AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Wednesday March 13, 2002 3:05 PM
Indonesian Muslim militant denies his radio station seeks to stir
violence
JAKARTA, March 13 (AFP) - The leader of an Islamic paramilitary force which has
waged "holy war" against Christians in Indonesia's Maluku islands denied Wednesday
that its radio broadcasts are aimed at destroying a recent peace pact.
Jaafar Umar Thalib, commander of Laskar Jihad (holy war force), said his group's radio
station -- The Voice of The Muslim Struggle in Maluku -- was set up to balance "local
press reports in the Malukus which are always unbalanced and always disparage
Muslims."
Maluku governor Saleh Latuconsina wants to close down the station for "provocative"
reporting which he says threatens a Muslim-Christian peace deal brokered by the
government last month.
Thalib told a seminar on broadcasting that pressure to close down the station came
from rival media in the Malukus, state television and radio and two local newspapers.
"Those sides who own these local media are feeling uncomfortable ...and there has
since been this polemics about our radio being provocative and the pressure for the
governor to close us down," Thalib said.
He described the content of his radio as part religious sermons quoting the Koran and
the Prophet's sayings and part news reports from the field, plus comments from
officials and experts.
"We also commented on the Malino II pact, but because there was a government
statement that said that whoever is against the Malino II pact is also against the
government, this case (of pressure for the shutdown) also arose," Thalib said.
Laskar Jihad was not invited to the peace talks in the South Sulawesi hill resort of
Malino. It says the deal was flawed because it did not encompass all sides in the
conflict.
The Java-based group has said it will not leave the Malukus even though the peace
deal calls for outside forces to withdraw, because it is engaged in "humanitarian
work."
Thalib admitted that his radio did not possess the required licence. The current
frequency belongs to a radio station owned by a Muslim which has ceased to operate
since the sectarian conflict broke out in Ambon city in the islands in January 1999.
More than 5,000 people were killed and more than half a million driven from their
homes. The peace deal is largely holding so far.
In May 2000 Laskar Jihad -- with the apparent connivance of security forces -- sent
thousands of fighters to the Malukus. Christians say it played a major part in fanning
the violence while some Muslims accuse Christian groups of doing likewise.
Thalib has denied his group has links to international terror. He says he met accused
terror mastermind Osama bin Laden while both were fighting against Soviet occupiers
in Afghanistan in the 1980's, but maintains he disagrees with bin Laden's ideology.
Last year he was questioned by police over a Laskar Jihad makeshift Islamic court in
Maluku which ordered an adulterer stoned to death. He was never prosecuted.
Laskar Jihad forces were also involved in Muslim-Christian battles in the Poso region
of Central Sulawesi. A December agreement also reached at Malino ended fighting
there.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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