Author: Matthew Moore
Publication: The Age
Date: October 18, 2002
URL: www.theage.com.au/article...67359.html
If a lack of sympathy was a guide
to guilt, then Indonesia's best-known radical Muslim would be rightly convicted
of the Bali bombings.
Abu Bakar Bashir is the elderly
cleric Western intelligence has identified as the man most likely to have
organised Saturday night's Kuta slaughter.
While he firmly denies any involvement
in the carnage, there's no sign from Bashir, the head of a Muslim boys'
boarding school, of sympathy for those young Westerners, about the same
age as his charges, who perished in those "sinful nightclubs".
In a land dominated by moderate
Muslims, Mr Bashir is a genuine radical. And he's not about to compromise
his views or his comments to make his message more palatable for "infidels"
in the West, even those in Australia grieving now for their lost loved
ones.
Asked if there was anything he wanted
to say to families who lost relatives in the bomb blast, he said: "My message
to the families is please convert to Islam as soon as possible."
Mr Bashir offered no sympathy for
those who died; just his belief that by converting to Islam, the survivors
could ensure they would avoid the fate of those non-Muslims who died and
went to hell.
Sitting cross-legged on the carpet
in a run-down house that serves as headquarters for the Indonesia Mujahideen
Council, an umbrella group for a cluster of radical Muslim groups, the
gently spoken cleric also had a more ominous message he wanted conveyed
to Australians.
"The second message is for Australia
because you suffered the most: please advise your government not to follow
the US policy because it will bring tragedy for your country."
Singapore, the US and Australia
have accused Mr Bashir of running an organisation called Jemaah Islamiah
they say wants to form a huge Asian Muslim state. But Mr Bashir says the
organisation is an invention of the West, the West that he also claims
were the ones responsible for the bomb.
"I think the bomb was done by foreign
intelligence, especially US intelligence. The indications are Americans
and Jews did it to justify the claims that have been made so far that Indonesia
is a terrorist haven. What they mean by terrorists is Muslims. "So to prove
their theory they created the incident in Bali."
Pressed on who from the US might
actually have done the bombing, he said: "I don't know who planted the
bomb.
"It's possible Americans hired Indonesians.
My understanding is Americans hired Indonesians."
Mr Bashir, though, would not condemn
the bombings.
"Such places will be banned if we
have Islamic government. Although it doesn't have to be destroyed, it must
be prohibited because it corrupts the morals of society."
Pushed on whether he believed it
was good that a "sinful" place had been destroyed he said only: "The building
can still be used for a mosque."
Mr Bashir has avoided arrest partly
because the government has no anti-terrorism laws under which he could
be picked up with no evidence.
That is about to change with a new
regulation to be introduced allowing detention without trial, which Mr
Bashir reckons is aimed at him. If he was arrested he promised to "fight
back with the powers I have".
What real powers they are is the
question that still remains unanswered.
