'MMI has no links with Osama'<\/p>\n
Kartika Bagus C, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI) chief Abu Bakar Baashir
\nstrongly denies having any links with the global al-Qaeda network
\nof Osama bin Laden, although he says he supported the group's
\nwork for the cause of syariah (Islamic law).<\/p>\n
\"I do support what work al-Qaeda, Osama and the Taliban have
\ndone to uphold syariah. I also support them because they are open
\nenemies of the United States ... but I have no links with them,
\nand have no involvement in their work,\" Baashir told The Jakarta
\nPost at the Islam People's Hall in the Central Java town of
\nSurakarta on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"I can only support them with my statements and my prayers,
\nsince I have only those.\"<\/p>\n
Baashir, however, said that he was acquainted with some of the
\n13 suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants, who were arrested by
\nMalaysian police last December.<\/p>\n
\"I do know some of them, because they are my former students.
\nI forget which ones were my students, but one of them was named
\nAmar,\" the Muslim cleric said.<\/p>\n
Police arrested the people, some of them members of the
\nMalaysian Militants Group (KKM), for allegedly trying to create
\nan Islamic government, and possibly having ties with Zacarias
\nMoussaoui, a French national on trial for participating in the
\nterrorist attacks on the United States last September.<\/p>\n
They were also arrested for conducting secret meetings to set
\nup a Daulah Islamiah (Islamic government), an activity deemed a
\nthreat to national security.<\/p>\n
Of the 13 arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA),
\nMalaysian police identified three of them as Indonesians, namely
\nBaashir, Hambali and Mohamad Iqbal.<\/p>\n
Baashir said on Monday that he was not among those arrested
\nand that he had left Malaysia following the fall of former
\npresident Soeharto in May 1998.<\/p>\n
He added that neither he nor MMI had any plan to bomb the U.S.
\nEmbassy in Jakarta, as implicated in an article in The Straits
\nTimes.<\/p>\n
Baashir, 64, then called those accusing him of having
\nterrorist links as kafirs who did not support the upholding of
\nsyariah.<\/p>\n
Baashir moved to Malaysia in 1985 and became a religious
\nteacher there after spending four years in an Indonesian prison
\nfor challenging former president Soeharto's government.<\/p>\n
\"During my stay overseas, I promoted jihad and the honor of
\ndying in defense of one's religious belief. Most of the people
\nwere surprised by the themes I offered,\" Baashir recalled.<\/p>\n
His organization, MMI, recently held a meeting between leaders
\nof Muslim organizations in Yogyakarta to seek a common stand on
\nhow to uphold syariah.<\/p>\n
The cleric runs an Islamic boarding school in Ngruki village
\nin Sukoharjo, some 30 kilometers east of Surakarta. He reportedly
\nhas some 500 students.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/mmi-has-no-links-with-osama-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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