Hard-line groups told to emulate Laskar Jihad's move to disband

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.