Lee blasted as 'paranoid' over remarks on hard-liners<\/p>\n
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Muslim scholars here blasted as paranoid on Tuesday Singapore's
\nSenior Minister Lee Kuan Yew for his remarks that Muslim hard-
\nliners were plotting to overthrow President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri's nationalist administration to turn the country
\ninto an Islamic state.<\/p>\n
"It's nonsense. He (Lee) is either paranoid or wants to please
\nthe United States in its international campaign against
\nterrorism," said Solahuddin Wahid, a deputy chairman of the
\nnation's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).<\/p>\n
Dismissing Lee's statement as unsubstantiated, Solahuddin, who
\nis the brother of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, urged the
\ngovernment to "let it (statement) evaporate".<\/p>\n
Another Muslim scholar Ulil Abshar Abdalla said: "Lew Kuan Yew
\nis preoccupied by problems with Islam, which appear like a
\nmonster in his mind.<\/p>\n
"It is similar to the psychological condition during (former
\ndictator Soeharto's) New Order period in our country, in which
\nIslam is something dreadful," he added.<\/p>\n
In the opening speech of an Asian security conference in
\nSingapore on Friday, Lee said militant Muslims were plotting to
\ntopple the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines
\nand Singapore to set up an Asian Islamic state.<\/p>\n
He cited the growing threat of militant terrorist groups
\nwhich, he said, have "hijacked Islam as their driving force and
\nhave given it a virulent twist".<\/p>\n
"Muslims who fought with al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in
\nAfghanistan, have established indigenous al-Qaeda-like groups in
\nIndonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and ... Singapore to
\noverthrow these governments and set up an Islamic state," Lee
\nsaid as quoted by AFP.<\/p>\n
The immediate threat to the region came from terrorist Islamic
\ngroups, and the stability of Indonesia, the world's most populous
\nMuslim nation and home to a nest of militants, was crucial to the
\nfuture of East Asia, he said.<\/p>\n
Lee said Indonesia faced the most difficult challenge as
\nMuslim leaders have already begun vying for the support of
\nmilitant groups ahead of 2004 elections.<\/p>\n
He was apparently referring to recent moves by Vice President
\nHamzah Haz to visit Ja'far Umar Thalib, the detained leader of
\nthe militant Laskar Jihad group, and another hard-line leader Abu
\nBakar Ba'asyir, who was linked by Singapore and Malaysia to a
\nregional terrorist network.<\/p>\n
Ulil, director of the Institute for Human Resources Studies
\nand Development (Lakpesdam), which is affiliated with the NU,
\nsaid the Indonesian government should "take it easy" in
\nresponding to Lee's remark.<\/p>\n
"Lee's statement was aimed at raising awareness (against
\nterrorism) in Southeast Asia, but it could backfire against
\nSingapore itself," Ulil said.<\/p>\n
Ulil agreed that several groups of Muslim extremists were
\nstruggling to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia, but "the
\nquestion is whether they have the capability of achieving that
\ngoal."<\/p>\n
Another analyst Fachry Ali shared a similar view, saying Lee
\nwas "shocked" by the fact that terrorist attacks were also
\nhaunting Singapore and dismissed his fear as merely an attempt to
\nprotect Singapore's interests.<\/p>\n
At least 13 members of the Ba'asyir-led Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
\ngroup, based in Central Java, had been detained in Singapore on
\ncharge of plotting to blow up U.S. targets there. The JI has
\nreportedly vowed to create a southeast Asian Islamic "super
\nstate".<\/p>\n
Fachry said a "paranoid factor" prompted Lee to issue such a
\nstatement following a terrorist threat to his small country,
\nwhich "relies largely on international trade".<\/p>\n
"That's why Singapore opposes the ideological movement by
\nhard-liners in this world's largest Muslim country... merely for
\nthe economic interests of Singapore," he said.<\/p>\n
He said Lee wanted the United States to move swiftly to help
\nfight against terrorism in Indonesia and to put more pressure on
\nJakarta to deal firmly with militant groups.<\/p>\n
Fachry said, however, that the government should initiate
\ntalks with Laskar Jihad and other militant groups so as to make
\nthem "unalienated" in the country's political mainstream.<\/p>",
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