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Sydney Morning Herald, Friday, September 28, 2001
Bin Laden 'funded Christian-haters'
By Lindsay Murdoch, Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
Indonesia's third-largest Muslim group had received funds from and had a "very special" relationship with Osama bin Laden's terrorist organisation, one of its leaders said yesterday.
Mr Al Chaidar, who heads one of 14 factions of the radical Darul Islam movement, told the Herald that bin Laden's organisation had sent more than 1.2 billion rupiah, the equivalent of about $243,000, to fund anti-Christian operations in Indonesia.
"Yes, we've got funding and assistance from the Osama bin Laden group since we went helping Afghanistan in the 1980s," Mr Al Chaidar said.
But he asserted that bin Laden had nothing to do with the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. "I think Osama bin Laden has been made a scapegoat by America."
Mr Al Chaidar was quoted earlier by the Jakarta-based Rakyat Merdeka newspaper as saying that bin Laden's representatives had twice travelled to Indonesia's Maluku islands, where Muslims have been waging holy war against Christians.
He was quoted as saying representatives had also visited Indonesia's province of Aceh, where more than 30,000 soldiers and police have launched a brutal operation against separatist rebels.
"The relationship between Darul Islam and Osama bin Laden is just undeniable," he said.
His comments contradict denials by Indonesian security officials that bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation has links to Indonesia.
Mr Al Chaidar said Darul Islam had maintained an "intensive relationship" with Afghanistan since thousands of its members had gone there to help fight the Russians in the 1980s.
"That's why I'm very sure that the relationship between Osama bin Laden and some factions of Darul Islam here is very special."
Darul Islam, which dates back to the Dutch colonial times, advocates Indonesia becoming an Islamic state.
The movement organised a rally in Jakarta in January last year that called for a holy war against Christians in Maluku, where more than 5,000 people have since died.
Mr Al Chaidar has since denied his organisation planned the rally with the intention of launching the war.
Radical Islamic groups in Indonesia have made repeated threats to expel American citizens if the US attacks Afghanistan, fuelling fears of an anti-foreigner backlash in the world's largest Muslim country.
Some have already conducted raids in central Java looking for Americans and have threatened also to attack the US Embassy in Jakarta.
Mr Syuaib Didu, chairman of the Islamic Youth Movement, said yesterday that people from any country that supported US attacks would be expelled.
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