Hard-line groups told to emulate Laskar Jihad's move to disband
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Muslim scholars have hailed Laskar Jihad's decision to disband itself and urged other hard-line organizations to follow suit or have the authorities disperse them in order to stop the renewed violence, which is often blamed on them.
"We congratulate them (Laskar Jihad). They have made the right decision. Their existence was a bad example of Indonesian Islam," Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of the nation's second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
He said a paramilitary organization should not be given a place in the world's largest Muslim country as its presence tarnished Islam.
Azyumardi Azra, rector of Jakarta's Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN), and another Muslim scholar, Ulil Abshar Abdalla of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), also hailed the voluntary dissolution of Laskar Jihad.
"I welcome it because its presence had sparked polemics and controversy among the public," Azyumardi said.
Laskar Jihad "tended to enforce its own law" for its members and other Indonesians in this secular state of more than 200 million people, made up of mostly moderate Muslims, he said, adding that it was in violation of the country's prevailing laws.
"I am glad to hear it (dissolution)," Ulil told the Post separately.
Syafii, Ulil and Azyumardi called on similar Islamic militant groups, such as the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), and other pseudo-military organizations affiliated with political parties and others, to also break up.
"The government should disband them, although it would be better if they broke up," Azyumardi said.
Syafii said all paramilitary organizations, particularly those abusing Islam as their "political commodity", should be dissolved.
Ulil said he disagrees with the authorities breaking up hard- line groups as the move would go against freedom of association.
"What the government needs to do is strictly enforce the law against any members involved in violence. They should not be shown any leniency before the law," he added.
Laskar Jihad sent thousands of volunteers to help Muslims fight Christians in Maluku during three years of bloody sectarian conflict, which only ceased early this year.
The group dissolved itself amid the intense hunt for terrorists blamed for Saturday's bomb attack on the resort island of Bali, which killed at least 183 people, mostly foreigners.
Its leader, Ja'far Umar Thalib, said the group's breakup was decided on Oct. 6, but in fact Laskar Jihad had just shut down its headquarters in Yogyakarta last Tuesday, three days after the Bali blast.
Ja'far denied the dissolution was linked to the terrorist attack on Bali, saying instead that the move was made partially because Laskar Jihad activists had begun to become involved in practical politics.
Ulil dismissed Ja'far's reasons, saying he believed the Bali bombings had forced the group to disperse.
"The tragedy would further undermine its existence due to incessant national and international pressure against the group. If they (its members) tried to resist, they would be finished," Ulil added.
Many fundamentalist groups have resurfaced in Indonesia following the downfall of former strongman Soeharto in 1998, with Laskar Jihad and FPI being the most prominent ones. The pair have persistently attempted to implement sharia, which has sometimes turned violent.
The most recent case was the vandalism committed by FPI members, who attacked a discotheque and two billiard halls in Central Jakarta earlier this month. Its chairman, Habib Rizieq Shihab, was detained on Wednesday for the attack.
Ja'far will be put on trial for provoking renewed violence in the Maluku capital of Ambon and defaming President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Following their announcement, Laskar Jihad began on Tuesday to withdraw its presence in Ambon and another trouble spot, Poso, Central Sulawesi, by sending home thousands of members recruited from Java.