Indonesians decry attack, call for acceptance of Shia minority

Top figures urge the government to eliminate the misperception that Shia is not a legitimate branch of Islam.

Indonesians are condemning the latest attack on a Shia Muslim community in Sampang, Madura, and urging the government to state publicly that Shia is not a perversion of Islam.

Local Sunni Muslims attacked Karang Gayam village on the island Sunday (August 26th), killing two men and torching dozens of homes, causing hundreds to flee. The same Shia community was attacked in December 2011.

Commenting on the events, Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali said that violence in the name of religion cannot be justified, and urged dialogue to resolve issues in the community.

“Religion teaches peace and does not teach violence. The different opinions of religion have always been there, including about Shia and Sunni. However, it does not mean that we can use it as a reason to conduct any violence against others,” he told Khabar Southeast Asia.

“Therefore, if there is a different opinion about some issue, it should be solved with constructive dialogue.”

Marzuki Alie, Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), called on the government and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to actively educate society about the Shia sect of Islam.

“It is clear to see that there is a misunderstanding in society [in claiming] that Shia is a perverted religion. The lack of understanding has caused misperceptions and triggered anarchy in the community,” he said.

“Therefore, it is very important that the Ministry of Religious Affairs and MUI explain to society the position of Shia in Islam, to eliminate threats to civil order,” Marzuki added.

OIC, Nahdlatul Ulama view Shia as legitimate

A top figure in the human rights community urged the government to disseminate “to all levels of government institutions throughout the nation” the stance of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), which considers Shia a legitimate form of Islam.

“There is no reason to say that Shia is a perverted religion because the OIC considers Shia and Sunni to be the same,” said Choirul Anam, executive director of Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), a coalition of non-governmental organisations working in the field of human rights.

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), a traditionalist Sunni group that is the largest Muslim organisation in Indonesia, also does not dispute the legitimacy of Shia as a branch of Islam – even though some of its members, particularly in East Java, appear to hold sectarian views not sanctioned by the organisation.

Sunni and Shia Muslims have the same God (Allah), the same prophet (Muhammad), and the same holy book (the Qur’an), NU deputy secretary general Imdadun Rahmat told Khabar.

“Even though Shias differ on who was to take over the leadership of the Muslim community after the Prophet died, we still consider Shia to be a part of Islam and we do not dismiss Shia,” he said.

Nusron Wahid, chairman of the youth movement of NU (Gerakan Pemuda Ansor/GP Ansor), told Khabar that GP Anshor condemns the attack in Sampang and is willing to raise funds to help the Shia community rebuild their houses.

“For the sake of human rights, we will help them to rebuild their houses. We are not going to see whether they are Shia or Sunni when we are helping them,” he went on.

“I would say that it is not our right to judge them whether they are right or wrong. Only Allah can judge their beliefs as Shia followers,” he added.

Assault suspects face grave charges

Police have arrested and investigated eight suspects allegedly involved in Sunday’s assault. The suspects are facing five charges including murder, assault, group assault, vandalism and participation in a crime.

“The mastermind of the attack, whose first initial is R, has also been arrested. There are still three more suspects at large. God willing, we will arrest them soon,” National Police Chief General Timor Pradopo told reporters on Monday.

Police also seized hundreds of sharp-edged weapons including sickles, machetes, and swords from the location of the attack.

Meanwhile, during a speech commemorating the 67th anniversary of Indonesia’s independence on August 17th, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono again stressed the importance of pluralism and tolerance in a nation as diverse as Indonesia.

“Our state should be the window of tolerance and harmony. It should not be the window of community conflict or horizontal violence,” he said

Smart phones help drive social media boom in Indonesia

Internet usage, including social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, is expanding from desktops and laptops to web-ready mobile phones. The implications for social movements and democracy could be significant.

With ever-growing numbers of people using service such as Facebook and Twitter, social media are changing the way Indonesians communicate. And the rise of the smart phone means they do not necessarily need to own a computer in order to join in the trend.

According to a report by Indonesia Finance Today, smart phone penetration has reached 67% of all Indonesian consumers as of mid 2012. Meanwhile, the country has the third largest pool of Facebook users worldwide (43 million), behind only the United States (155.7 million) and India (43.5 million), according to Social Bakers, a website that tracks the daily global usage of different social media sites.

Although initially based in urban areas, the internet craze has increasingly spread to rural areas, with more and more customers demanding web-ready mobile phones that enable them to access social networking sites, according to a report published last year by The Jakarta Globe.

“This trend is also spurred by the growing number of Facebook and Twitter users in the country,” The Globe quoted Izak Jenie, a director at the cellphone company Nexian, as saying.

Enda Nasution, a social media activist, told Khabar Southeast Asia that the pattern of Internet usage has changed since the technology was first introduced to Indonesia in the mid-1990s. The process, he said, began with home computers, moving to cheap laptops, Internet-capable headphones and now smartphones.

“With the country’s rising economic growth, many Indonesians have more money to spend on their secondary needs such as smartphones, which serve as communication and information tools and can be accessed anytime, anywhere,” he said.

The trend, many say, has profound implications for the democracy, activism, civic participation and the free flow of information.

Linking people with shared interests and concerns

“Social media is often used to influence policy makers and also as a tool to ensure government accountability,” Enda told Khabar.

Dian Paramita is one of Indonesia’s “Twitter celebrities”. Active since 2009, she has more than 13,100 Twitter followers. In turn, she follows numerous activists, politicians, journalists, lawyers, and artists in order to keep herself updated about the issues she cares about – including politics, society, justice, economics and animal rights.

“One thing that I love about Twitter is that we can get information quickly; we can share our aspirations or opinions on certain or current issues, which can lead to a real movement or action by society,” she said.

Twitter helps link up people with similar concerns, fostering discussion and action, she told Khabar.

“When Mount Merapi [a central Java volcano] exploded in 2010, I shared my idea to help the victims with #PeduliMerapi on Twitter. I got so many positive responses from my followers,” she said.

Trend still in its infancy?

According to Arya Fernandez, a political analyst at the Charta Politika research institute, social media have started to change the nature of the relationship between Indonesia’s political leaders and the citizens they represent.

“Social media have given a chance for politicians and constituents to have direct two-way communication. Whereas before it was only one-way interaction via traditional media, such as television and also radio,” he told Khabar.

However, he cautioned, the phenomenon is still at an early stage and obstacles remain.

“Unlike in Egypt, the power of social media in Indonesia is still at the level of mobilising an issue to create public opinion rather than mobilising a societal movement,” he said.

“There are political communities involved in social media, but unfortunately it is limited to a cyber-level discussion only.”

“It cannot be used yet to mobilise society to push the government to make changes,” he said.

Dian, the Twitter celebrity, however, argues that the impact of social media amounts to more than just sharing opinions.

“My aspirations were realised in a real action,” she said, insisting that social media “can lead to a discussion, and even better it can lead to real action or societal movement.”

“At least, we have offered our ideas,” she said. “If we do not do that, how can we make changes?” 

 Indonesia: Following the money to new terror funding tactics

 

Robbery, hacking and drug sales are being used to finance terrorist activities, officials say.

Authorities in Indonesia have detected diverse fundraising strategies among terror groups, as illustrated by the recent bust of a terror financing cell in Medan, Sumatra.

“It is surprising that their assets were not only purchased with money that they got from robbery, but also from Internet-based fraud where they were able to hack some multi-level marketing company websites,” Ansyaad Mbai, chief of Indonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), told reporters in Jakarta on June 20^th.

The government has been able to thwart fundraising efforts in Medan and in Solo, Central Java, but terrorists are working hard to find more sources of revenue, he said.

“They are now using their brains to devise new ways to raise more funding,” he added.

Ansyaad spoke after police seized suspected terror assets in Medan worth nearly 8 billion rupiah ($850,000) in the form of a shop, four houses, three cars, and seven motorbikes.

He said the cell that amassed those assets had also funded paramilitary training in conflict areas and terrorism operations, including the September 2011 church attack in Solo, in which a suicide bomber injured nearly 30 people.

The suspect who led police to the assets, Rizki Gunawan, has a background in accounting and IT and allegedly hacked into the website for Investasi Online (Investment Online), a Jakarta Post report said.

Rizki, arrested at a Jakarta train station in early May, is one of five suspects in the Solo church bombing, National Police spokesman Senior Commander Boy Rafli said. He has also been linked to militant activities in Poso, Central Sulawesi, he said.

“Preliminary investigations show that the group’s activities were supporting terrorist operations, including paramilitary training in Poso,” said Boy.

Rizki not only joined in the training, but successfully channeled 667 million rupiah ($70,770) to support it, Boy alleged. Rizki was not only skilled at hacking, but also adept at making bombs and firearms.

Extremists resort to drug trafficking to raise money

Meanwhile, Ansyaad told reporters, the mushrooming narcotics industry is providing another source of funding for terrorism. Authorities have been aware of the “narco-terrorism” connection since early 2011.

“The terrorist groups use illegal drug trafficking to raise money for funding terrorism. The intelligence has found indications that this was true in the Fadli Sadama case,” he told Khabar.

Fadli Sadama was captured in Malaysia in October 2010 and extradited to Indonesia. In September 2011, the Medan District Court sentenced him to 11 years in jail for supplying weapons to a terrorist group that robbed the Medan branch of the CIMB Niaga Bank. He is believed to have smuggled amphetamines from Malaysia to finance terrorism.

Emphasising that terrorism remains a huge threat for Indonesia, Ansyaad warned young people not to support current terrorism fundraising efforts by using or selling drugs and narcotics.

Internet fraud

According to Noor Huda Ismail, a terrorism expert and founder of the Institute for International Peace Building, Internet-based crime has long been another way for extremists to raise money.

“Imam Samudrahacked customer bank accounts [via the Internet] to obtain funding for terrorism. He mentioned it in his book,” Noor Huda said on July 9^th.

One of three Bali bombers put to death in 2008, Samudra published an autobiography from prison in late 2004 that included a chapter on hacking.

Evidence from his laptop computer showed he had tried to collect money for the 2002 attacks through online credit card fraud, according to police, but it was unclear whether he succeeded.

Noor Huda expressed his frustration that the legal system has not been able to connect all the dots on terrorism funding.

“One of the challenges for the Indonesian courts is to prove these circumstances. Since the 2002 Bali bombing, the court has not found any evidence, such as bank transfer receipts, to prove where the funding comes from,” he said.

Indonesian ex-militant seeks to prompt dialogue on extremism

A book launching in Jakarta is the occasion for open discussion among moderates and militants concerning Islamic values and the nature of jihad.

Khairul Ghazali, also known as Abu Yasin, is a former member of the Indonesian Islamic State (NII) militant group. He was allegedly involved in a 2010 bank robbery at the CIMB Niaga branch in

Renouncing the path of violence, however, he has now written a new book aimed at showing the dangers of extremism. The 370-page work, “Kabut Jihad” (“The Cloud of Jihad”), has elicited strong reactions.

A book-launching event, held at the Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta on June 20th, drew not only representatives of the government and Islamic organisations, but also former jihadis and members of the Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), which the United States has designated a terrorist group. Its founder, hardline cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, is behind bars after being convicted of supporting a terrorist training camp in Aceh.

The Indonesian National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), a non-ministerial Indonesian government institution with a focus on counterterrorism, gave the green light for the book launch in the hope that Khairul, as former extremist himself, is well-positioned to explain why violence is the wrong direction for Muslims.

Khairul, who is serving a five-year prison term, arrived at the launch dressed in a batik and black skullcap. Guarding him at the public appearance was Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88), a special Indonesian counterterrorism squad.

“It needs to be understood that Indonesia is not a war zone because Muslim people are not attacking or fighting an enemy. Jihad must not threaten other people who lead peaceful lives,” he said, explaining that he wrote the book in order to counter mistaken perceptions among some Muslims.

Supporters say dialogue can combat violence

BNPT chairman Ansyaad Mbai said the book would promote a healthy dialogue about values, and in this way help the government reduce and eradicate the threat of terrorism.

“We want to motivate many prominent and influential anarchic ideologue terrorists and Islamic fundamentalist figures to write and publish more books on terrorism and radicalism in a fair kind of way,” he told Khabar Southeast Asia.

“The BNPT will facilitate a public discussion and invite moderate and radical people to sit, discuss, and criticise the book together so they can share their views – especially on jihad,” he said. Such open dialogue, he said, is “better than having anarchic-ideological figures writing and publishing books secretly with the purpose of provoking people.”

A spokesman for Muhammadiyah, the nation’s second-largest Islamic organisation, agreed that a former terrorist writing a book could help minimise the spread of violent ideology.

“I would say that this is a cultural and persuasive way to prevent the growth of terrorism. However, it must be done naturally where individuals truly regret committing acts of terrorism,” the spokesman, Abdul Mukti, told Khabar.

He warned that the Indonesian government must provide extra protection for Khairul and his family because fundamentalist organisations disagreed with Khairul’s decision to share his experience and regret.

“For sure, they will be hated by his former group because he had changed his view and has opposed acts of terrorism through his writing,” Mukti said.

Militant group takes a dim view

The JAT organisation has already criticised the book, with spokesman Son Hadi bin Muhadjir attributing the book to the author’s “confusion”.

“He is under physical and psychological pressure as a convicted terrorist,” the JAT spokesman said.

Abdul Munir Mulkhan, an activist and professor at Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University, offered a contrasting perspective. In his view, the book does not go far enough in opposing violent jihad,

Even so, he said, it can help prevent the growth of terrorism and radicalism in Indonesia.

“I think the most important thing from Khairul’s book launch was the discussion where BNPT gave space for the radical and moderate Muslims to gather and share their views about jihad,” he said.