Ja'far demands deployment of militias in Ambon

JAKARTA (JP): Members of Laskar Jihad Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamma'ah said on Wednesday that their detained commander, Ja'far Umar Thalib, had instructed the deployment of 100 reinforcements from the Muslim militia group to the Maluku capital of Ambon.

Chief of the Laskar Jihad communication center, Ayip Syarifuddin, said after visiting Ja'far at the National Police Headquarters that the group's fighters would be tasked with preventing any kind of blasphemy or criminal acts against Islam.

"Despite the fact that our commander is in police custody, he still cares about the nation. He spoke to us like a teacher speaks to his students," Ayip said.

Police officials could not hide their surprise upon learning the message Ja'far had conveyed to his supporters.

"Just because Ja'far is in police custody, this does not mean that we have stopped observing the Laskar Jihad forces. We will always keep an eye on them," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi said.

Police arrested Ja'far last week on charges of inciting hatred against a religion and passing down a sentence applied in Islamic law, under which one his followers was stoned to death.

Dressed in white and other bold uniform colors, some 200 Laskar Jihad members visited Ja'far on Wednesday. They met with him in groups of 30, under tight security.

Unusually, the talks were held in the National Police detectives' office main hall.

A police officer supervising the visitation said that conversations between Ja'far and his supporters were conducted in Arabic.

Didi said that "security purposes" was the rationale behind the choice of venue for the meetings.

He also revealed that police officers found 26 steel rods, each about 60 centimeters long, and a bullet-proof vest in one of the vans carrying the visiting Laskar Jihad supporters.

The Suzuki Carry van had transported Laskar Jihad members from Surakarta, Central Java.

Only after confiscating the possible weapons did police allow the Muslim group's members to visit Ja'far.

Didi had earlier said that police had observed Ja'far closely when he mobilized militia movements from Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta to riot-torn Ambon in 1999.

Over two years of communal violence in the Maluku provinces has resulted in nearly complete devastation for the more than 2 million people living there.

At least 8,000 people were killed in the conflict, which pitted Muslims against Christians.

The arrest of Ja'far was lauded by several scholars who have conducted research in Maluku in a bid to establish peace, including sociologist Lambang Trijono of the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

"It has gradually been revealed that the presence of the jihad forces in Maluku only sharpened the ongoing conflict between Christians and Muslims," Lambang said on Wednesday.

Lambang said the relationship between Laskar Jihad Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah and local jihad forces had been severed following a plan by Ja'far to bomb a prostitution den in the Ambon area of Galunggung, which was opposed by his local counterparts. (ylt/44)