The eloquent phrase "Jamaah Islamiyah", meaning "Islamic

The eloquent phrase "Jamaah Islamiyah", meaning "Islamic community", has lost its innocence.

Ever since the Oct. 12 Bali bombings last year, the definition of the phrase drew ever closer to becoming Indonesia's answer to the global Al-Qaeda terrorist group.

Jamaah Islamiyah, better known as JI, is the name of an underground terrorist organization with bases reportedly in Singapore and Malaysia. JI has been widely blamed for the Bali bombings -- the biggest terrorist attack in the world since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America by Al-Qaeda.

While Al-Qaeda has Osama bin Laden, JI has the Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir. Both enjoy the veil of mystery shrouding them: Osama's whereabouts remains unknown, while Ba'asyir's role in JI remains unclear.

The Jakarta Post's contributor Blontank Poer tries to shed some light on Ba'asyir and JI, which he helped to found.

Steering away from the media hype, he approached his subject by asking those who claimed to know the cleric better than the media.