Part 2
Hundreds of men in prayer caps and women in face veils attended the event, which was patrolled not by any visible police presence but burly members of the Islamic group Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI).
Dressed in black vests with the words MUJAHIDIN printed in bright yellow capital letters across the back, the MMI members busied themselves on walkie-talkies around the mosque perimeters.
In the courtyard people posed in front of a replica Ka’bah, the black shrine of Mecca, while inside the event was being MC’d by a former police officer who joined the other side.
That two senior ex-JI members are given free reign to espouse their radical but non-violent views might be unnerving, but analyst Taufik Andre, from the Institute for International Peace Building, says the police are watching.
Andre believes the authorities are prioritising Isis while taking a soft approach to JI.
“The police are trying to negotiate with the JI elite to influence them not to carry out attacks here,” he says, “And for that there will be no law enforcement, or action.”
Yet in the long term, JI could be more of a threat. The JI network took a series of hits after the Bali bombings, but there are strong indications the group has been quietly reconsolidating: recruiting members, conducting religious outreach and producing weapons clandestinely.
To what end, though, no one really seems to know.
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“That’s what makes it dangerous. Something with powers yet to be known,” says Tholut. “You have to remember that the majority of the people who were in Afghanistan and the Philippines are in JI. The trained ones are all there.”
Documents seized by authorities in 2013 show that JI is thinking globally and long-term by targeting the recruitment of highly trained professionals, including chemical technicians and Arab and Chinese linguists.
And in terms of organisational capacity, Jones says the group “may be back up to the strength in had in 2000, 2001”, a year before it orchestrated the Bali bombing. Although she says it does not see – for now at least – Indonesia as a legitimate battleground for jihad.
Now he is a free man once more, Abu Tholut says he may go back to keeping animals, especially “venomous” ones, but he is of the opinion that his old network may be more dangerous in the future than the less experienced newcomers who support Isis.
“All they have to do is wait for the orders. If JI decides that this is the day to take action, they will do it. This is what the government is afraid of,” he says, “far more so than Isis.”
Link:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...r-isis-jakarta