Police detain MMI members for paramilitary training

Blontank Poer and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Surakarta/Jakarta

Police questioned dozens of members of the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI) for allegedly taking part in paramilitary training in the Tawangmangu jungle of Karanganyar, Central Java.

The group of 35 people was disbanded by locals at dawn on Monday. The people were then detained by the police who had been observing the site since Sunday.

"We are questioning them, and the investigation is ongoing," National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Monday. The police refused to go into details of the activities of the men, nor the charges that might be brought against them.

Surakarta Police detective chief Adj. Comr. Yuda Gustawan confirmed that they had been investigating the activities of the men.

Locals said the group of young Muslim men had been camping in the jungle since last Thursday and were involved in military training, without using real rifles.

A resident, Supono, said that he saw the group engaging in military-like practices such as marching and shooting, though with sticks.

Worried about the activities of the group, Tawangmangu subdistrict chief Drajad Mahendratama, along with dozens of others, visited the location and demanded that the men leave the site at once.

Drajad even provided three minivans to evacuate the men, while dozens of policemen stood by before taking them to the local police station for questioning.

Police said that the group was led by Djarot Supriyanto alias Abu Haidar, a noted activist of MMI.

The organization is led by cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which is listed by the United Nations as part of an international terrorist network with links to al-Qaeda. The JI, which is blamed for the Bali blast in October 2002 and the bombing of JW Marriot Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003.

"We are not involved in military training, we were just camping. This is simply a misunderstanding," Haidar said during the evacuation.

He further said that the activities were not at all related to MMI, as participants were activists of various Muslim-based organizations.

According to police, the 35 men came from cities across the country, such as Bandung and Purwakarta in West Java, East Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, and Karanganyar, Sukoharjo, Kendal, and Pemalang in Central Java and Jakarta.

Most of the men were aged between 20 years and 30 years, and a retired military officer, Lasmana Ibrahim, served as their trainer. Police say Lasmana is a navy officer from Bandung who retired as a major.

In 2002, the state intelligence agency (BIN) also claimed the presence of a military training site for the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Poso, Central Sulawesi, on the grounds of a Muslim boarding school there, a charge which has also been denied by those affiliated with the school.