Laskar Jihad dissolved, endes Ambon presence<\/p>\n
Sri Wahyuni and Octovianus Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Ambon\/Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
The hard-line Laskar Jihad group, widely accused of sparking
\nviolence in several parts of Indonesia, was disbanded in a
\nsurprising move that came amid the intense hunt for terrorists
\nblamed for the bombings in the resort island of Bali.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday the group began ceasing its presence in the Maluku
\ncapital of Ambon, where it had helped Muslims fight Christians in
\nthree years of sectarian conflict, and sent home at least 700 of
\nits members and their families, all from Java.<\/p>\n
Thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands of others
\ndisplaced during the conflict, which ended after representatives
\nof the warring groups signed a peace accord last February.<\/p>\n
Laskar Jihad leader Ja'far Umar Thalib said on Tuesday that
\nthe group's parent organization, the Communication Forum for
\nAhlussunnah Waljamaah (FKAW), had also been dissolved for
\nspecific reasons.<\/p>\n
"We have disbanded ourselves; there has been no external
\npressure involved in this decision," he told The Jakarta Post at
\nhis residence in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Ja'far denied the dissolution was linked to Saturday's terror
\nattack in Bali, which killed nearly 200 people, mostly
\nforeigners.<\/p>\n
He said FKAW and Laskar Jihad could no longer be maintained
\nbecause many of their members had become involved in practical
\npolitics, committed a breach of its moral code and violated the
\nprinciples of the organization.<\/p>\n
Some executives of Laskar Jihad had established ties with
\nMuslim politicians, including Vice President Hamzah Haz,
\nZainuddin M.Z. from United Development Party of Reform and Achmad
\nSumargono from the Crescent Star Party, Ja'far said, adding that
\nsuch a move was the kind of practical politics that the group had
\navoided for years.<\/p>\n
The violations of morals and the organization's principles,
\nwhich, he said, were often indulged in by Laskar Jihad activists,
\nrespectively included posing for photographs and having face-to-
\nface interviews with female journalists.<\/p>\n
He said the decision to dissolve Laskar Jihad was issued on
\nOct. 6, 2002, despite the fact that the group appeared to be
\nshutting down its headquarters in Yogyakarta only nine days
\nlater.<\/p>\n
The main office, located in Degolan village, Sleman regency,
\nsome 17 kilometers north of Yogyakarta, was locked and teaching
\nactivities there were halted.<\/p>\n
Neighbors said they still saw some people at the headquarters
\non Monday, but no longer found any of them by Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
The group's online website www.laskarjihad.co.id has been
\nclosed since Saturday. Activists of the militant group, who
\nusually raise funds from motorists on streets in Yogyakarta and
\nJakarta, have disappeared.<\/p>\n
Ja'far said the closure also affected all the Laskar Jihad
\nbranch offices in 26 provinces across the country, including
\nthose in the troubled towns of Ambon in Maluku and Poso in
\nCentral Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
The Muslim hard-line group had a presence in every province
\napart from Banten, Bangka Belitung, North Maluku and North
\nSulawesi.<\/p>\n
Ja'far is standing trial for defaming President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri during a speech in Ambon in April.<\/p>\n
In Ambon, the 700 returning Laskar Jihad members left the
\ncity's Yos Sudarso harbor for Jakarta aboard the ship KM
\nDoloronda. Ahead of their departure, they and local Muslims
\nstaged a motorcade along the main streets close to the Muslim
\nareas across the city.<\/p>\n
Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. Soenarko and other local senior
\nsecurity and government officials witnessed the departure of the
\nMuslim hard-liners.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of local Muslims also bade farewell to the returning
\nLaskar Jihad members, with some of them observed to be sobbing.<\/p>\n
The remaining 300 members are scheduled to leave Ambon next
\nweek.<\/p>\n
Around 3,000 Laskar Jihad volunteers were sent to Maluku and
\n750 others to Poso during the sectarian conflict.<\/p>\n
Soenarko told journalists that the members had left Ambon
\n"voluntarily" and that the Maluku civil emergency authorities,
\nled by Governor Saleh Latuconsina, had not forced them to abandon
\nthe province.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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