'Laskar Jihad' worry Bogor residents
'Laskar Jihad' worry Bogor residents
BOGOR (JP): Residents of the otherwise peaceful Munjul village
of Kayumanis in the Tanah Sareal district expressed on Sunday
their deep concern and fear over the presence of the military-
style training camp of the Laskar Jihad (Jihad Army).
The army has been giving training there since April 6 to some
3,150 male Muslim youths who are taking part in the first phase
of a program which will end on April 16. The youths are scheduled
to leave for Ambon on April 23.
"These men came on Thursday (April 6) and set a camp on the
seven-hectare field, which is in this neighborhood unit. They go
around in military pants, some go around holding swords and
daggers... we are scared," said the wife of Botong, chief of RT
(neighborhood unit) 006 of neighborhood community (RW) 05.
The camp is located on a field owned by the Al Irsad
foundation, in the midst of a thick forest area in the 006
neighborhood unit. It is filled with some 300 pink and blue
colored tents, which stand on bamboo, cut off from the abundant
bamboo trees at the field.
"They don't say anything to us, but they really scare us. They
all wear white Muslim garb and turbans... but underneath it we
can see the military-style pants and combat boots. Why have they
come here?"
A housewife, Iin, said the men were very particular about
training.
"By dawn, they are already up and running... they run in
thousands, past the Kayumanis Military Subdistrict Command
(Koramil) and further. By 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. they are back. They
train again at their camp and go running again at about 2 p.m.,"
Iin told The Jakarta Post.
"Nobody is allowed to enter their camp, except for Botong, and
kids. Women are just forbidden to enter."
When the Post tried heading for the camp, which had a green
flag with Laskar Jihad Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah written on it
attached at the entry gate, they were stopped.
"Can't you read the sign: 'Reporters Not Allowed'?" one member
said.
The Post heard commanders of the camp gathering their members,
mostly holding sticks, swords and white flags with huge black
crosses on them, to assemble at the open field.
Speaking via megaphones, the Post heard: "Batalyon Enam...
disini... Batalyon Tujuh... kesini (Battalion Six... here...
Battalion Seven ... here)."
The Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah Forum has planned to send 3,000
men to Maluku at the end of April, commander Jaffar Umar Thalib
said.
Chairman Ayip Syafruddin said the group hoped to send 10,000
people to Maluku eventually. The volunteers are being trained at
the camp by men with experience in the Afghanistan, Bosnia and
Moro (Philippines) wars, Ayip said.
According to a police source, the "holy men" were probably not
only being trained by men with experience in the Afghanistan,
Bosnia and Moro (Philippines) wars, but were also sent to Moro
and other countries, for training.
The group's activities have drawn concern of the National
Awakening Party (PKB).
Chairman of PKB faction at the House of Representatives
Taufiqurrahman Saleh called on the police to disband the camp and
seize their weapons.
"Instead of helping solve the problem (sectarian violence in
Maluku), they would only terrify people. They would also frighten
off foreign investors," Taufiqurrahman told the Post.
He said the police should have confiscated the swords and
machetes carried by demonstrators during a rally outside the
presidential palace on Friday.
He believed the vast rally was funded by people who have their
own political agendas, including undermining the legitimate
government of President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim Organization
Hasyim Muzadi indicated that certain people or groups funded the
jihad group.
"I suspect that a 'company' with huge funds and certain
political interests is providing financial aid to the group,"
Hasyim, who recently replaced President Abdurrahman as NU
chairman, said as quoted by Antara.
He regretted the police's failure to arrest the leaders of the
demonstrators although many of them carried swords and machetes,
during the rally on Friday.
He said NU had from the outset opposed the idea of a holy war
in Maluku to defend Muslims, saying that it would create other
problems.
House Speaker Akbar Tandjung has also asked the jihad group to
cancel its plan to send "trained warriors" to Maluku, saying that
it would create bigger problems.
The group's chairman, Ayip Syafruddin, announced on Friday
that some 3,000 volunteers were being trained in a camp in the
Kayumanis area in Bogor.
Ayip said the volunteers, who were being trained by men with
combat experience, would be shipped to Maluku later this month.
Separately, a Tablig Akbar (Mass gathering) of around 2,000
people in Surakarta was held on Sunday, in a bid to show
resistance towards President Abdurrahman Wahid's proposal to lift
the ban on communism.
The gathering, held at Wisma Bathari, was attended by chairman
of the Indonesian Committee for World Muslim Solidarity (KISDI)
Ahmad Sumargono, poet Taufik Ismail and Husein Umar of the Dewan
Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia (DDII) Muslim organization.
(21/44/edt/jun/ylt)