Mainly terrorism in Indonesia: catch all

[davidbfpo]

A report released last week by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found that Indonesian jails are an "incubator" of terrorist operations and recruitment, where extremists can preach, mingle freely with others (radicalisation), and have easy access to cell phones and other forms of communication:http://www.aspi.org.au/publications/...293&pubtype=10

The BB's summary:

A new report has concluded that Indonesian prisons are incubators of terrorism where jailed jihadis form new links and even plan attacks.

The New York Times last week looked at the rise of Islamic "vigilante groups" in Indonesia, whose violence against minority sects and religions is often ignored by police:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/wo...html?ref=world.

And Indonesian police alleged last week that the group said to be responsible for a deadly suicide attack on a police mosque last month was linked to the hardline cleric Abu Bakir Bashir and the group Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid:http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/...-bashir/441851

[Backwards Observer]

[anecdote] A whiles back, I was slated for a business trip to Indonesia. I asked some of the old Asia types if it might be wise to get a cheaper watch owing to stories of people getting their hands chopped off in order to steal Rolexes and such. They said that one shouldn't believe every cock and bull story one hears, and besides where I was headed they'd probably chop off the hand, throw away the watch and keep the hand.

So, it is with mild disbelief one can read today a gender theory critique of Islam as it relates to terrorism published as an editorial in the Jakarta Post, also noting that none of the comments involve chopping. Peace be upon them.

Religious radicalism and the masculinization of God
Satrio Wahono, Jakarta | Mon, 10/24/2011

We apparently live in fear now that terrorist bombers are flourishing in the country. Less than a year after the suicide bombing of the police headquarters in Cirebon, West Java, we have again been shocked by similar acts of terror at Bethel Injil Sepenuh Church (GBIS) in Surakarta, Central Java, in late September.

This series of events inevitably leads us to the gloomy conclusion that the movement driven by radical religious doctrine has not disappeared in Indonesia. Such a doctrine believes that any means — including the use of violence — are justified to overthrow an order perceived as secular and corrupt. In exchange, followers of the doctrine aspire to establish an ideal order that they believe will be approved by God. Therefore, analyzing such a doctrine is important for us in an attempt to neutralize it.

Religious radicalism and the masculinization of God - Jakarta Post - Oct 24, 2011

[Bill Moore]

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/region...n-cirebon.aspx

Anti-vice raids and actions against non-Muslim minorities are becoming a path to more violent jihadism in Indonesia. The 2011 suicide bombings of a police mosque in Cirebon, West Java and an evangelical church in Solo, Central Java were carried out by men who moved from using sticks and stones in the name of upholding morality and curbing “deviance” to using bombs and guns. They show how ideological and tactical lines within the radical community have blurred, meaning that counter-terrorism programs that operate on the assumption that “terrorists” are a clearly definable group distinguishable from hardline activists and religious vigilantes are bound to fail. They also mean that the government must develop a strategy, consistent with democratic values, for countering clerics who use no violence themselves but preach that it is permissible to shed the blood of infidels (kafir) or oppressors (thaghut), meaning government officials and particularly the police.

[Backwards Observer]

Allah willing, Indonesia may one day become an egalitarian society
Tom Allard, Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 30, 2012.

For a self-styled non-practising atheist, I was surprised to find one of the great pleasures of living in Jakarta was the call to prayer.

Like most homes in the city, mine was just 100 metres or so from the local mosque, a labyrinthine whitewashed building with a towering minaret where the muezzin sings praises to Allah five times a day.

Even at 4.30am, the smooth and melodious voice of Tata, the mosque's main singer, enchants, wafting across the warm tropical pre-dawn to herald the new day.

The chattering congregations for Friday prayers and the quiet meditations of business owners, workers and street vendors as they pause for the salat has endeared me to a faith that is too often maligned.

Most of all though, I have been impressed and inspired by the programs and projects run by worshippers to help the poor.

Allah willing, Indonesia may one day become an egalitarian society - Sydney Morning Herald - Jan 30, 2012

[Backwards Observer]

In Indonesia Chinese Wary of Standing Out Too Much
Desiree Tay, Straits Times Indonesia, Jan 28, 2012.

Glodok was once the vibrant heart of this capital city’s Chinese community. Yet, a full decade since Chinese New Year became a public holiday in Indonesia, Jakarta’s historic Chinatown is a faint shadow of its once-bustling self.

...

From 1966 to 1998, the Chinese language and many expressions of Chinese identity were driven underground as the Suharto government, driven in part by fears of communist China, pushed its policy of assimilation hard. The teaching of Chinese and use of Chinese script in public were banned, and Chinese Indonesians were urged to take on Indonesian-sounding names.

...

Medical hall worker Zhu Qiu Mei, 58, has lived in Glodok for more than 20 years, since her family moved from Palembang.

Asked about the muted Chinese New Year celebrations, she responds with two words: “Si chen” (dead city).

This sentiment is echoed by other Chinese Indonesians in the area. The turning point for them was 1998.

In May that year, political turmoil sparked by the Asian financial crisis saw mobs of rioters take to the streets in parts of Jakarta, targeting businesses and properties owned by ethnic Chinese.

Chinatown was particularly badly affected. Several buildings were burnt and scores lost their lives. Thousands of Chinese Indonesians fled the only country many had known to be home.

In Indonesia, Chinese Wary of Standing Out Too Much - Jakarta Globe - Jan 29, 2012.

---

Indonesian Christians Protest Over Intimidation

Indonesian Christians held a prayer vigil in Jakarta on Sunday urging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to re-open their church and stop intimidation by Muslim hardliners.

About 200 people, mostly members of the Taman Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church, prayed and sang hymns outside the state palace.

“We hope the president will protect us from harassment by radical groups and re-open the church which is legally ours so we can conduct worship,” the group’s spokeswoman Dwiati Novita Rini told AFP.

The Christians have been forced to hold services on the pavement outside their church in Bogor city, south of Jakarta, after its permit was revoked in 2008, Rini said.

“But the Supreme Court overturned the decision in December 2010 and ordered for the church to be re-opened. The Bogor city administration however refused to comply,” she added.

Indonesian Christians Protest Over Intimidation - Jakarta Globe - Jan 29, 2012.

[Bill Moore]

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/...li-raid/505683

Hariadi said that police suspected the group was plotting a robbery to finance a terrorism act. Police, the spokesman said, also confiscated firearms and several rounds of ammunition from both locations but declined to divulge further details. “All information will be revealed [on Monday morning],” he said.

Supports the trend of the growing convergence between criminality and terrorism, especially since other sources of funding for these clowns have been cut off by good police work. Admittedly terrorists have used crime since the beginning of crime to fund their activities, but the Islamist groups were fairly funded by wealthy donors from the Middle East in recent years, so hopefully this is a positive trend.

http://news.yahoo.com/indonesia-poli...004247418.html

Two FN-45 rifles and masks were seized from the scene, Amar said. He said the men had been planning to rob a currency exchange, a jewelry shop and a cafe near Kuta and Jimbaran, two of the Bali beaches most popular with tourists.

Amar said the suspects killed Sunday were allegedly part of a terror group wanted for a series of armed robberies in Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra province in 2010. Police are investigating whether the suspects were connected to Jemaah Islamiyah or another larger terror group.

[Jedburgh]

ICG, 16 Jul 12: How Indonesian Extremists Regroup

The threat of extremist violence in Indonesia is not over, even though the last two years have seen major successes in breaking up extremist networks. One by one, men on the police most-wanted list have been tracked down, arrested, tried and imprisoned. The police have been good, but they have also been lucky. The would-be terrorists have been poorly trained, poorly disciplined and careless. The last major attack in Jakarta was in 2009, and the total number of people killed by terrorists in 2011 was five: three police and two of their own suicide bombers. A familiar sense of complacency has set in that the problem is largely over.

This report shows, however, that even with so many strikes against them, extremists have been able to regroup under pressure and plot new operations, often drawing on friends in prison. A highly-skilled leader with more patience than jihadis have shown to date might still be able to pull a group together and build it up without detection; certainly the determination to try has not faded. The report also shows how adversity has brought most jihadi groups into contact with one another, in a way that undercuts some of the progress made by the police in breaking up individual cells.