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How Indonesian Observers View the Bali Mystery
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Working
at the site of the Bali bombing
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Indonesia,
one of the last frontiers of Islam that has not bowed to the US in
the so called “war against terror” is now compelled to join the
US in its anti-terror coalition, a direct and logical conclusion in
the aftermath of the Bali bombing that has killed more than 200
people and injured another hundred more.
The
country’s authorities have lately decided to investigate terror
links and have enrolled their military force in the battle to fight
terrorism. However, observers and politicians alike believe the US
and the Western world will not get the expected results out of this
engagement by Jakarta to free itself from being called a “terror
hotbed.”
On
the contrary, local observers fear this move by the authorities may
bring the country’s government’s downfall and cause another
collapse in the already fragile democracy that has replaced
dictatorship in the country. The Bali blast is a sure test of
endurance of the Megawati Sukarnoputri regime, already unpopular
according to recent polls.
The
archipelago of 15,000 Islands has until this day denied the presence
of terror links in the country, despite numerous allegations made by
the US and its allies in the region, Singapore and the Philippines.
The international press and the national newspapers in the US have
also pointed their fingers at Indonesia, embarrassing the Indonesian
government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the process. After
Bali, the regional and international presses have laid the finger on
Megawati and her government for “ignoring the calls by the US and
its allies that terror cells existed in Indonesia.”
Time
magazine is currently facing a challenge by one of the most
respected leaders of Islamic fundamentalism in Indonesia, Ustaaz Abu
Bakar Bashir, the aging Muslim scholar who runs an Islamic school in
Solo, Central Java. Bashir has also been tagged the leader of the
Jamaat Islamia (JI) in Singapore and of the “vague” Malaysia
Militant Movement (KMM) in Malaysia. He is featured as the top
“terror” leader on the Malaysian police website. The respected
Magazine accused Bashir of terror links and of leading the banned
JI, an obscure group that has made the headlines in Singapore with
the arrest of 32 of its alleged members in the tiny Island nation.
CIA
“Plot”?
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Muslim
cleric Abu Bakar Bashir |
Muslim
organizations and political parties have protested to the US
government, following the publication of an allegedly leaked Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) document published by Time Magazine. These
are the same documents that “supposedly” indict Bashir as the
main al-Qaeda operative in South East Asia. The document discloses
the involvement of the JI and other radical Muslim organizations
with the al-Qaeda. The report by Time stated that Muslim
cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was a major suspect and this was partly
“confirmed” by U.S. assistant undersecretary of state for East
Asia and the Pacific, Matthew Daley.
Bashir
dismissed the existence of the JI as a pure fabrication by the
Singaporean authorities, adding that he does not have any links with
international terror organizations. He added that he does not have
links with the al-Qaeda of Osama bin Laden. He, however, supports
Osama bin Laden, adding that the Saudi millionaire is a true Muslim
who is leading a war against the occupation of Muslim land by the US
in Saudi Arabia.
The
Bali blast has been blamed on the CIA by many respected Indonesian
observers who said the US had been the only country busy suggesting
there were terror suspects in Indonesia and the only country that
had anything to gain with the blast in Bali. They argue that no
civilians could have had access to such a huge amount of ingredients
to fabricate the bomb that blasted the car and its surroundings
where the vehicle was parked.
This
gives the investigators from Australia and Indonesia a sure lead on
who is responsible for the tragic incident in the most popular
tourist resort in Indonesia. Observers told IslamOnline that the
lead is on the CIA or a military link in the country that could have
carried out the bombing. Other observers, however, urged the local
authorities to “at least look into local Islamic elements” that
could have carried out the carnage, but without sufficient proof,
Indonesia will not act.
Nevertheless,
in Indonesia, the majority of Muslims have doubts about the very
existence of the JI, the (Malaysian Militant Movement) KMM and the
al-Qaeda. A large section of the population still supports Osama bin
Laden, much to the ire of the US and its representatives in Jakarta.
Indonesia remains a staunch Muslim nation with a large segment of
the population ready to show support to everything that is Islamic.
The
recent allegation that attempts were made to assassinate Megawati
Sukarnoputri has been dubbed a “sheer US propaganda and a bid to
drag Indonesia deep in the war against terror,” by editors of
local newspapers and online magazines in Indonesia: “The US is
clearly out of ideas on how to bring the Indonesian government to
support the US in its bid to destroy terror cells around the
world,” commented an observer who is close to Bashir.
A
wider spectrum of the population in Indonesia (212 million) is
anti-US and there are numerous examples to show that the government
is forced to bend to the voice of the people. In Indonesia, 85 to 90
percent are Muslims: “Indonesians do not support the US’
‘anti-Islam’ policies, but that does not mean the Indonesian
public hates everything that is US. McDonald’s and US branded
goods are still popular in the country,” a businessman from Solo,
Central Java told IslamOnline.
US
Fabrications?
The
problem, according to Indonesian editors and observers, is that the
US “fabricates” and “manipulates” facts that are made to
support US interests. “Indonesians, from the government to the
public in general, remain little convinced that Bashir is a terror
suspect. They also do not believe there are International terrorists
in Indonesia,” the businessman said.
In
Solo, Bashir reigns supreme and his name is on the list of respected
people in the region, in contrast to where he stands in the US list
of most wanted men. He is popular and his courses are the most
successful in Solo. His school “Pesantren Al-Mukmin” or the
Al-Mukmin school is a popular place where Muslims from around the
region send their children to study Islam as a faith and as a
political and social force. He has more than 2000 students in his
school.
He
was an opponent to the Suharto regime and had to flee from Indonesia
to settle in Malaysia for a long time where his charisma was again
felt among students. He definitely has a strong footing in Singapore
and has built his image in Indonesia since the collapse of the
Suharto regime in Jakarta. The one cardinal sin of Bashir is that he
is virtually anti-US and he is outspoken in his criticism towards
the pro-Israeli policies of the Bush administration.
According
to people close to Bashir, the elderly man of 64 years is mainly
active in the propagation of Islam, a Muslim who holds the ideals
and principles of Islam as high as the US holds its
‘anti-terror’ war ideals. He is a humanist and would never
condone the killing of civilians. He, however, condemns the killing
of Muslim civilians by terrorist policies of some Western
governments.
“If
the US is trying to bring the world to agree that this old man is a
terrorist leader in South East Asia, then the US should change its
tone and declare that it is purely fighting fundamental Islam, the
bitter enemy of the Western world and its decaying system,”
another Arab businessman living in Kuala Lumpur told IslamOnline.
Associating
Mujahideens With Terrorism
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Government
of President Megawati Sukarnoputri may lose support if it
allies with the US |
The
CIA says Umar Al-Faruq, a 31 year-old Yemeni born citizen arrested
in Bogor, Indonesia, in June of this year and handed over to the US
military command in Afghanistan, is the ultimate proof by the US of
the involvement of Bashir in terrorism. Indonesians, with their vice
President in the lead, dismissed this evidence as foul play and
urged the US to be more serious in its approach to the issue of
terrorism. To the Indonesians, Al-Faruq is a CIA recruit sent to
Indonesia to “spy” on Bashir and other local Mujahideen groups.
The
difficulty for the US lies in its interpretation of terrorism and
its deliberate association of terrorism with Mujahideen groups
around the world. The US is facing serious problems in Indonesia,
problems that can put it at odds with the largest Muslim country in
the world. Its pressure on the Megawati government to tackle
“terror suspects” might be risking Megawati’s leadership.
Megawati’s
wrong move would be to toe to the US line and to bow to everything
the US says. While the US is building a “no-confidence” vote
against Indonesia on the terror issue, the Muslim populace is
thinking of revolt against their government. The Nadhlatul Ulama
(NU) and the Muhammadiyah will not support the Megawati government
if it allies itself with the US, and without this support it is
surely doomed.
Indonesia’s
vice-President Hamza Haz, a popular figure in the country, has
clearly expressed himself on the issue of terrorism and has warned
the US not to play fiddle in Indonesia without bringing concrete and
irrefutable proof of what they think is the presence of
international terrorists on Indonesian soil. Haz’ stance is
another signal that the US is definitely playing the wrong tunes in
Indonesia.
Indonesia
is neither Afghanistan nor Iraq. An attack against Indonesian
Mujahideens could disintegrate the government of Megawati and cause
the rise of a hard line Islamic regime that would be a deeper,
sharper pain in the neck of the Bush administration in Washington.
Indonesia
remains a fortress of Islamic resistance to America’s global
“war on terror.” And if the US puts too much pressure on
countries like Malaysia to toe to its line of conduct, then the war
against the real face of terrorism would be lost in South East Asia.
Malaysia’s reluctance to be given directives from Washington is a
sign that the Muslim front against the biased “war on terror” is
widening.
See
Also:
Kazi
Mahmood is a former BBC radio Africa stringer covering the
Indian Ocean Islands. He worked as a journalist for the past 20
years and contributed to several London based political and economic
magazines. You can reach him at kazi_mahmood@yahoo.com
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