Al Qaeda's new frontier: Indonesia

On the steps of a humble mosque, Abu Jibril Abdurrahman quickens his cadence as he approaches the emotional crescendo of his sermon: "Oh God," he implores, "help us to destroy the infidels who have killed our children."

At this, a ragged chorus of "God is great!" goes up from three-dozen armed followers. The Indonesian preacher's voice quavers as he takes up a Koran in his left hand and a battered pistol in his right.

"You can't just have the Koran," he says, extending the pistol skyward, "without the steel. You will bring down the steel."

The sermon, delivered on the island of Halmahera in early 2000 and now on a recruitment video being distributed by the Indonesian Mujahidin Council, is chilling. It's no secret that Islamic militants are part of a religious war in the Maluku provinces that has killed 6,000 people since 1999. But this video, obtained by the Monitor, offers direct evidence of an Al Qaeda connection to this war.

The ongoing conflict between Christians and Muslims, the Al Qaeda ties to local preachers, and the refusal of the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri to arrest the key figures behind the violence are some of the reasons the US says the country is becoming an Al Qaeda haven. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage testified to Congress about Indonesia last month: "We are really worried that places that have sectarian violence can become the breeding ground [for terrorism].... It is an open, very hospitable country, and it is a Muslim country. It is one we fear that Al Qaeda could operate in relatively freely."

Mr. Jibril's speech inspired a reorganization of Muslim fighters in Maluku that led to a deepening of the religious war. What had been a local conflict was transformed by the arrival of such jihad groups as Jibril's from outside the province.

Though Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, the tiny Maluku provinces are about 50 percent Christian. The jihad groups have kept the fires raging in the country's worst communal conflict for two years and have insisted that they won't leave until the Christians there are wiped out or converted. Some parts of the Indonesian military are sympathetic to the group, which has left it untouchable.

Last Friday, an associate of Jibril, Jaffar Umar Thalib, urged a Muslim gathering to reject a recent peace agreement and go back to war with the "infidels." Over the weekend, 14 Christians were killed in renewed fighting.

While the US is worried that the Maluku war could lead to the arrival of Al Qaeda in Indonesia, both Singapore, and Malaysia say the group has already been here.

Officials in Singapore and Malaysia say that Jibril ran operations for a terrorist group called the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which received money and training from Al Qaeda. Nearly 24 alleged members of the JI were arrested in Singapore and Malaysia last October, according to both governments, and investigators say the prisoners have told them that Jibril was the group's second in command and primary recruiter. Police from Singapore and Malaysia say Abu Bakar Bashir, who leads the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), also runs the JI. Mr. Bashir, who lives openly here, says neither he nor Jibril, an old friend and fellow MMI leader, have ties to terrorism.

The Indonesian government says that Singapore and Malaysia's evidence against Bashir and his associates is not compelling. They say that they've seen no evidence that the MMI, which its neighbors say is a local front for the JI, is anything more than a peaceful advocate for the establishment of Islamic law. Yet the revenge attacks that Jibril helped to inspire in the Galela district of Halmahera, where the sermon was delivered, argue otherwise.

In late 1999, Christians in the neighboring district of Tobelo participated in a massacre of about 400 Muslims at Christmas, according to witnesses and aid workers. That massacre inspired a national Muslim backlash, and an outpouring of aid, arms, and fighters to Halmahera and neighboring islands. Jibril, who Singapore officials say received military training in Afghanistan, was in the vanguard. He and other MMI members arrived in Maluku January 2000 to organize a more effective Muslim fighting force.

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