Amid international criticism, Indonesian authorities at the weekend arrested a
radical Islamic leader accused of inciting supporters to murder Christians in
the strife-torn Maluku Islands. But a veteran churchman said he doubted the
government would risk a violent backlash by acting firmly against the
militants.
A spokesman for the Laskar Jihad organization alleged that pressure from the
United States had been behind the arrest of the group's commander, Jafar Umar
Thalib, although a U.S. Embassy official said the case was an internal matter
for Indonesia.
Jafar was arrested at an airport on the country's main island of Java after flying
out of Maluku and was taken to national police headquarters in Jakarta. Seven
aides with him were arrested, but later released.
Police officials told a press conference Jafar was accused of inciting his
followers to attack Christians, and of insulting government leaders. If charged
and convicted, he could face a seven-year jail term.
A week earlier, police said, Jafar urged Muslims attending a rally in the
Maluku capital, Ambon, to attack Christians. Less than two days later, masked
attackers raided a Christian village several miles away, shooting, hacking and
burning to death 13 villagers, including a young baby.
Days passed with growing calls to arrest Jafar, but Maluku authorities
expressed reluctance to do so, citing concerns about violent repercussions from
Laskar Jihad supporters.
Those concerns were borne out when, hours before his arrest, supporters angered
by rumors that it was to take place, "moved threateningly towards
Christian quarters" in Ambon, according to a local churchman.
Security forces fired warning shots and used tear gas to disperse several
thousand rioters, some armed with Molotov cocktails.
Hundreds of Christians fled the town or sought shelter in police stations or
the local Catholic crisis center, the center's Fr. Cornelius Bohm said Monday.
Several mortars fell on Christian areas of the town, killing two people and
injuring 22 others, and damaging some houses, he added.
Armed Laskar Jihad volunteers from Java have been blamed by Christian in Maluku
for much of the violence that has cost at least 6,000 Christian and Muslim
lives since it first erupted in January 1999, fuelled in part by political and
economic rivalries.
After the "jihad warriors" arrived some 15 months later, the
religious nature of the conflict intensified, as did the bloodshed.
Despite the group's involvement in violence there and in Central Sulawesi --
another area with a sizeable Christian population -- Jafar and his group
appeared to many to be untouchable. Volunteers recently began moving into yet
another province with many Christian inhabitants, Papua.
Many government critics have accused the military of colluding with or even
arming the militia.
Bohm said Christians were hopeful justice would be done and that a peace accord
signed in February by local Muslim, Christian and government representatives
would hold. But the continuing presence of between 800-1,000 Laskar Jihad
fighters in Ambon remained cause for concern.
Jafar was arrested on a previous occasion, last May, and accused then of
inciting hatred against Christian Indonesians and of ordering a rape suspect to
be stoned to death.
But a district court in Jakarta ordered his release and he never stood trial,
strengthening suspicions that he has powerful backers.
Christians are not confident that things will be any different this time.
"I think the government will be very careful, and [avoid] major punishment
or long imprisonment because it will provoke a reaction," Bohm said. There
were also elements which were pursuing the vision of a fundamentalist Muslim
state, and who would "do anything to defend that goal," he added.
Police said they have an audio recording of the Ambon rally, which has Jafar
saying in the context of the struggle against local Christian separatists,
"We must prepare our bombs, ready our guns."
He is also quoted as rejecting the February peace deal, declaring "there
will be no reconciliation with non-Muslims ... we will fight them until our
last drop of blood."
According to the Jakarta Post, the recording allegedly has Jafar threatening to
kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her relatives, too.
But the paper also said recorded statements could not be presented as evidence,
and quoted Jafar's lawyer as warning that his client was considering launching
a lawsuit against the police for arresting him.
The lawyer said Jafar was denying that the voice on the recording was his.
Last week several international Christian organizations called on Jakarta to
take firm action against Jafar and expel Laskar Jihad from Maluku. Churchman in
the troubled areas also wrote to the U.N. secretary general and world leaders,
urging intervention.
Pressure from U.S.?
Indonesia has been anxious to resume military relations with the U.S., which
were frozen when violence swept East Timor after the territory chose
independence in a 1999 referendum.
Washington has voiced concern about the potential for Indonesia to become a
haven for terrorists and therefore is eager to resume cooperation.
Laskar Jihad spokesman, Ayip Syarifuddin, was quoted as saying U.S. pressure on
Jakarta was responsible for Jafar's arrest.
Bohm of the Ambon crisis center also thought the government was reacting to
outside pressure.
"We think what's happening now is being done under general pressure to
take heed of terrorists - pressure from the United States and Europe and
elsewhere. To save face in the eyes of the world, they have no choice but to
arrest them and bring them to court."
A spokesman from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta said the Jafar case was seen as a
domestic issue for Indonesia.
He confirmed, though, that the U.S. was "always talking to the Indonesian
government about the need to deal with civil unrest and violence in a peaceful
manner."
In a letter published in the Washington Times on Friday, retired American
foreign service officer Edmund McWilliams, who served as political counselor at
Jakarta embassy in the late 1990s, argued against a resumption of ties with the
Indonesian military.
He accused it of helping Laskar Jihad's entry into Maluku, and now turning a
blind eye to more recent activities by the group.
Laskar Jihad has denied allegations that is has links to Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaeda network, saying an emissary of bin Laden's had offered the group
funding last year, but was turned down.
Jafar says he met bin Laden years ago in Afghanistan but rejects his
interpretation of Islam.
The U.S. has not alleged any link between al-Qaeda and Laskar Jihad, and the
State Department has not designated any Indonesian group as a foreign terrorist
organization.