Cabinet ministers split over calls for jihad

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Top Cabinet ministers gave mixed responses on Wednesday to the call for a jihad by some radical Muslim groups, seemingly reflecting divisions over the government's stance regarding the matter.

"The government cannot stop Indonesians from traveling to Afghanistan to fight against a possible attack by the U.S. as long as they have travel documents," Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra told reporters after a coordinating meeting on political and security affairs.

Also present at the meeting, which was chaired by Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, were Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayudha, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil, and National Intelligence Agency chief A.M. Hendropriyono.

"The immigration office also is unable to prevent someone who has a passport from going overseas as it's very difficult to determine (their intentions)," he added.

Matori, who was the last to leave the meeting, however, appealed to the public not to become emotional and not to travel to Afghanistan since Indonesia had sided neither with Afghanistan nor the United States.

Indonesia is implementing a non-aligned, neutral foreign policy, he asserted.

"Again I stress that we are fighting terrorism, not religion, so let's not be emotional as Indonesia is not in a position to support Afghanistan or the United States," Matori said.

Asked whether the government would ban a jihad in support of Afghanistan, Matori simply said: "Let's see."

When asked whether the volunteers might lose their Indonesian citizenship should they join the Afghan military as stipulated in Article 17 of Law No. 62/1958 on citizenship, Yusril said: "It is against the law for Indonesians to join a regular army in a foreign country, but if they go as volunteers, we cannot stop them."

Yusril declined to answer whether joining the Taliban military would be against the law, as the Taliban were now the de facto rulers of the country after a coup against the legitimate Afghan government on Sept. 27, 1996.

In response to a possible military strike by the United States against the Taliban regime, several militant Muslim groups in Indonesia have been campaigning for the launching of a jihad in defense of the Taliban.

Afghanistan has been accused by the U.S. of harboring Osama bin Laden, Washington's chief suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

One of these groups, the Islam Youth Movement (GPI), has even started registering volunteers, and claims that thousands of people nationwide "are ready to die as martyrs for the sake of Islam."

Jusril's statement appeared to overrule an earlier statement made by Muhamad Indra, the director of supervision and enforcement at the Immigration Office, that his office would revoke the citizenship of Indonesians traveling as volunteers to Afghanistan as they would be engaged in overseas military action without government consent.

Indra has also said that he would order immigration offices nationwide to refuse to issue the travel documents needed for such purposes.