Strategy, Ideology, and Suicide Bombs

This past Saturday, I left Aceh and am now at a relative's home in Jakarta for the time being.  After the interview that I had with Al Chaidar, he told me that he had some contacts in Jemmah Islamiyah who would possibly let me interview them.  When I arrived in Jakarta, I got a hold of Al Chaidar again to try and make this go through, and he gave me the number of this one man named Mr. Asep.  So, I called him up to see if we could arrange to do an interview, and we ended up meeting today at a traditional style restaurant/cafe in the central Jakarta district. I arrived a little bit early and got a table, and as I waited for him to come, I couldn't help but wonder more about him.  Who is he?  How did he get involved with JI?  The concern that he would be as unhelpful as Mr. Attahiri also crossed my mind as I began thinking of ways I could elicit more information from him in the event that he didn't give me what I wanted.  I was really unsure of what to expect beforehand - what did he look like?  Did he have a beard?  Wear traditional Muslim attire?  Or was he just a run-of-the-mill, average looking fellow?  As reality would have it, when he arrived, he resembled the latter in his jeans and sandals.

After ordering our drinks and starting off with the standard, polite conversation about family, school, etc., we eased into a far more interesting conversation.  Asep began by telling me how he got involved with this organization.  His family are actually Darul Islam members, and he himself is a Darul Islam activist.  He started becoming more heavily involved in high school, but his family were the main influences for him to join in the first place.  When he got older, he did military and combat training in Moro, where many participants ended up fighting in Afghanistan.  Asep did not go to Afghanistan, but instead went to college to study how to become an electrician.  He also emphasized that he wasn't a Jemmah Islamiyah member, but Darul Islam.  However, he did say that he helped JI out whenever he could, in terms of logistics, surveying, and getting information for them. 

I asked him about the ideologies of Jemmah Islamiyah - the fatwa they follow, and in general why they do what they do.  Asep used the Bali blasts as an example in his response.  He said that it's no secret that Indonesia is a Muslim country, and that in Bali, a lot of westerners come and think that they can act however they do in their own countries, and even the Balinese start to take on their habits and customs.

"This behavior is inappropriate...even when you go to the American embassy, if you're wearing jeans and flip flops they will ask you to leave...foreigners need to respect that we are a Muslim country and conduct themselves with proper etiquette when they are here...the Bali blasts were to serve as a reminder to the world what we are and to not act inappropriately in Indonesia."

Their enemies, he told me, are not  just western nations.  Jemmah Islamiyah is also at war with the Indonesian government because they see it as a tool of the west - he used the term "hand and foot".  Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), although he is a Muslim, is JI's enemy because he is aiding the west in their "war against Islam".

"When the Dutch occupied Indonesia, everyone hated them.  But Indonesians didn't just hate the Dutch, they also hated those who helped the Dutch.  This is like that."

I asked him about the bombings - Bali, the Marriott, and then the Ritz-Carlton/Marriott twin bombings.  Were those final alternatives?  What were the motivations behind them?  Well, apparently there are a lot of motivations to set off bombs - it's the only way the enemy will listen.

So how do they decide who to bomb, and when?  They do their research beforehand.  They have to survey before acting, and in the meantime, they gain access to whatever building(s) they target.  Posing as cleaning service, security, etc., they find out more about their location:  who goes there, what they do, and whether or not they pose a threat.  They know all the clubs, hotels, and apartments and survey their targets for at least 3 months, their longest surveying period being 7 months. If they feel that the place is a breeding ground for enemies of Islam, they may deem it appropriate to bomb.  They look at the places that a lot of foreigners frequent, but this isn't to say that they'll bomb any old hotel that a lot of white tourists happen to be at.  But for instance they find out that someone from the CIA or other government intelligence is staying there or using that spot, it could be a likely candidate for destruction.  According to Asep, they get to know the foreigners and conduct in-depth interviews on them without them even knowing it. 

And then, of course, who does it?  Who are the people that actually carry out the missions?  Well, they have a team of people who do this work for them.  Surveyors, logistics, and of course, the bombers; a group of seemingly limitless volunteers who answer the request JI sends out for people to carry the deed out.  However, they don't use the term suicide bomb; suicide is forbidden in Islam.  The volunteers go through a rigorous screening process in order for planners and officials to know who wants to do it for the right reasons.  They are interviewed and watched, and if it seems that they've lost hope in their lives and want to end it by detonating a bomb on themselves, JI officials won't allow them to carry through.  They actually don't use the term "suicide bomb"; instead, they say "bom sahid", which translates to "martyrdom bomb".  Because this is done for the "right" reasons (fighting the "enemies" of Islam), they will be rewarded in the afterlife.  Asep never mentioned the infamous 40 virgins story, but instead told me that martyrs will possibly be able to spare 70 loved ones from hell; their family, friends, and whoever else they feel should escape the wrath of Hades (er, Satan).  Asep mentioned that there was some type of law in the Qur'an that justifies this, but he didn't specify where.  He did say though, that bom sahid were a way to give people motivation to strengthen Islam so that they can destroy Islam's enemies.

What about now?  It may have been a little forward and pretentious of me to have vocalized this, but I asked him who JI plans to target now.  He chuckled and said that he had no clue, but knows that they are in the stages of surveying; apparently they've already rejected 10 potential locations.  It may be months before they strike again, but who knows?  Asep said that since he's not an actual member of Jemmah Islamiyah that they don't entrust him with all their information.  However, they trust him enough to let him in on some stuff, and since Darul Islam gives JI a lot of protection, they are on pretty good terms to say the least. They have very similar ideologies although they may disagree on things such as tactics and strategy.

"They're a bit too ambitious; their target is too big...What Jemmah Islamiyah needs to do is focus on fighting the enemy one at a time, on a smaller level.  If they're going the rate that they are with these big goals, they could fail.  But if they joined with us [Darul Islam], we could succeed.  The trick is to start small and then expand...Islam has a lot of enemies, we can't take them all at once."

As of now, there are more or less 10,000 Jemmah Islamiyah members in Indonesia, and as they are actively recruiting, that number is growing.  JI has had some influence on a number of pesantren in Indonesia, although that number is quite small compared to the vast majority of pesantren which produce decent, law abiding citizens.  They tend to have more of an impact among young, college-aged individuals and from doing dawa and giving speeches in local mosques. 

Things are far from over for Jemmah Islamiyah.  Although at times they may keep quiet, they are most certainly active and conducting their activities.  From what I gathered from Asep, JI is a force to be reckoned with, and they have the potential to be even stronger if they joined forces completely with Darul Islam.