BBC Worldwide Monitoring, November 8, 2001
Source: Detikcom web site, Jakarta, in Indonesian 7 Nov 01
Indonesia: Darul Islam Group against freezing assets of
suspected terrorists
Jakarta: A government plan to freeze the assets of organizations suspected of having
links to terrorism has been reproved by the Darul Islam group. Concerns were raised
that such an action would be a bad precedent to set for Islamic organizations who
would be too afraid to accept contributions because of the suspicions it would raise.
This reproval of the government's plan was issued today (7 November) by two Darul
Islam activists, Al Chaidar and Rahmat Gumilar Nataprawira. Darul Islam, as an
organization, would be sending out its official stance on Thursday (8 November).
As is known, the Indonesian government had received a letter from the United Nations
ordering that any assets linked to Usamah Bin-Ladin and the Al-Qa'idah terrorist
network be frozen. The attorney-general and the Central Bank sent their responses
straight away.
"Such action could be considered a violation of people's rights in the name of power,"
said Rachmat and he was backed up by Al Chaidar. He did not say this because he
feared that Darul Islam was under suspicion but because he thought that the
government was running away form its responsibilities.
According to Rachmat and Al Chaidar, accepting a donation was not against the law.
Even if it was true that the donation was linked to evil, it was still no reason to freeze
an organization's assets or accounts. He was concerned that the government's action
was setting a bad precedent...
"This will bring a sense of insecurity to the Muslim world. I am concerned that they
the government will then take over the role of the police to investigate every single
person who donates money," said Rachmat.
Darul Islam gets income from the IMA
Al Chaidar admitted that several Islamic organizations obtained funds from
Afghanistan including Darul Islam itself. He said that several donations had been
received from the IMA International Mojahedin Association . The IMA comprised 16
donor countries including Afghanistan.
When asked if the Taleban were included in the IMA, Al Chaidar said that not only the
Taleban but the Hikmatiar group were members as well. So far, the support donated
by IMA to Darul Islam was for jihad and social activities.
When asked if it was possible that other groups had received money from Usamah or
Al-Qa'idah, he was not keen to confirm or deny it. However, he did say that it was not
out of the question that they may have received funds from Usamah or Al-Qa'idah
because they wanted to alleviate their problems. "It would be rather difficult to mention
where funds come from and which organizations donated them but it would be easy to
say they came from Usamah. But that has not been determined," said Chaidar.
Chaidar had heard a rumour that the government suspected that six people/groups
were linked to international terrorism. "I heard that my name had been put on the list
but I don't know," he said. If for example, he was asked to provide information, he said
that would conform. When asked why he had not been proactive and approached the
police, he said that he was afraid that he would be considered a 'big shot'. "Then they
will think I am a big shot," said Chaidar who is Acehnese.
Al Chaidar stressed that the government's plan to freeze assets belonging to
pro-terrorist networks would influence his programme for the Darul Islam group. The
programme he referred to was a change from "pro-violence" to"non-violence", from
secret to open, from an "underground" to a formal institution and from anti democratic
to democratic.
"With this move by the government, I am afraid that my friends will go back
'underground' with bombs. it is a dangerous move," said Chaidar.
Received via email from: MM @ Ambon@yahoogroups.com
© Copyright British Broadcasting Corporation 2001
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