Militant group threatens Indonesian peace

Analysts say how Indonesia deals with the challenges presented by Laskar Jihad and other militants will be a crucial test for its newly won democracy. It also poses a problem for mainstream Muslims who have dithered over how to counter extremist views, particularly after Sept. 11. "To reject Jaffar or denounce his policies risks alienating people," says John Brownlee of the Asian Foundation, a US nonprofit. "Politicians are afraid it will cost political capital to speak out against extremists."

Despite his bloody record, Mr. Thalib has plenty of influential friends in Jakarta. He speaks regularly at seminars, including a recent talk on 'Islam and the West' that included US Ambassador Ralph Boyce. Last month, he dined privately with Vice President Hamzah Haz, who heads the country's largest Muslim party.

Thalib also dined with Abu Bakar Bashir, who Singapore and Malaysia say is the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terror group with links to Al Qaeda. Indonesian authorities have questioned Mr. Bashir, who denies the any links to terrorism.

Some US officials have aired concerns that Al Qaeda could be aiding Laskar Jihad and other Indonesian groups. Diplomats in Jakarta point out that Laskar Jihad has a domestic agenda that only targets Christians in conflict areas. "Laskar Jihad is not the same as Al Qaeda. They have different goals," says another Western diplomat.

Those goals include introducing Muslim sharia law in Indonesia, a multifaith nation in which Muslims represent around 85 percent of the population of 210 million. Sharia has already been tried in Ambon: a 27-year-old follower of Laskar Jihad was stoned to death last year after confessing to adultery.

Thalib denies having links with Al Qaeda, although he met Mr. bin Laden in Pakistan in 1987. Thalib says that bin Laden sent an emissary to Ambon last year to offer support to Laskar Jihad, but was sent packing. "He offered to cooperate with us, but we refused and told him to leave," Thalib says.

Analysts say this is plausible, given the group's choice of targets and its nationalist rhetoric against Christians in Maluku, whom it accuses of wanting their own homeland, just as Catholic East Timor broke away from Indonesia in 1999.

This puts Laskar Jihad squarely on the side of Indonesia's secular Army, which has often used proxy militias to wage war. Some diplomats say that disgruntled generals helped fund and train Laskar Jihad as a destabilizing tool after the fall of the military-backed Suharto regime in 1998.

Peacemakers in Maluku have long blamed outsiders for stirring up local tensions. With Laskar Jihad hunkered down in its hillside redoubt, and Ambon still plagued by terror attacks, the peace deal is looking increasingly fragile.

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