Jihad force struggles to shed militant image

JAKARTA (JP): Laskar Jihad, an army of Muslim volunteers sent to the conflict zone in Maluku, is trying to shed its image as a bunch of sword-carrying young men, an image it helped to create when the group was established earlier this year.

Ayip Syafruddin, chairman of the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Communication Forum, which organized the volunteers, said the perception of the group as a militant force did not correspond with the humanitarian work its members had performed in Ambon and the nearby islands since April.

The forum, based in Yogyakarta, currently has some 2,000 volunteers in Maluku, building and operating hospitals and schools, and helping displaced Muslim communities rebuild their homes and their lives, he said.

Laskar Jihad also has brought 45 children, mostly orphans and neglected children, out of the conflict zone to Java, where they are able to attend school in peace, he said.

Ayip insisted the volunteers were sent to Maluku to help rebuild the community, not to complicate the conflict between Muslims and Christians, or to "exterminate" the Christian community as some people have alleged.

"We're not a bunch of terrorists or aggressors," he said during a visit to The Jakarta Post office.

"We don't have to go all the way to Maluku if what we want is to kill Christians. There are plenty of them in Java, or even at The Jakarta Post. But that is not our intention," he said.

Ayip said the image of Laskar Jihad as a militant force had its origin in the way the group was established.

This was fully exploited by Christian leaders in Ambon who disliked the presence of Muslim volunteers. The media have also helped to misrepresent the group and its intentions, he said.

Laskar Jihad drew widespread criticism at home and abroad when it was established in January, vowing to send Muslim warriors to Maluku to help and rescue their Muslim brothers in conflict with Christians.

The group also set up a training camp in Bogor, near Jakarta, where volunteers received basic military training.

The camp was subsequently closed down by the authorities but, in spite of a government ban, the group managed to send its first batch of volunteers to Maluku at the end of April.

"We realize that Bogor was a mistake. We also realize that we violated the law when we went around carrying swords," Ayip said, referring to a number street protests held by its members in Jakarta earlier this year.

"We are currently undergoing a process of atonement," he added.

The group, however, has no plans to change its name, another reason why it has been viewed as a militant force.

"We have a duty to correct the public misperception that jihad (meaning holy war in Arabic) is associated with physical warfare," Ayip said.

The humanitarian work of Laskar Jihad in Ambon, from its medical, education, social and religious work, are all considered jihad, he said.

Volunteers are still given basic training in self-defense because they work in a conflict zone and their lives are placed in constant danger, he said.

So far, fewer than 10 members of Laskar Jihad have been killed in Maluku as a result of the conflict, he said.

Allegations that Laskar Jihad volunteers are instigating the conflict are slanders that have never been proven, he added.

Ma'ruf Bahrun, the forum's secretary-general, dismissed accusations that the arrival of Laskar Jihad volunteers in April reignited the conflict just as the situation in Ambon was improving.

The seeds of conflict always existed and the calm forged at the start of the year was only on the surface and was secured by the heavy presence of security forces, Ma'ruf said.

"When our first team arrived there on April 29, the conflict had already been reignited," he said, pointing to the clashes which erupted during and after a visit by Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri a few weeks earlier.

Ayip, who led the first batch of Laskar Jihad volunteers to Ambon, said he found the enmity and hatred between the two conflicting communities deep-rooted to the point of a desire to avenge the deaths of members of their respective communities.

Ayip nevertheless said he was optimistic that peace could be restored in Maluku, although the process of healing and reconciliation would take time given the existing enmity between the two communities.

"Peace is possible. By nature, human beings don't like war," he said. (emb)