RI wages 'two-front war' on terrorism

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The police and Muslim leaders are waging a war against domestic terrorism on two fronts, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said here on Tuesday.

The Vice President said the police were fighting on the physical front, while the ulema were battling on the ideological front.

"There are two kinds of war against terrorists. The first is the physical war. The second, which is the most important one, is the ideological war," Kalla said during a ceremony at National Police Headquarters in Jakarta.

He said the police-led war against terror had to be carried out in conjunction with efforts by Muslim leaders to counter the false Islamic teachings being spread by the terrorists.

Indonesia can only win the war against terrorism with the full support of religious leaders, Kalla said.

The Vice President said that as long as their false teachings went unchallenged, terrorists would be able to recruit new members to replace those killed or captured by the police.

"What is happening is that (we) arrest 10 people, but the (false) ideology continues unchallenged and the extremists recruit 1,550 more people. A well-coordinated two-front war is necessary, and it must be supported by all of society," Kalla said.

The Vice President praised Muslim clerics for their willingness to join the government-led war against terrorism.

Last week, Kalla showed dozens of Muslim clerics a video seized by police during the raid that killed top terror suspect Azahari bin Husin. The video, allegedly made by another Malaysian terror suspect, Noordin M. Top, says the Bali suicide bombings on Oct. 1 were part of a holy war against the West.

In the video, the Bali suicide bombers displayed no remorse for what they planned and said they believed they would go to heaven for their role in the jihad against the "enemies of Islam".

"We are pleased that Islamic clerics have declared war on this ideology," Kalla said.

The government has established an antiterror task force comprised of Muslim leaders to counter militant ideas promoted by terrorist groups responsible for bombings in the country.

Many ulema here have condemned terrorist attacks in the name of jihad, saying the terrorists have misinterpreted the Koranic verses on holy war.

Separately, Nahdlatul Ulama leader Hasyim Muzadi, who is also a member of the antiterror task force, said mainstream Islamic organizations would begin publishing books to counter those published by militants and terrorists such as Imam Samudra, who is currently on death row for the first Bali bombings.

"The concept of jihad as discussed in their books is not correct and not accurate," he said in Jakarta.

Hasyim, whose organization has some 40 million members, said Islam forbade the killing of anyone but clearly identified enemies in a war zone.

"Indonesia is not a war zone. They (the terrorists) say their target is the United States and its allies, but the victims of their bombings include Indonesians. A fight using religious symbols is forbidden in a non-war zone such as Indonesia," he said.