In the run-up to every election in the New Order, security officials find 'deviant' Islamic sects supposedly out to set up an Islamic State on the model of Kartosuwiryo's 1950s Negara Islam Indonesia (NII). Even though middle class Islamic groups have now been drawn into a kind of alliance with power through ICMI, the pattern still reasserts itself against rural and lower class urban Islamic groups. At least 1600 people have been reported detained in West and Central Java since July last year. The following is a sketch - more research needs to be done to piece together details.
In July 1995 the owner of a beauty salon in Jakarta reported to the police and military officials that her assistants were drawing strange customers into her shop, who upon investigation turned out to be part of a fundamentalist movement in various parts of Jakarta with teachings 'similar' to NII.
Another NII-like group was mentioned at the same time as existing in Central Java (Banyumas), as well as another there named Islam Sejati (Pure Islam).
In November 1995 newspapers were full of reports that a NII-like group named Sukma Sejati (Pure Mind, possibly the same as the Islam Sejati above), started by five educated young people based in Banjarnegara, had attracted hundreds of followers around Central Java. The military rounded up no less than 302 of them, and gave them 'guidance'. The Governor of Central Java blamed inadequate 'explanation' by local government officials for the existence of the misguided sect. The story was made juicier when it was revealed some of these 302 had a past involvement with the PKI.
It was also revealed at this time that another five NII-like activists, some of whom had already served long jail sentences for Islamic extremism, had been arrested in Purbalingga in Central Java the previous August.
In January 1996 the military reported that no less than 862 people had been detained in the Banten region of West Java for supposed links with an NII movement. These people were also given 'guidance'. The military blamed the deviance on inadequate government guidance of the population.
The current Tiras reports the detention of 428 suspected NII followers in the Jabotek (area around Jakarta) up till December 1995. This Jabotek network is supposedly led by Moch Rais Abas bin Abas Al Ma'mun, a former Abri officer. Another leader named is Moch. Syarifin Maloko, a lecturer at the Islamic school Perguruan Tinggi Dakwah Islam Indonesia, PTDII, in Tanjung Priok, Jakarta. This school was at the centre of the Islamic activism that ended in the bloodbath of September 1984, but had been approached with conciliatory intentions by Hendropriyono during his term as Jakarta Military Area Commander. Observers say Syarifin Maloko speaks about social inequalities more than about an Islamic State. Syarifin Maloko himself, in an interview, says he talks about the difference between an Islamic and a non-Islamic state, and asks people to choose which is best. Somewhat disingenuously, he then says the Islamic concept is not of an Islamic state, but of the Islamic ummah, which is more holistic. Most of the movement's followers are apparently uneducated, unemployed or underemployed young manual labourers in various parts of Jakarta.
These are large numbers of detentions. None have yet faced the courts. In fact only a small number of leaders are likely to be charged. But the remainder will have black marks against their names for the rest of their lives. Religious deviance in every one of these cases is determined by the military. It is curious, to an outsider who thinks of the New Order as technocratic and secular, to see how normal it is in everyone's estimation that government officials are there to 'guide' the religious affections of the populace, and can be blamed if alien beliefs manage to penetrate the ideological screen.
(Sources: Tiras 8/2/96, Antara 30/1/96, Tiras 30/11/95, Republika 16/11/95, Kompas 13/11/95, Kompas 7/11/95, Gatra 14/10/95, Teleskop (Pijar) 11/95, Forum Keadilan 31/7/95).
Gerry van Klinken, editor, 'Inside
Indonesia' magazine.
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