RI analysts dismiss al-Qaeda threat

Berni K. Moestafa and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Local analysts expressed doubt on Wednesday that al-Qaeda had any organized cells here, but warned that the country was ripe for radicalism, while at least one Muslim scholar said he had evidence of links between al-Qaeda and a local group.

Questions about the terrorist group's existence in Indonesia have resurfaced after the United States on Tuesday shut down its missions here and urged its citizens to be extremely cautious, citing a "specific and credible terrorist threat".

"I don't think it's al-Qaeda, but likely individuals who are sympathizers or who are just straight out insane -- there are a lot of them in this world," said international relations expert Dhurorudin Mashad of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

"Al-Qaeda generally refers to layers upon layers of radical people, and people on, say, the fifth layer may share its vision but other than that have nothing to do with the organization," he added.

He said those in the outer layers might be launching terrorist strikes and then be called al-Qaeda members or sympathizers, while they were not.

The closure of the U.S. embassy in Jakarta and consulate general in Surabaya, East Java, over a terrorist threat sparked renewed concern over al-Qaeda's alleged presence in Indonesia after an intelligence report said earlier this year that an al- Qaeda run training camp was found in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

But, trans-national crime analyst from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Philip J. Vermonte doubted the accuracy and credibility of the report, arguing that the findings came from second hand sources.

"Indonesian Intelligence (BIN) got the information from Spain and the Philippines," he said.

Vermonte and Dhurorudin said that Indonesians, who once took part in training at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, have returned home.

Dhurorudin said it was very unlikely that they would remain part of al-Qaeda as only a very few were actually members of the organization.

He added that the biggest threat to Indonesia is the radicalization of Islam as it would produce people leaning towards terrorism.

"They hate America for its hegemony and its double-standard," he said of the world's superpower.

However, German Muslim scholar Bassam Tibi, known for his expertise on fundamentalist studies, said here on Wednesday he believed that an al-Qaeda network is operating in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country.

He flatly accused the notorious Laskar Jihad militant group of having links with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, blamed for the Sept. 11 tragedy.

"I am collecting materials about Laskar Jihad and I think this group is connected with al-Qaeda," he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a three-day international seminar on Islam and the West, which is being organized by the Center for Languages and Cultures at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University.

"Laskar Jihad is dangerous to this country because Indonesia is not so good now in terms of social and economic conditions," added Bassam, a professor of international relations at the University of Gottingen, Germany.

He claimed the alleged links between Laskar Jihad and al-Qaeda were already clear as published worldwide by the media.

"There are some published materials about the connections. There are links in the transfer of money and there are some Indonesians who were trained in Afghanistan camps with Bin Laden," Bassam said.

Laskar Jihad leaders have denied any link between their organization and al-Qaeda, despite the fact that it has been campaigning against Western and secular civilization.

The group, known for its radical and violent attacks on Christians across the archipelago, is demanding sharia law be implemented in the country.

Laskar Jihad has been blamed for worsening religious fighting in Maluku, Papua, Aceh and Poso, where they have deployed thousands of armed fighters from Java who have reportedly killed thousands of Christians in the name of Islam.

Its top leader Ja'far Umar Thalib is being tried in the East Jakarta District Court on charges of provoking renewed outbreaks of religious conflict in Ambon, the provincial capital of Maluku.