Moslem Bosnian volunteers to establish organization

JAKARTA (JP): Some 3,000 Moslem youths have decided to establish an organization of volunteers ready for deployment to "holy wars" in various troubled Islamic states after their first attempt to go to Bosnia failed to win government backing.

The youths gathered yesterday at Al Azhar Grand Mosque here to discuss the new organization which will probably called BASMI (Barisan Sukarela Muslim Indonesia or the Brigade of Indonesian Moslem Volunteers).

The word basmi itself literally means "annihilate."

The youths are part of the more than 20,000 Moslems who in February registered with various organizations to be sent to Bosnia as volunteers.

They came from the cities of Jakarta, Bekasi, Tangerang, Bogor, Cilegon, Cirebon, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Pontianak, Balikpapan, Lampung and from Madura Island.

Despite expressing appreciation of their desire to help out in Bosnia, the government, however, has ruled out sending volunteers to the troubled state for various reasons, not least the logistical nightmare of training and equipping thousands of people for such a purpose.

The Bosnian government also politely refused the youths' offer, saying Bosnia had enough men and that it's more in need of arms.

Despite their bitter disappointment, many of the youths said yesterday that they were still ready to go to defend "oppressed" Moslems in other parts of the globe.

Sumargono, the spokesman for the Indonesian Committee for World Moslem Solidarity (KISDI) who organized the rally yesterday, said the volunteers will be organized in such a way as to ensure that they will be ready for immediate deployment.

He said KISDI is taking inventory of the volunteers, and will find an opportunity to provide some sort of guidance and training, as well as mobilize them for related purposes.

According to Sumargono, KISDI has made every effort imaginable to urge the government and the Armed Forces to provide some form of training for the volunteers.

"So we failed, but that does not mean that we no longer have the call to holy war," he told the youths who responded by shouting Allahuakbar (Allah is the Greatest) repeatedly.

"Let's maintain our spirit. Before God, our intention is as valuable as if we have already gone to war," he said.

Sumargono and the other Moslem leaders who took turns giving speeches and firing up the masses spirit said that as soon as the Bosnian embassy is opened here, the Moslems will have better access to information and communication with their brothers in Bosnia. (swe)