The Courier-Mail, November 3, 2001
Indonesian radicals rally force of 100,000
Chris Griffith
A RADICAL Indonesian Islamic group with confirmed links to Osama bin Laden and
with Australian members wants to send 100,000 troops to Afghanistan to join the
Taliban.
Darul Islam, a movement outlawed in Indonesia because of its alleged threat to
national security, already has boasted about its anti-Christian operations in Indonesia
and about receiving almost $US125,000 ($250,000) from bin Laden since the 1980s.
An investigation by The Courier-Mail found that during the past 10 years, illegal
Indonesian immigrants lodged refugee appeal applications and admitted not only to
their involvement in Darul Islam, but also to the group being established in Australia
and holding meetings here.
One 35-year-old Indonesian immigrant told the Refugee Review Tribunal that he was
recruited to Darul Islam in Australia a year after he illegally overstayed his tourism
visa.
He said the group normally met at a private home or at a mosque in Australia.
The applicant, whose name was suppressed, named two Darul Islam leaders who
were giving speeches on the organisation and its aims while in Australia.
The applicant said Darul Islam's activities were monitored by Indonesian agents
working in Australia and the organisation also had "strong representations" in
Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East.
Darul Islam has been linked to several coup attempts and openly claims links to bin
Laden.
Darul Islam faction leader Al Chaidar said a representative of bin Laden had made four
visits to Indonesia – to Aceh, West Java, and twice to Maluku.
Al Chaidar also claims that 5000 members along with 25,000 other Indonesians fought
in Afghanistan in the 1980s alongside the Mujahideen in the war against the Soviet
Union.
Speaking from The Netherlands yesterday, anthropologist Professor Kees van Dijk,
who wrote his PhD thesis on Darul Islam, said Al Chaidar was now suggesting
100,000 Darul Islam troops would fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan.
But Professor van Dijk said while sending troops was a possibility, the 100,000 figure
may be "big talk".
He said Darul Islam had been "very vocal" in Indonesia after the September 11
attacks.
The organisation is reported to be Indonesia's third largest Muslim group.
Indonesian expert Dr Robert Cribb said he believed Darul Islam could send troops to
Afghanistan but the numbers would more realistically be in their hundreds.
Dr Cribb, from the University of Queensland, said Indonesians rebels travelling to
Afghanistan faced money and language obstacles, and the obvious difficulty of
crossing into Afghanistan.
Dr Cribb said there was "a bit of a contradiction" in Indonesian President Megawati
Sukanoputri's support for US President George W. Bush when the only Indonesian
troops heading for Afghanistan were rebels siding with the Taliban.
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