No arrest of militants, Muslim leaders warn

No arrest of militants, Muslim leaders warn

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian Muslim leaders on Sunday called on law enforcement
agencies not to follow the example of Malaysia and Singapore in
arresting militants, as it would not help to improve the
country's security situation.

Chairman of the country's second largest Islamic organization,
Muhammadiyah, Syafi'i Maarif called on the police to refrain from
arresting members of groups fighting for an Islamic state as it
would only spark more problems.

"It's difficult for the government to act against them if it
has no evidence of their violent activities," Syafi'i said.

Syafi'i conceded that a number of militant groups in Indonesia
were championing an Islamic state for Indonesia, but thus far,
their numbers were small and they had not resorted to violence.

Secretary General of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) Dien
Syamsuddin shared Syafi'i's argument and said: "The police must
not take any action as such action will only spark more
problems."

"I myself do not agree with the idea of setting up an Islamic
state, but I would also disagree if, in this democratic system,
the police acted unfairly toward such groups," he added.

Both Syafi'i and Dien were asked to comment on the arrest of
Indonesian Mujahidin members in Malaysia.

Malaysian authorities stated on Friday that three of the 13
Muslim militants rounded up between Dec. 9 and Jan. 3 under the
Internal Security Act, which allows detention without trial, were
Indonesians.

They identified the three as Indonesian Mujahidin Council
chief and founding member Bakar Bashir and members Hambali and
Mohamad Iqbal.

Chairman of the Council's Jakarta chapter Sayid Hamidan
confirmed the identities of the three, but said he doubted that
Bakar Basir had been arrested in Malaysia as "he just arrived
from Mecca."

Hambali and Iqbal had been living in Malaysia for several
years, he added.

Bashir and Hambali were specifically named by the Malaysian
authorities as "directing figures" of a new Militant Group of
Malaysia wing possibly involved in the struggles of Islamic
militant groups around the world, including in the southern
Philippines, Afghanistan, Ambon, Chechnya and Kashmir.

Sayid Hamidan of Indonesian Mujahidin Council acknowledged
that establishing an Islamic state was an ambition of the
organization, but it would be pursued through peaceful means.

A day after Malaysia announced the arrest of the 13 suspected
militants, the Singapore police announced that they had also
arrested 15 Muslim militants who were accused of having links
with Osama bin Laden, the lead suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks in
the U.S.

Syafi'i said that the situation in Indonesia differed from
those in Malaysia and Singapore, where radicalism might have
reached an alarming level.

"The movement (to establish an Islamic state) is not
significant here, and is not even materializing," he said.

He said the government should not succumb to arguments that
such groups posed a danger to national stability, and then act
unfairly against them.

According to Syafi'i, although the organizations could number
in the dozens, radical movements only involved a small proportion
of Indonesian Muslims, therefore, they were nothing to worry
about.

"It will become our concern if large organizations like
Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah support their movement,"
according to Syafi'i, adding that the government needed to hold a
dialog with them so that their movement would cause no problems.

Radical movements, including the effort to create an Islamic
state, are nothing new in Indonesian history and they were
inevitable in a country like Indonesia, where 85 percent of its
210 million people were Muslims, Syafi'i added.

Syafi'i reminded the government that radicalism, which is now
still a minority movement among Muslims, would grow larger if
state leaders failed to create justice in society and the law
could not be enforced fairly.

"The government and other leaders of the nation should
seriously deal with this problems. If not, this country will
become fertile ground for radicalism," Syafi'i told The Jakarta
Post by phone from Yogyakarta.

Referring to an incident in the East Java town of Ngawi, where
a group of radical Muslims attacked a gambling house last month,
Syafi'i said it had been sparked by the unwillingness of the
police to stop gambling, which is prohibited by the law.

Instead of targeting small militant groups, Syafi'i suggested
that law enforcers become more serious in dealing with corruption
by arresting and trying those who have stolen large amounts of
the state's wealth.