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THE WASHINGTON POST, Saturday, October 13, 2001
Diplomats Worry About Indonesia's Tolerance of Islamic Radicals
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Foreign Service
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 12 -- For the fifth day in a row, hundreds of students and members of radical Muslim groups converged on the U.S. Embassy here. Repeating what has become an afternoon ritual, they hoisted pictures of Osama bin Laden and banners calling the United States "the real terrorist." They screamed anti-American slogans.
Hundreds of police officers, wearing padded body armor and gripping bamboo billy clubs, stood by. When the protesters pushed a little too hard against the razor wire that rings the compound, they were forced back with a water cannon. When they set an effigy of Uncle Sam on fire, the water cannon doubled as a hose. When a few leaders ripped up an American flag, they were hustled into a police van.
After five days of anti-American protests in Indonesia, the world's most-populous Muslim nation, the embassy has turned into a relatively low-key center for complaints about the U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan.
Most Indonesians regard themselves as adherents to a moderate brand of Islam. Alcohol is sold openly here, for instance. Most women do not wear head scarves. Many on the island of Java believe as strongly in traditional magic as they do in Allah.
Many Indonesians, particularly those in government, profess general support for a global campaign against terrorism. The sprawling archipelago has itself been wracked by separatist conflicts -- most notably on the northern tip of Sumatra and on the western half of New Guinea island -- that many in Jakarta consider to be terrorist movements worthy of international condemnation.
But like the rest of the Muslim world, Indonesians have deep suspicions of the U.S. military action. They contend that the United States has not provided enough evidence linking bin Laden to the Sept. 11 attacks. They express concern about civilian casualties in Afghanistan. And many view the U.S.-led operation as an attack on Islam.
Although the vast majority of Indonesians have not taken to the streets in protest, a few radical groups have grabbed headlines by threatening to storm the embassy compound. They have also vowed to attack American diplomats and citizens if the Indonesian government does not sever diplomatic ties with the United States -- a demand the government has rejected.
The threats have led thousands of Westerners to flee the country. But, thus far, no Americans have been attacked, officials said. And nobody has tried to scale the embassy fence.
Whether the hard-line groups will make good on their threats is unclear. One government official dismissed them as "a lot of screaming in the heat of passion."
But to some Western diplomats, particularly those representing the United States, the threats are a genuine source of concern. Bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist organization has been making inroads in Indonesia in recent years by funding local radical groups, according to Western intelligence sources, who said they have credible information that at least one of those organizations is planning retaliatory attacks against American interests in Indonesia.
U.S. officials have urged the Indonesian government to crack down on leaders of the groups, arguing that inciting people to commit violent acts is a violation of Indonesian law. But government officials have been reluctant to take such a step out of fear of a backlash from conservative Muslim political parties that are part of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's coalition government.
"We're not afraid of taking actions against them, but we have to be very careful," Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said today. "It's a sensitive issue."
Although Megawati had a previously scheduled meeting with President Bush shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks and pledged her support for global anti-terror efforts, she has remained largely silent on the protests and the threats against Americans here. Her government has adopted a middle-ground stance toward the U.S. action in Afghanistan, neither supporting nor criticizing it.
The police have talked to the vocal leader of one radical group, Habib Muhammad Rizieq bin Hussein Syihab of the Islamic Defenders Front, telling him to tone down his rhetoric or face arrest. Now, Rizieq, who had threatened to "sweep" Jakarta for American citizens and attack them, has adopted a slightly less confrontational stance.
"The sweeping we plan to do is sweeping in an elegant way," he said in an interview. "We will approach foreigners and ask to look at their passports. If they are Americans, we will ask them nicely to leave Indonesia. We will even drive them to the airport."
But, he said, "if we have told them to leave and they don't, we will not take responsibility if there are lunatics who take matters into their own hands."
Some Western diplomats in Jakarta say the Indonesian government could take a more aggressive stance against the radical groups, noting that Pakistan, which has a much larger proportion of radical Muslims, has detained hard-line Islamic leaders and declared a zero-tolerance policy toward violent demonstrations. "Other countries, which have bigger problems with radicals, have been far more active in dealing with this problem," one diplomat said.
The threats also have dealt a blow to business confidence and the Indonesian currency, hindering efforts to kick-start the country's anemic economy.
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