Laskar Jihad dissolved, endes Ambon presence

Laskar Jihad dissolved, endes Ambon presence

Sri Wahyuni and Octovianus Pinontoan, The Jakarta Post, Ambon/Yogyakarta

The hard-line Laskar Jihad group, widely accused of sparking
violence in several parts of Indonesia, was disbanded in a
surprising move that came amid the intense hunt for terrorists
blamed for the bombings in the resort island of Bali.

On Tuesday the group began ceasing its presence in the Maluku
capital of Ambon, where it had helped Muslims fight Christians in
three years of sectarian conflict, and sent home at least 700 of
its members and their families, all from Java.

Thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands of others
displaced during the conflict, which ended after representatives
of the warring groups signed a peace accord last February.

Laskar Jihad leader Ja'far Umar Thalib said on Tuesday that
the group's parent organization, the Communication Forum for
Ahlussunnah Waljamaah (FKAW), had also been dissolved for
specific reasons.

"We have disbanded ourselves; there has been no external
pressure involved in this decision," he told The Jakarta Post at
his residence in Yogyakarta.

Ja'far denied the dissolution was linked to Saturday's terror
attack in Bali, which killed nearly 200 people, mostly
foreigners.

He said FKAW and Laskar Jihad could no longer be maintained
because many of their members had become involved in practical
politics, committed a breach of its moral code and violated the
principles of the organization.

Some executives of Laskar Jihad had established ties with
Muslim politicians, including Vice President Hamzah Haz,
Zainuddin M.Z. from United Development Party of Reform and Achmad
Sumargono from the Crescent Star Party, Ja'far said, adding that
such a move was the kind of practical politics that the group had
avoided for years.

The violations of morals and the organization's principles,
which, he said, were often indulged in by Laskar Jihad activists,
respectively included posing for photographs and having face-to-
face interviews with female journalists.

He said the decision to dissolve Laskar Jihad was issued on
Oct. 6, 2002, despite the fact that the group appeared to be
shutting down its headquarters in Yogyakarta only nine days
later.

The main office, located in Degolan village, Sleman regency,
some 17 kilometers north of Yogyakarta, was locked and teaching
activities there were halted.

Neighbors said they still saw some people at the headquarters
on Monday, but no longer found any of them by Tuesday morning.

The group's online website www.laskarjihad.co.id has been
closed since Saturday. Activists of the militant group, who
usually raise funds from motorists on streets in Yogyakarta and
Jakarta, have disappeared.

Ja'far said the closure also affected all the Laskar Jihad
branch offices in 26 provinces across the country, including
those in the troubled towns of Ambon in Maluku and Poso in
Central Sulawesi.

The Muslim hard-line group had a presence in every province
apart from Banten, Bangka Belitung, North Maluku and North
Sulawesi.

Ja'far is standing trial for defaming President Megawati
Soekarnoputri during a speech in Ambon in April.

In Ambon, the 700 returning Laskar Jihad members left the
city's Yos Sudarso harbor for Jakarta aboard the ship KM
Doloronda. Ahead of their departure, they and local Muslims
staged a motorcade along the main streets close to the Muslim
areas across the city.

Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. Soenarko and other local senior
security and government officials witnessed the departure of the
Muslim hard-liners.

Hundreds of local Muslims also bade farewell to the returning
Laskar Jihad members, with some of them observed to be sobbing.

The remaining 300 members are scheduled to leave Ambon next
week.

Around 3,000 Laskar Jihad volunteers were sent to Maluku and
750 others to Poso during the sectarian conflict.

Soenarko told journalists that the members had left Ambon
"voluntarily" and that the Maluku civil emergency authorities,
led by Governor Saleh Latuconsina, had not forced them to abandon
the province.