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Indonesia: Jihad Forces Rejects Blame For Crisis In Malukus
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA (IslamOnline) - A group of Muslim activists forming part of the Jihad forces in the Malukus rejected accusations by Baroness Caroline Cox, president of British-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, that they were responsible for violence in the province.
The Laskar Jihad, or Soldiers of Holy war, said they were protecting Muslims in the Malukus and North Malukus provinces, also known as the Mouccas, where fierce fighting has again erupted this week.
Baroness Cox accused the Jihad of “terrorizing” the Christians, adding that evidence suggests, "that Laskar Jihad receives assistance from elements in the government and the armed forces, as well as from international Islamist movements."
In an interview with IslamOnline, a member of the Muslim Radical group in Jakarta said Christians in the Malukus were misleading Cox, and accused her of showing anti-Islamic sentiments against the real victims in the conflict.
The Muslim Jihad in Indonesia agrees with government officials that the ongoing conflict in the Malukus is setting the stage for a secessionist bid by the Christian areas of the Malukus.
They told IslamOnline "surely external forces were up against the Muslims and would do anything they can to divide the province."
The member of the Jihad group added however, that the role of the Laskar Jihad was not to prevent a split of the territory, rather they were there "in response to appeals by Muslims in Malukus and North Malukus for aid."
Cox, who is in Hong Kong and whose sources were dependent on both U.N. envoys and Christian civilians in the province, said she believed the Laskar Jihad had given an ultimatum to Christians on Seram Island to convert to Islam or to perish by the end of November.
The Laskar Jihad, the Jakarta based observer said, wants to make sure Muslims are not attacked during the month of Ramadan. However, reports indicate that 50 people have been killed in the Malukus this week, in a surge of violence and sectarian attacks.
International observers and press reporters from international agencies have accused the Indonesian government of being unable to control Laskar Jihad members said to be "thugs in Muslim garb."
They argue that Jakarta is increasingly afraid of retaliation from other parts of Indonesia that is becoming “increasingly Islamist.”
"Following the arrival of significant numbers of Laskar Jihad warriors in April, the conflict has escalated very seriously," Baroness Cox said.
The Jihad movement again refuted Cox’s remarks saying that the facts two years ago were heavily against the ill prepared Muslims when violence flared in Ambon.
They reminded the U.N. and other observers that Christians were the first to start the conflict in Ambon, killing innocent Muslim children and women in a spite of sectarian violence.
House burning and attacks against mosques in the Malukus became common in the past two years with the worst massacres occurring against the Muslims while they were indulged in Friday "Jumaah" prayers in mosques in Ambon and Halmahera.
The Muslim Radicals told IslamOnline that their aim is to assist the Indonesian task forces to have a better control of the situation, something that was impossible last year, they said.
On November 28th, at Kairatu village, 50 people were killed. Most of them were Christians, while the bodies of 7 Laskar Jihad members were also found. Last weekend’s violence left a death toll of at least eight in Uraur village, Kairatu district.
The fighting then shifted to the neighboring village of Waimital where 146 houses were burned down. Waimital was used to host migrant settlers until it was taken over by Laskar Jihad forces as their base.
Muslim Jihad in Jakarta denied accusations that Muslims were conducting forced conversion of Christians and killing those who refused to convert. They told IslamOnline that women survivors of Muslim villages attacked by Christians were forced to Christianity to evade death.
Several Muslim women from Halmahera captured by a gang of Christian crusaders clad in red have been raped, beaten and forced to convert to Christianity. Many of them were rescued later by the Laskar Jihad and came back to Islam.
It is not an impossible thought that out of rage, Muslim fighters forced Christian women they captured in the fights to convert to Islam, IslamOnline was told.
Fighting in the Malukus was sparked by a petty dispute between Muslim settlers and Christians two years ago. Malukus population is equally divided between Christians and Muslims.
Tens of thousands of people have fled the Malukus for other parts of Indonesia, which is mainly Muslim.
The worsening situation in the Malukus was blamed on the majority Christian army and police forces in the province. Since then, a majority Muslim contingency of special armed forces of the Indonesian army arrived in the Malukus.
Their presence did not stop the flaring of sporadic violence in the province. The Muslim jihad comprising of more than 2000 members arrived in the Malukus in April this year.
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