
the fact that Sudi Silalahi strongly denied the existence of military links
with a bomb blast in Nganjuk, East Java, on May 30, 2000 (Jakarta Post, June
5, 2000). This denial comes after it had been found out that the bomb that
exploded in the Suzuki Carry AB 7244 van and killed the driver and a passenger
had all the indications that it was owned or connected to the jihad forces
leader in Yogyakarta, which had been confirmed by the Indonesian Police
Commander, General Rusdihardjo (SiaR, May 31, 2000; Jakarta Post, June 1,
2000; Detikcom, June 2, 2000).
It has also been established that the only casualty in this accident,
Rifzikka Helta (32), a Yogyakarta resident, had previously spent two weeks in
Ambon and that one of the survivors, Azmi Ishaq (32) is a student at the Al
Ikhlas boarding school in Jember, East Java (Jakarta Post, June 3, 2000).
Apart from General Sudi Silalahi, the Police commander of East Java, Mayor
General Da'i Bachtiar also allowed the thousands of jihad troops to board the
ships from Surabaya to Ambon, shipping their weapons separately in soap boxes
and containers which reached Ambon after the arrival of the troops. This was
arranged by a courier company in Surabaya owned by a certain Haji Doellah
(personal communication with a source in Surabaya, June 18, 2000). In an
interview with the pro-jihad daily newspaper, Republika (April 20,2000), the
police commander also denied that tens of East Java police agents had
returned their badges to join the jihad forces to Maluku. This probably means
the opposite, namely that many police agents had indeed swelled the ranks of
the jihad forces on their mission to Maluku.
The jihad forces must also have widespread support from police commanders in
West Java, Jakarta, and Ambon, since they could freely carry out their
military training near Bogor, brandish their swords publicly when they
demonstrated at the parliament. And, in Ambon, enable their containers full
of weapons to be disembarked at the harbor, which lies in Muslim-controlled
Waihaong, instead of in the Navy harbor of Halong or to be moved immediately
to the Pattimura army headquarters in Ambon.
Finally, the jihad forces must also have support within the top ranks of the
Indonesian Navy, since no efforts were made to prohibit the state-owned
ships, such as KM Rinjani, from boarding the Muslim vigilantes whose mission
was clearly to fight Christian Moluccans whom their leader accuse of planning
to set up a separate, Christian state (see interview with Ja'far Umar Thalib
in Panji Masyarakat, April 26, 2000, on zulfan@iname.com, April 28, 2000).
In that interview, the jihad forces commander admits having a hotline to
Armed Forces Commander Admiral Widodo A.S., through a 60-year old man called
Bambang, who had donated 1,050 m2 land to the Muslim boarding school of
Ja'far.
This probably means that as a Navy admiral, the armed forces commander may
still be able to persuade his Navy subordinates to turn a blind eye on the
exodus of jihad troops to Maluku.
George J. Aditjondro (July 2000)
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