http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/world/asia/07indo.html?_r=1&ref=asia&pagewanted=print
July 6, 2010 Indonesian Radicals Are Weakened, Report Says By AUBREY BELFORD JAKARTA - The radical jihadi movement in Indonesia has been left moribund after a series of police crackdowns and a failed attempt to start a domestic holy war, according to a report by the International Crisis Group. The report, released Tuesday, says that groups advocating the violent replacement of Indonesia's democratic government with an Islamic caliphate are unstable and riven by internal divisions. The movement was left in unprecedented disarray after a police crackdown on an attempt by a heavily-armed alliance of militants from a number of radical groups to set up a base for holy war in the northern Sumatran province of Aceh earlier this year, and the killing and arrest of a string of top militants that followed, said Sidney Jones, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, an advocacy organization that seeks to resolve and prevent armed conflicts. "There's more disunity within the movement than we've ever seen before," Ms.Jones said Tuesday. "I think what's interesting for me is how many divisions have emerged and how many disputes are under way within the jihadi movement," she said. "In the words of the individuals involved in these movements themselves, they've failed." The report focuses on what it describes as clandestine militant activities by Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid, known as J.A.T., an aboveground group established in 2008 by a leading radical Indonesian cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, in an acrimonious split with another group, the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council. Three senior J.A.T. members were arrested in May on suspicion of helping to finance the training camp in Aceh. The Aceh camp was an effort by an alliance of jihadis from across Indonesia's radical spectrum and was suspected of being under the direction of Dulmatin, one of Southeast Asia's leading militants. The police broke up the camp in February, and Mr. Dulmatin was shot and killed by the police in March during a series of raids in which more than a dozen militants were killed and scores arrested. Wahyudin, the principal of Mr. Bashir's Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school and a founding member of J.A.T., denied any connection between the group and terrorist activities. "There are no programs like that," he said. " Our program is just study." The report said although J.A.T. had been accused of financing the camp, radicals were already debating the effectiveness of attacks, with many arguing that violence was alienating Muslims. The failure of the Aceh plan worsened divisions, it said. Most of Jemaah Islamiyah, a network co-founded by Mr. Bashir and blamed for attacks including the 2002 bombings in Bali that killed more than 200, has for years sworn off spectacular violence. Instead, other networks emerged in its place, including Mr. Dulmatin's group and a splinter group that was led by the late Malaysian militant Noordin Muhammad Top, which was responsible for attacks including hotel bombings that killed seven people in Jakarta last year. While new recruits are finding their way into radical groups, repeated failure has meant violent groups have stagnated while splitting and re-forming over differences of personality, ideology and strategy, the report said. "There is no indication that violent extremism is gaining ground. Instead, as with JAT's formation, we are seeing the same old faces finding new packages for old goods," it said. Rather, it said, the bigger danger may be posed by groups that have turned away for active involvement in attacks but continue to legally preach violent holy war. The Indonesian government has been criticized for taking a soft line against groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front, a group accused of having secret links to elements of the security forces that eschews terrorism but regularly carries out violent protests and raids against religious minorities and secular liberal groups.
