Lasykar Jihad protests to 'The Jakarta Post'

Lasykar Jihad protests to 'The Jakarta Post'

JAKARTA (JP): A busload of supporters of the Muslim group,
Lasykar Jihad (Jihad Force), came to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday
to deliver a strong protest against the daily's Monday editorial.

The delegation, led by Ali and Hilal Thalib, called the
editorial, entitled "Soldiers of fortune" an insult to Muslims in
general and to former Indonesian volunteers in the Afghan war in
particular.

The group deplored the editorial for describing the former
Afghan fighters as "mercenaries," and for alluding to their
involvement in the Christmas Eve bombings.

The delegation protested not only the editorial's statement
that the Jihad Force was a creation of the former Afghan militia,
but also that the fighters were recruited by the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) fighting the Cold War against the
Soviet Union.

In addition, the group feared that the editorial could give
rise to the mistaken opinion that Lasykar Jihad members were
involved in the bombings.

"This piece is a vulgar, direct attack against the mujahideen
of Afghanistan. It is also a slanderous (description) of us, as
if the mercenaries gave birth to Lasykar Jihad," said Ali. "We
cannot imagine how the daily came to this conclusion."

"This is a great insult," he said further.

Another member of the delegation, Gurmilang, questioned
whether the newspaper was among those media which used the Muslim
group as a scapegoat for the various disturbances that have swept
the country recently.

The editorial defined mercenaries as foreign soldiers hired to
fight a war on behalf of their sponsors, and alleged that this
was the nature of the participation of the Indonesian volunteers
in the Afghan war. "Ideology may have played a part...but at the
end of the day, they were still mercenaries, fighting someone
else's dirty war in return for money."

Ali insisted that quite a number of Indonesian Muslims took
part and were killed in the Afghan War, merely to help their
Muslim brothers suffering violence at the hands of Soviet troops.

Islam teaches that Muslims are like one body where the pain of
one part is felt by the other parts, and that great divine
rewards await those who extend help to those in suffering.

Islam also teaches that those who participate in holy wars are
like those standing "at the gates of heaven", and that Isykariman
au mut syahidan (a noble life or being martyred and going to
heaven) is the promise of Allah.

The group left the Post peacefully after meeting with members
of the editorial department.

Lasykar Jihad was established early last year following an
escalation in the two-year Christian-Muslim conflict in the
eastern Indonesian province of Maluku.

Its members are mostly youths trained in military-style camps;
thousands have reportedly gone to Maluku to take part in the
bloody conflict, although some claimed to also have been involved
in social work such as rebuilding raised houses and damaged
roads. (swe)