RI Mujahidin confirms members among arrested in Malaysia
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) confirmed on Saturday that three Indonesian Muslim militants arrested by Malaysian police were members of their group.
They were charged with trying to foment an Islamic government, as well as having possible ties to a suspect in the investigation of the Sept. 11 hijackings, according to Malaysian investigators.
Malaysian police identified the three Indonesians, arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), as Abu Bakar Bashir, Hambali and Mohamad Iqbal.
A Mujahidin official said he knew of the arrest from news reports, but has not yet received formal notice from Malaysian authorities.
"I have yet to receive first-hand information," chairman of the council's Jakarta chapter, Sayid Hamidan, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. The ISA is frequently regarded as draconian.
The three Indonesians, along with 10 other Muslim militants, may be linked to Zacarias Moussaoui, a French national on trial for participating in the September terrorist attacks in the U.S., Malaysian investigators said.
They were also arrested for conducting secret meetings to set up a Daulah Islamiah (Islamic government), an activity deemed a threat to national security.
Hamidan added that Abu Bakar Bashir is Mujahidin council chief while Hambali and Mohamad Iqbal are members. Hambali and Iqbal, he noted, have been living in Malaysia for several years.
But Hamidan did not completely agree with the Malaysians' description of events. "I don't think Abu Bakar Bashir has been arrested, because he just arrived from Mecca," he added.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf, who is in Mecca for a minor haj pilgrimage, declined to comment on the comment.
Asked why his group has been aiding movements to establish Islamic states in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, Hamidan replied that is was part of all Muslims' religious duties to form Islamic governments.
Such is, he said, is the very nature of politics. "The socialist party wants to establish socialist government, and the communist group tries to set up communist-oriented government," he said. "That is normal."
Hamidan was quick to add, however, these ends must be achieved peacefully.
"We will be glad if our idea gets immediate support, but if people reject that idea, we will keep on struggling," said Hamidan, who is also coordinator of the Islamic Sermon College (PTDI) in North Jakarta.
The Mujahidin council was established in August of 2000 in Yogyakarta. One of the founders was Abu Bakar Bashir, chief of the Ngruki Islamic boarding school in Surakarta.
In Malaysia, meantime, members of an opposition party and a human rights group challenged the government on Saturday to prove in court its charges against the 13 Muslim militants.
Rights group Aliran urged the government to present evidence in open court to support its allegations to gain public confidence, AFP reported.
"Without an independent trial in court, these allegations will only raise alarm and fear," the group said in a statement. "They may even scare away much-needed investors and tourists."
Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party, said charging the group in a courtroom was the best way to convince Malaysians of the credibility of the case.
In the neighboring Singapore, 15 people have been arrested under the ISA for alleged involvement in terrorism, the Home Affairs Ministry officials said Saturday.
Thirteen of those arrested in the raids, which took place between Dec. 9 and Dec. 24, were "cell members" of a clandestine organization calling itself Jemaah Islamiah, the ministry said in a statement.
All but one of them were Singaporeans; the foreigner was a Malaysian citizen, who was formerly a Singaporean national, the ministry said.
A search of the homes and offices of the suspects reportedly yielded information on bomb construction, along with photograph and video surveillance of targets, doctored passports and forged immigration stamps and other material connected to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, the ministry said.
"Key figures of the Jemaah Islamiah, including several of those presently in custody, have links to militant elements in Malaysia and Indonesia," the ministry said.