Six young women questioned about subversive activities

JAKARTA (JP): The local military is currently investigating six young women, workers of a beauty salon, over allegations that they are involved with a clandestine group seeking to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia, police said yesterday

They were all picked up from a salon in the Bendungan Hilir area in Central Jakarta by police on two separate occasions -- two of the women on Saturday and four on Wednesday, Sgt. Mashadi of the Tanah Abang Police sub-precinct said.

All six, who are teenagers, wore necklaces denoting that they belong to the clandestine group, Mashadi told The Jakarta Post. They also wore Moslem headdress.

The necklaces were allegedly given after they took an oath of loyalty to their leader and to the cause of the organization, which is to establish an Islamic state, he said.

He declined to state the name of the organization.

Police became aware of their activities after receiving a report from the owner of the beauty salon.

Mashadi said that based on interrogation at the sub-precinct, the six young women rejected the proclamation of independence by Sukarno in 1945 which marked the beginning of Indonesia's independence.

Instead, they allegedly recognize the proclamation of the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia by Sekarmaji Marijan Kartosuwiryo on Aug. 17, 1949, in West Java. The Kartosuwiryo movement gained support in Central Java, Aceh, and South Sulawesi but was quashed by the military in the late 1950s.

Many underground groups seeking to establish Islamic states in Indonesia since then have drawn inspiration from the Kartosuwiryo movement.

Mashadi said that based on the investigation so far, the young women in Bendungan Hilir were members of a group which moved from one place to another to avoid police detection.

The police are now looking for their leader, identified as Radi, and two other members, Abi and Paiman, in connection with the investigation. (29)