Is Jemaah Islamiyah back?

The recent Jakarta bombings sent shockwaves around the world because these hinted at the resurgence of Jemaah Islamiyah.

Kamna Arora

Two blasts shook Indonesia on July 17. The gruesome attacks sent shockwaves across the world not only because the victims hailed from various countries, but it also hinted at the resurgence of Southeast Asian militant group, the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Terror knocked at the doors of Indonesia at about 7:45 am local time when two almost simultaneous suicide attacks struck the Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in the capital Jakarta. The attacks in an up-market shopping and business district claimed eight lives and injured at least 51 others, most of them foreigners. The images of shattered windows, charred debris and damaged buildings did disturb the international community, but more disturbing was the fact that it signalled the resilience of Jemaah Islamiyah. Albeit no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks in Jakarta, it is believed that JI is behind the suicide bomb attacks on the hotels. A spokesman for the national police, Major-General Nanan Sukarna, informed that an unexploded bomb, which was recovered from a guest room at the JW Marriott on the same day, was "identical" to those used in bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 and 2005. In fact, the bomb also matched with the one found in a recent raid at an Islamic boarding school in Central Java. "They are from the same school. We found similar materials, similar tools, a similar method. That`s their job, that`s the same network, they are JI," Sukarna said. It is to be noted that the attacks came nine days after Presidential elections in the world’s most populous Muslim country, in which President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won a second five-year term on the basis of improved security. He has been campaigning against terrorism and extremism painstakingly. The Indonesian police and intelligence did a great job in dismantling the JI network in the last few years, arresting over 400 members of the group. But the recent blasts are surely a blow to the country’s fairly successful counter-terrorism campaign. What is JI? Jemaah Islamiyah, which means ‘Islamic Organisation’ in Arabic, is a militant Islamist group, which is believed to have networks in a number of Southeast Asian countries besides Indonesia. The group is reported to have members in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Australia. Their motive is to establish a Southeast Asian Islamic state comprising Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, southern parts of the Philippines and Thailand. JI traces back its roots to the radical movement in Indonesia, which backed and promoted the establishment of Islamic law in the country. Darul Islam movement emerged on the Indonesian scene in the late 1940s when the country broke free from Dutch colonial rule. It was difficult for the followers of Darul Islam to accept Indonesia as too secular, since it was home to devotees of other faiths as well besides being the world’s largest Muslim country. Reports suggest that a few Indonesian extremists, who were sent into exile in Malaysia in 1980s, formed the JI. It is interesting to note the transition in policies of JI from being a group which did not back violence in the first few years of its establishment, to one that gradually – probably in 1990s – started resorting to the use of brutal force. Attacks by JI The group is said to have targeted citizens of the Western countries in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore. In 2002, JI reaffirmed itself on the map of international terrorism by striking at the heart of Bali. Simultaneous bomb attacks on nightclubs in the beachfront city claimed 202 lives, most of whom were foreign tourists. The investigation led by the Indonesian police concluded that the attacks were funded by al Qaeda and were coordinated as well as carried out by JI. A year later, a blast outside the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta killed 11 people, courtesy a JI suicide car bomber. In 2004, a suicide truck bomber blew up explosives outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing 11 and injuring 200 others. Indonesian police concluded JI was behind the attack. The successive year, Bali witnessed another spate of bombings in which 20 people, mostly tourists, were killed and 129 were injured. And the blasts on July 17, 2009 were the first since November 2005. The United States had tagged JI as a foreign terrorist organisation immediately after the 2002 Bali bombings since the group is suspected to have ties with the al Qaeda network. The group is also suspected to be behind the Christmas Eve church bombings in Jakarta in 2000, and other bomb plots in Singapore and the Philippines. Who leads JI? Reports suggest that Abu Bakar Bashir is the group`s spiritual as well as operational leader. The Indonesian of Yemeni descent became a part of Darul Islam in the 1970s. He fled to Malaysia in 1985, where he enrolled volunteers to counter Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The members reportedly attended al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. Bashir returned to Indonesia in 1998. He opened the Solo Muslim school on the island of Java. He was arrested a week after the 2002 Bali bombings. On June 14, 2006, Bashir was released from prison, after serving a 25-month sentence. In 2003, Indonesian courts had to drop all the charges that directly tried to link him with the 2002 attacks. However, he was found guilty of being a part of an "evil conspiracy" to carry out the suicide bombings. According to Stratfor, a firm that keeps an eye on terrorist incidents, a video posted on the Internet on June 14 shows the cleric seeking renewed jihad against the West. Notably, Bashir has always denied having ties with al Qaeda, but has expressed support for Osama bin Laden. According to some analysts, JI has been divided into two factions - mainstream and pro-bombing. Noordin Mohammed Top is believed to be the leader of radical fraction of JI. According to International Crisis Group analyst Sidney Jones, "Noordin is no longer acting in the name of JI. He`s a splinter of JI." The Malaysian-born is suspected to have masterminded the recent attacks in Indonesia. The FBI describes Noordin as “reportedly an officer, recruiter, bombmaker, and trainer for the Jemaah Islamiah group”. The former accountant had also reportedly claimed responsibility for the 2005 attacks in Bali and had threatened to carry out more such strikes in a video tape. Back with a bang The group has had to suffer a severe blow in the past, thanks to an operation led by Indonesian anti-terror authorities. The most notable achievement was to arrest JI’s operational chief, Nurjaman Riduan Ismuddin (a.k.a Hambali) in Thailand in August 2003. The US Central Intelligence Agency had dubbed the Indonesia-born Hambali as the ‘Osama bin Laden’ of Southeast Asia. In November 2005, Indonesian authorities killed Azahari Husin, who was believed to be organiser of the 2002 Bali bombings. In 2007, police captured one of JI’s suspected leaders, Abu Dujana. In November 2008, three terrorists convicted for the 2002 Bali bombings, Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron, were executed. Despite the crackdown, JI has now made its presence strongly felt with the recent bombings in Jakarta. It is back and that too with a bang. But will JI affect Indonesia’ stability? “This will have no effect on the stability of Indonesia,” Sidney Jones said in an interview. “It’s not a crisis, no one should think that.” Indonesia is a robust, stable democracy with “measures to bring terrorism under control,” Jones stated further. However, the blasts have re-ignited the whole debate as to whether such crackdowns by the government will kill the ideology, which gives birth to various Osama bin Ladens and Noordin Tops.