Cabinet ministers split over calls for jihad

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.