Rift in terror group may pose long-term security problem: ICG
Slobodan Lekik Associated Press Jakarta
An internal split inside the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group has given rise to a radical fringe intent on stirring religious hatred inside the world's largest Muslim nation - providing fertile ground and potential recruits for al-Qaeda, a report said Tuesday.
The October 2003 killing of 13 Christians in Central Sulawesi indicated the changing nature of terrorism in Indonesia - with small groups of holy warriors fighting sectarian conflicts posing the biggest threat, said the report released by the International Crisis Group (ICG).
With fewer than 10 of the dozens of radicals believed responsible for the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali bombings still at large, the immediate threat of another huge attack appears to have been substantially reduced, said the Brussels-based think tank.
JI is a secretive network of radicals affiliated with al-Qaeda with branches throughout Southeast Asia. It reportedly seeks to establish a Muslim super-state that would stretch across parts of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other nations.
Three dozens of the militants who organized the Bali attacks have been arrested and 30 have been convicted so far. These include Riduan Isamuddin alias Hambali - JI's alleged operations chief - who was captured in Thailand in August and turned over to U.S. authorities.
The ICG report said that within the organization's Indonesian chapter, most members no longer favor high-profile attacks against Western targets, preferring instead to focus on a long- term strategy of setting up an Islamic state by 2025 through religious indoctrination and building up a base throughout the country.
"Jamaah Islamiyah's majority faction, however, will continue to constitute a longer-term threat to Indonesia," the document warned.
"This is (because) the religious indoctrination and recruitment efforts they are engaged in are likely to produce at least some cadres more hotheaded than their teachers, who look beyond Indonesia to a more international agenda," it said.
It said radicals impatient with the majority's long-term strategy have set up militia gangs in the district of Poso, in central Sulawesi, which have already carried out small-scale attacks against the Christian minority there in an apparent attempt to re-ignite a religious war.
The region was the scene of a bloody inter-communal conflict in which at least 1,000 people died. A government-brokered deal ended the bloodshed two years ago.
"It remains important to keep the threat of terrorism in perspective - Indonesia is not about to be overrun by jihadists," said Sidney Jones, who heads the International Crisis Group's office in Jakarta.
"They remain the radical fringe of a radical fringe. Their capacity to do damage, however, continues to be cause for serious concern," she said.