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JAKARTA, April 10 (AFP)-About 500 armed members of an Islamic movement forced their way into parliament for a meeting with House Speaker Akbar Tanjung to obtain a blessing for a Jihad (holy war) in the Maluku islands. The Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah Jihad Force members, dressed in white robes and armed with machetes and swords, arrived on board several trucks and immediately demanded a meeting with Tanjung. After their demand went ignored for about one hour, some 100 members forced their way into the third floor of the building where Tanjung has his offices. They said they wanted Tanjung to support their drive to launch a war in support of Muslims in Maluku, who have been fighting Christians there since January last year. But Tanjung advised them to refrain from going to war in the Malukus, saying they should leave the question of security and peace in the eastern islands to the Indonesian security forces and authorities. "By sending a Jihad force, it would seem like Muslims are taking physical action against people of other faiths," said Tanjung to the crowd, according to the Antara news agency. He said that any Holy War would better be waged in the form of material and spiritual aid for Muslims in the Malukus. The group has set up a training camp 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of here to prepare volunteers for a Jihad in the strife-torn Maluku islands where Muslim-Christian violence has claimed more than 3,000 lives in the past year. Local press reports quoting insider sources said some 3,150 people were currently training in a seven-hectare (17.2-acre) field in a valley accessible only by foot, near the hill town of Bogor, West Java. Group commander, Jaffar Umar Thalib, announced on April 6 that the Jihad force was seeking to send up to 10,000 Muslim volunteers to the Malukus to break what they called a "Christian rebellion" in the islands. The sectarian violence originated in Ambon, the capital of the Malukus, in January 1999, and was sparked by a trivial dispute between a local Christian driver and a Muslim. The brawl quickly degenerated into open clashes between Christians and Muslims and within weeks had spread to the other islands, leaving thousands of both religions dead, and forcing tens of thousands of others to flee the islands.
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