Author:
Publication: The Straits Times
Date: September 4, 2003
URL: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,207952,00.html
When Abu Bakar Bashir begins serving
his four-year prison term for sedition, it will not be his first time in
jail.
In 1982, he went to prison for three
years after he and fellow cleric Abdullah Sungkar were convicted of plotting
to replace the national ideology and impose Islamic law in Indonesia.
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Both men had espoused their views
at the Pesantren al-Mukmin or Pondok Ngruki, an Islamic boarding school
they founded in Solo, Java.
After their release, they fled to
Malaysia, fearing further imprisonment by the Suharto regime.
Bashir travelled widely. He envisioned
an Islamic state spanning South-east Asia.
It was in Malaysia, according to
prosecutors, that he and Sungkar founded the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror
network in 1993. One of their recruits was Riduan Isamuddin Hambali, an
alleged top Al-Qaeda operative now in US custody.
Bashir returned to Indonesia after
the downfall of President Suharto. He was elected chairman of a new militant
umbrella organisation, the Indonesian Mujahidin Council, identified as
the public face of the JI.
He allegedly took over as JI leader
that year, following Sungkar's death.
In February last year, Singapore
named Bashir as JI's leader but Indonesia was slow to move against him.
In May last year, Vice-President
Hamzah Haz visited him at Pondok Ngruki, and declared there was no such
thing as an international terrorist network in Indonesia.
And although the majority of Indonesians
dislike militant Islam, Bashir's anti-American views strike a chord among
people suspicious of US foreign policy.
Last year, popular Islamic magazine
Sabili named him 'Man of the Year'. -- AFP,AP, Reuters, WashingtonPost
