21 members of Islamic state movement arrested

JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested 21 men who declared themselves members of the banned Indonesian Islamic State movement in a raid Tuesday at a house in Pondok Gede, Bekasi.

City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said the suspects were detained based on evidence that they had allegedly undermined the state and its government by spreading stories that an Islamic state had been founded to replace the Republic of Indonesia.

"They were listening to a speech delivered by their leader when the police raided the place.

"In his speech, the leader said that an Islamic state has been founded here, thus only Islamic values and regulations were to be obeyed," Hamami said.

The man who acted as the leader of the group was identified as Wardiman, said Hamami after a ceremony promoting 260 Jakarta police officers.

Bekasi police chief Lt. Col. Adjie Ramdja, who also attended yesterday's ceremony, said the suspects were now being detained at the City Police Headquarters for further interrogation.

Preliminary police investigations revealed that the men had stayed together at the house for about four months, said Adjie.

Both Hamami and Adjie, however, refused to identify the other suspects.

According to Adjie, the house where the suspects were busted Tuesday afternoon was only 70 square meters in area and located in a public housing complex, which is also home to many military and police personnel.

Adjie declined to identify the complex. "I don't remember the name," he said.

He said police initially disbelieved where the members of the banned Indonesian Islamic State movement, better known as NII, were staying.

"No one could believe that such a group could exist in a neighborhood where many military and police members also live," he said.

"Their activities were also hard to be detect because the house had been equipped with devices to reduce noise so that other people would not be able to hear any of the discussions or speeches delivered daily by their leader."

Police also confiscated several religious books and a leaflet from the group.

"The leaflet contains the text of the 1949 proclamation of the movement with the initials SMK printed in the lower part of it," Adjie said.

SMK is likely to be an abbreviation of Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosuwirjo, the founder of the movement, he said.

According to the government-sponsored book 30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka (30 years of Indonesian Independence), Kartosuwirjo proclaimed the birth of NII in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in 1949.

The book says that he led his group of extremists, mostly from West Java, to a number of provinces across the country in an attempt to persuade Indonesian Army members to destroy the republic and set up an Islamic state.

During police questioning, Wardiman confessed that he and his members had never made any contact with their neighbors, Adjie said.

Wardiman said there was another man who he called guru. But he said he had no idea where the guru was, said Adjie, who refused to disclose the name of Wardiman's guru.

Wardiman said that he often sold dolls or children's clothes when not giving speech, Adjie said.

Hamami said the police would bring the case to the court soon.

"The men will be charge under Article 169 of the Criminal Code for participating in an illegal organization."

If found guilty, each of the arrested men faces a maximum of six years imprisonment.

"So far, we have yet to relate the men's activities to acts of subversion," Hamami said. (cst)