CONTACT: IAN FREESTONE, 0417 252958 http://cryindonesia.rnc.org.au   

News reports that the Laskar Jihad have been operating within Australia are concerning, but not surprising. The Australian Newspaper reports that an airport shuttle bus driver in Sydney was active in recruiting for the organisation. This report follows close on the heels of the ABCs 4 Corners programme in which the activity of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) within Australia was uncovered. JI are said to be responsible for the Bali bombing and to have close links to Al Qaeda.

With a similar ethos to JI, Laskar Jihad, are an Indonesian militant Islamic group that engaged in a 'holy war' against the Christian population of Maluku in East Indonesia between April 2000 and October 2002.

Indonesia is home to 180 million Muslims, but in East Indonesia there is a sizeable Christian population as well. Until recently, local Muslims and Christians within Maluku have lived peaceably in a spirit of brotherhood and tolerance, or as the locals refer to it, 'pela gandong'. All that changed when Laskar Jihad, led by Jaafar Umar Thalib, in collusion with sections of the Indonesian military, declared war on the Christians. Local tensions in the region (ethnic, economic and political) were manipulated by Laskar Jihad and used to justify a religious manifesto that is in conflict with the traditional Indonesian values of tolerance that have bound that great nation together. Thousands of people lost their lives, many villages and places of worship were destroyed, and there were numerous forced conversions under threat of death. Over half a million became homeless as a result of the conflict. The same tactics of 'destabalise and destroy' then spread to Central Sulawesi where further villages were attacked and many people died.

The Laskar Jihad, 'officially' disbanded just hours before the Bali Bombing on October 12, 2002 and within a week its offices were closed and Laskar Jihad troops began to leave Maluku and Central Sulawesi. In their wake they have left a huge internal refugee crisis and many local communities fearful to trust again. Ambon has become an Indonesian 'Beirut'. Christian refugees from the island of Ternate are afraid to return home. Many believe that Laskar Jihad have simply gone underground. Evidence in West Papua would suggest the group is still fully operational.

For two years this 'jihad' in Maluku was fought. For two years humanitarian organisations and human rights groups called for the international community to put pressure on the Indonesian government to bring the situation under control. Australia's own government, together with most media outlets, regarded the conflict as an internal domestic one. What went unreported and unnoticed was the financial backing that Laskar Jihad was receiving from around the world, including Australia, as has been reported in The Australian. We also didn't take seriously the fact that other Islamic hard-line groups (such as JI and Al Qaeda) were using the Maluku conflict as 'field practice' and as a 'recruitment opportunity' for larger international terrorist operations.

The death of at least 202 people in Bali caused us to sit up and take notice of what has been going on. One thing I hope we would learn is that we can no longer categorise a conflict as 'domestic' and so turn our backs on the victims. To do so, is both a crime against those who are suffering and naive concerning the future threat to our own security.

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