The plans of some militant Muslims to go to fight in Lebanon and the government’s and others’ reactions to them.

Volunteers

On 28th July the Islam Defenders’ Front, FPI, began registering for volunteers in Pekalongan, Central Java. By August 3rd they had won five recruits in the town. This same group, in Jakarta, by 8th August, claimed that it had 2000 men ready to fight alongside Hizbullah. Five days previously, Sholeh Mahmud Nasution of the FPI said, 20 men had already been sent to Lebanon. Most of the 2000 hailed from Jakarta and also Slawi in central Java.

One volunteer for the FPI, Qadirun from Medan, spoke of his reasons for joining the fight. He said he had long wished to fight the Jews and:

God willing I’m ready to die and become a martyr.
(Insya Allah saya siap bahkan jika mati syahid sekali pun.)

He has the right spirit for battle:

I want to kill Jews with my own hands on the battlefield.
(Saya sendiri ingin dengan tangan saya membunuh Yahudi dalam medan perang.)

Another would-be volunteer for the FPI was Adhyaksa Dault, the minister for Youth and Sports, who said on 1st August that he was ready join the volunteers on their journey to Lebanon. He said this to a gathering of the Bom Syahid Front Pembela Islam (FPI), the Islam Defenders’ Front Suicide Squad, in Jakarta. He said he was serious, not playing around, and this was greeted by cries of Allahu Akbar! from the assembled crowd of militants.

On 4th August 44 men in Padang, West Sumatra had been recorded as having signed up for jihad duties under the banner of the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) and assisted by the Committee for the Application of Islamic Laws, Komite Penegak Syariat Islam (KPSI). Registration had opened on 31st July. By 8th August their number had grown to 57. To qualify as jihadists the men had to be of sound mind and body, have identification cards, and really wish to wage war for Islam, said Irfianda Abidin of the KPSI. Those still of school age needed permission from their parents. Irfianda himself has signed up, and on 14th August the group would gather and depart for the middle east shortly thereafter, it was hoped.

In Jakarta on the 8th the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) said it was ready with 500 men. Fauzan al Anshori, the leader of the MMI, said he had received a request for help from the Palestinian Ulema League and so had begun recruiting jihadists from 10th May. Their despatch to the war zone waited only on technical problems, a funding shortfall, and the lack of visas. Rp 15 million (US$ 1600) was needed for each man’s journey, he said.

Then on the 10th reports say that the 500 volunteers from the MMI are still waiting to get visas from the Palestinian embassy in Jakarta. MMI leader Fauzan al Anshori had his suspicions that the Palestinian ambassador was a Fatah man, not from Hamas, and therefore his men would not be granted a visa. Fauzan al Anshori admitted that it was unlikely his men would be able to gain access to Lebanon, but, said that he hoped that their declared willingness to fight would shame Arab men into taking action against Israel.

I think that our declaration is to wake up the Arab nations. They should be ashamed as Arab men.
(Saya kira tujuan deklarasi kita adalah untuk membangunkan negara-negara Arab. Mestinya mereka malu sebagai laki-laki Arab.)

The Lebanese embassy had already declined to grant visas to the MMI men.

Jihadist Press Conference.

August 9th the Yogyakarta branch of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) opened a registration for those wishing to fight in Lebanon and Palestine. MMI man Abdul Haedar said that around 30 people had already registered themselves by the 10th. He said the volunteers would get military and language training before their departure to Lebanon and Palestine.

August 11th the Solo (Surakarta) branch of the MMI opened registration. Adi Basuki of the Solo MMI says:

There are four other registration centres, in Surabaya, Yogyakarta, West Sumtra, and Jakarta. Later all the volunteers will be gathered together in Jakarta to receive provisions before being sent to the battle zone.
(Empat posko lainnya adalah di Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Sumatera Barat dan Jakarta. Nantinya seluruh relawan yang mendaftarkan di masing-masing posko akan dikumpulkan di Jakarta untuk diberi pembekalan sebelum diberangkatkan ke medan konflik.)

About 200 people signed up on the first day, mostly MMI members, and including a 72 year old man. One volunteer, Imadudin, 25 years old, said he joined out of a feeling of solidarity with the people of Lebanon and Palestine and because he sought to die as a martyr.

In a speech to the Forum Umat Islam in Solo on the same day MMI “spiritual” leader Abu Bakar Baasyir voiced his support for the plan to send jihadists, to defend, not to destroy, he said.

12th August. MMI Yogyakarata branch says it has 42 men ready. M. Shabbarin Syakur of the MMI said he had already sent a letter to the Indonesian military asking for help in training. In total the MMI later claimed to have recruited 720 men, according to Haris Amin Fallah of the Jakarta branch. The men came from five recruiting centres, Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Solo, and Surabaya, with 105 from Jakarta. He said it was impossible that all would be sent to the mid-east, the first group would consist of only 20 men.

By the 13th the MMI had formally asked the TNI to provide training for its men. MMI spokesman, Fauzan Al Anshori, said:

As citizens, we have the right to get military skills to help the Lebanese and Palestinians. We want to be transparent and open in asking for the training.

He also added that Israeli military aggression could only be stopped by arresting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George Bush as war criminals and sending them to the international court.

In Padang in West Sumatra on the 14th the Ketua Komite Penegak Syariat Islam (KPSI) said it had 62 men ready, despite the ceasefire. Registration was still open, said Irfianda Abidin of the KPSI. In Padang the KPSI carried out the registration while in nearby Payakumbuh the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) officiated.

Before being sent to Lebanon and Palestine all the volunteers will undergo military training.
(Sebelum diberangkatkan ke Libanon dan Palestina, seluruh relawan akan mengikuti latihan militer.)

By the 15th the MMI announced that it was postponing the sending of the volunteers, now numbered at 500, because of the ceasefire.

On 5th August about 160 youths belonging to the Gerakan Pemuda Islam (GPI) in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, staged a show of force in the town. Their leader, Suab Didu (see also Israel & Lebanon II) said the men would be dispatched to commit bombings against the interests of Israel and America. This group is sometimes called the “Jihad Bomb Force“.

GPI spokesman Syamsuddin, on the 11th, was reported to be still insisting that jihadists from Indonesia will still travel to Lebanon.

Two months ago we sent 300 young jihad fighters to Palestine, and almost all of them are now in Lebanon. In the near future , GPI will send another 10 fighters.

He claimed that the jihad fighters had managed to enter Lebanon by telling the authorities of the country that they came there to study at university.

Some of them are really studying at universities, but they are also fighting against Israel.

In Ambon, Maluku 50 volunteers are said to be ready “to assist their brothers who have fallen victim to the Israeli military aggression”, as Antara inimitably puts it. They signed up under the Islamic Youth Movement (GPI).

In Riau province about 700 members of Masiroh expressed their readiness to go to Lebanon and Palestine, to wage jihad, during an anti-Israel rally on the 8th.

By the 15th about 1000 jihadists from Riau were reported by the Jakarta Post to be ready to leave. Their leader, Muhammad Ali, founder of the Nur Fadillah Foundation, advised the men to exit Indonesia via cities other than Batam, near Singapore, to decrease the chance of their being infiltrated by provocateurs. He declined to say whether the supposed 1000 men would be sent at once, saying the matter was still being discussed with the Muslim businessmen who supported the movement.

In Sukoharjo, Central Java, it was reported that an unspecified number of young men were undergoing military training carried out by unnamed Islamic organisations. They were said to be training for guerilla warfare with the use of fake guns, in the hope of being sent to the middle east.

Cool Heads

Security Minister Widodo A.S., on 1st August, advised Indonesians to moderate their reactions to the Israel issue and not damage the country. He worried that extremist groups would benefit from the situation.

On August 2nd Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirajuda said the government could not prevent anyone from going to the war zone. On the 4th Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya reiterated this position.

It’s the right of every Indonesian citizen to leave Indonesia and return to the country again but it will of course be assumed that people go abroad for a good purpose….

On the 10th Hassan Wirajuda asked that Indonesians do not travel to the area.

Jihad does not need to spoken of…. People who talk of jihad are just seeking publicity.
(Kalau jihad itu tidak usah ngomong…. Yang banyak omong itu tidak lebih orang yang cari publikasi.)

In another report on the same day Wirajuda says that the Indonesian media should not blow the issue of jihadists out of proportion and should not give the matter too much attention – it only fed the problem, he said.

On the 3rd Dr Hariyadi Wirawan, an international relations lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said Indonesians should not react “emotionally” and should continue to maintain Indonesia’s traditionally “neutral” stance.

On 5th August president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked that Indonesians modify their anger with some realism. The government was doing all it could, he said.

The same day the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) said it could not forbid anyone from going to wage holy war. Kholil Ridwan of the MUI:

That’s a person’s right, as long as he can get himself there. If he wants to go to heaven there, go ahead.
(Itu kan hak dia, selama bisa berangkat sendiri ya baik-baik saja. Kalau dia mau cari surga disana yang silahkan saja.)

On 8th August National Police Brigadier General Anton Bachrul Alam is reported by Kompas as saying that Indonesians were “forbidden” to go and fight in Lebanon.

But the police support the sending of people there for humanitarian purposes as a show of solidarity.
(Namun Polri mendukung pengiriman orang ke sana untuk tujuan kemanusiaan sebagai bentuk rasa solidaritas.)

However in the report Bachrul is only quoted as saying:

If people are sent there it is hoped that it is only to offer humanitarian assistance.
(Seandainya mengirim orang pun diharapkan untuk membantu dari sisi kemanusiaan saja.)

Antara quotes the policeman as saying:

The action of solidarity with Lebanon and Palestine is not necessarily expressed by participating in the war, but the dispatch of medicines, equipment and other humanitarian assistance.

On the same day Hassan Muslimani, the Lebanese ambassador in Jakarta, says Lebanon does not need foreign fighters.

Din Syamsudin of Muhammadiyah believes the sending of private armies to Lebanon would not be effective. He recommended instead that politcal pressure be put on the United Nations to act. Later, on the 10th, Din recommended that Islamic groups cancel their plans to wage jihad in the middle east, and, instead give the money which had been gathered for this purpose to Hizbullah so that weapons could be bought.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid asked that people not be overly influenced by events in the mid-east. The silent majority of Muslims were moderate, he said, but they often failed to have an impact.

On the 9th Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said there was no need for jihadists because the United Nations would handle the problem. Juwono also admitted that the government could not prevent people going to Lebanon and Palestine. He said.

Be realistic, it’s enough to demonstrate here, there’s no need to fight there.
(Realistis saja, cukup demo di sini saja, tidak perlu berjuang ke sana.)

The Syrian ambassador reportedly says that no jihadists from Indonesia will be granted a visa to enter Syria, unless they have permission from the Indonesian authorities. Muhammad Darwis Baladi said that no Indonesians had departed for Syria recently with the exception of a few journalists.

Abdul Muti, a spokesman for Muhammadiyah, says the intention of some to go to Lebanon is just an emotional reaction to the events in the middle east.

The Minister for Religion, Maftuh Basyuni, said on the 10th that the conflict between Israel and Lebanon was not a religious war and therefore the wish to wage jihad was in error.

15th August the Palestinian ambassador to Indonesia, Fariz Mehdawi, said Indonesians had no need to wage jihad in the mid-east. Jihad should be done professionally, he said, by the military, under the United Nations.