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.