July 17,
2008: The downside of Indonesian
tolerance is the survival of Islamic radical groups like the FPI (Islamic
Defenders Front). This year, the FPI has regularly gathered over a hundred men
and attacked rallies by non-radical Islamic groups. Police will arrest FPI
members they can catch, but the government refuses to ban the organization. The
government strategy is to keep as many Islamic radicals as possible in the
open, where the police can more easily keep an eye on them. Meanwhile, the
police can concentrate on chasing down a few dozen known Islamic terrorists
still believed to be in Indonesia. Most Islamic terrorists have fled Indonesia,
after several terrorists attacks between 2002-5 enraged the population and
created an atmosphere of hostility against Islamic radicals that still
persists. The last Islamic terror bombing was in 2005, and since then, most
activity involving Islamic radicals consists of the actual, or potential
Islamic terrorists getting killed or arrested.
One
drawback with this approach to Islamic terrorism is that some of the more
influential, and smarter, Islamic conservative clerics are working the system,
getting the government to pass more laws that give Islamic radicals more power
to impose more conservative customs on the general population. This threatens
to backfire, because such unpopular laws cause widespread discontent. The basic
problem Islamic terrorists have in Indonesia is that the local form of Islam
was always pretty mild. The Islamic conservatives are concentrated in a few
cities, where more hard core Islam is trendy among some university students and
clerics. That's enough to cause trouble, but not to change centuries of religious
customs and attitudes.
July 15,
2008: In Aceh, a group of armed
separatists got into a gun battle with police. Four of the separatists were
killed, and items recovered from the bodies indicated the men belonged to a
group that did not accept the peace deal (that gave Aceh more autonomy, but not
the independence the "Free Aceh" organization long demanded.) Recent elections put many "Free Aceh" leaders
in top government jobs. But some of the "Free Aceh" gunmen are still willing to
kill, or be killed, for total independence. This is very much a minority group,
but there are still out there in the hills.
July 2,
2008: On Sumatra, police arrested a
known al Qaeda leader, and nine followers. Also seized were 22 bombs, ready to
use against tourist targets. When the terrorist cell was detected, they were in
the midst of trying to find targets that would kill non-Moslem foreigners,
without killing any local Moslems. Islamic terrorists have become acutely aware
of how troublesome it is to their cause if they kill Moslems with their terror
attacks. This is particularly troublesome in Indonesia, where the local form of
Islam is very moderate, and openly hostile to Islamic radicalism. Tips from
locals enabled the police to track down these terrorists and arrest them.
Several computers were also seized, and many useful documents were found on the
hard drives.
June 28,
2008: Australia has reduced its tourist
warnings for Central Sulawesi and Maluku provinces. These two areas have been
the scene of much religious violence (as Islamic radicals fought with local
Christians) in the past. But Australian diplomats now consider the Islamic
terrorist threat much reduced, and the areas safe enough (but still risky) for
tourists. Australia has long provided the largest contingent among the foreign
tourists visiting Indonesia. That changed after the 2002 Bali island bombing,
but since then, the terrorist threat has diminished, and Australians
vacationing in Indonesia has increased.