Sunday, August 10, 2003
NYT: Militant Islamic Meeting Draws Sparse Crowd in Indonesia
The meeting of the Majelis Mujahedeen Indonesia, founded by Indonesia's best known Islamic militant, Abu Bakar Bashir, was supposed to show that Indonesia's radical Islamic movement is very much alive despite the fact that Mr. Bashir is now on trial on terrorism charges.
But only a relatively small crowd of several thousand turned up, leading the organizers to hold the ceremony under tarpaulins outside the walls of the city stadium, instead of inside the arena.
The sparsely attended event came five days after the bombing of the J. W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta, which killed 10 people and wounded more than 150.
In a significant change in attitude toward the nation's militant Muslims, none of the invited mainstream politicians showed up.
Most notably, Vice President Hamza Haz, who was listed on the program and has often appeared before militant groups, did not come. Nor did Din Syamsuddin, a top official of Muhammadiyah, one of the nation's largest Muslim organizations. Hidayat Murwahid, the leader of the Justice Party, an increasingly popular group that wants to impose Islamic Shariah law on Indonesia, was also absent...
The poor turnout showed that Indonesian leaders now know it is no longer useful to be associated with radical Islam, said Sidney Jones, an expert on Indonesia.
"That means there is a real sea change in Indonesia since the Bali bombing," said Ms. Jones, the director of the International Crisis Group, a Geneva-based group that focuses on crisis prevention. She has written extensively about Mr. Bashir.
"The Indonesian political elite and the Indonesian public now feel that organizations that flirt with violence are no longer acceptable," she said.
A Western intelligence specialist on Indonesia said he regarded today's meeting as an important barometer of popular feeling about radical Islam here in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
"This means it's a dirty association, it has lost its legitimacy," the intelligence official said of the poor turnout. "At last the message is getting through that Bashir maybe a terrorist." [...]
The biggest crowd pleaser was Mr. Bashir's lawyer, known as Mahendra, who came to Solo from Jakarta on a flight this morning dressed in casual weekend gear and then quickly changed into the all-white garb suitable for a religious appearance. "Some Muslims say they are Muslims but don't support jihad," he said, referring to religious war. "They are not real Muslims." There were shouts of approval.
Impression: So Muslims blowing up other Muslims may actually have had a negative effect on their movement? Don't they understand this is just the political arm of JI? Har. Anyway, it's a positive sign.
