Military links hamper fight against radicalism: Analysts

Military links hamper fight against radicalism: Analysts

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Efforts to combat militancy and radicalism could face perennial
hurdles as certain military officers still have strong
relationships with extremist Islamic movements in the country,
analysts said here on Tuesday.

The reluctance of security authorities to crack down on
radical activities in recent years provided evidence that such
relations between the military and extremist groups remained
strong, yet covert, they told a seminar on Islamic militant
movements in Southeast Asia.

However, prominent military analyst Hasnan Habib said the
links between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and extremist
movements were "unofficial but individual relationships".

He attributed the present state to poor professionalism on the
part of the Indonesian Military (TNI), which he said is facing a
setback in its internal reforms.

Sydney Jones, Indonesian project director of the International
Crisis Group (ICG), put the militant groups-military relations
into three categories.

First, the relations could bode well in the form of arms
supplies and military training for radical groups, widely blamed
for terror attacks across Indonesia, she said.

Second, military elements deliberately used Islamic militant
groups to help serve their political agenda, despite the current
era of reform.

And third, the military deliberately infiltrated militant
movements to watch out for possible danger and assist the
survival of the country, she added.

Hasnan and another political analyst, Indria Samego, shared
Jones' opinion, saying certain military elements have established
close links with those groups up until the present.

"I can agree with you (Jones)," Hasnan, who is a former
Indonesian ambassador to the United States, said, commenting on
the three categories of relationships.

He said that under the current political transition, the
military remains free to do whatever it wants, including
protecting militant groups for their own interests, as it is
still a powerful political force.

Laskar Jihad, one of the radical Muslim movements, was blamed
for exacerbating the three-year religious conflict in Maluku
islands.

The group members managed to enter Maluku, which has been
placed under a civilian emergency status since 2000, without
being challenged by security forces, even though the president,
Abdurrahman Wahid, ordered authorities to block their arrival.

Laskar Jihad also joined Muslim gangs during the sectarian
fighting with Christians in the Central Sulawesi regency of Poso.

The military was condemned widely for its pivotal role in
establishing militia blamed for atrocities in East Timor in 1999.

All this showed the military's involvement in protecting
militant movements, Hasnan said.

"As you and others have know, before Laskar Jihad waged war in
Maluku they were trained by the military," he added.

Indria Samego, from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(LIPI), echoed Hasnan's statement, that the military was "still
involved deeply in political movements" by radical Muslims,
citing as evidence the Laskar Jihad's unchallenged presence in
Maluku and Poso.

Other evidence included the resistance by military leaders of
the planned appointment of the late three-star Army general, Agus
Wirahadikusuma, as the new TNI chief, by then president
Abdurrahman, in 2001.

Agus was widely dubbed as one of the reform-minded generals,
whom Abdurrahman had wanted to use to rid the military of
extremist elements.

Indria said the Army would maintain its relationships with
extremist groups until the country ends the prolonged
transitional political period, and develops into a strong civil
society.

The transitional period has given wide opportunities to the
militant movements to consolidate their strength with help from
military officers, he argued.