Indonesia is certainly the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Its total population is around 235 million, with 85 percent of this figure being Muslim. The official language (Bahasa Indonesia) is a version of Malay, but other regional tongues exist on various islands.

The first ruler of Indonesia was Sukarno, who had declared independence in August 1945. He was overthrown in a coup led by General Suharto (Soeharto), who ruled from March 1968 until he was forced to resign in May 1998. Under Suharto's rule, there was widespread corruption. Suharto's son Tommy (Hutomo Mandala Putra) grew rich from embezzlement. Even when he was found guilty of the murder of Syaifuddin Kartasasita, the judge who convicted him of corruption, Tommy Suharto only served four years in jail.

During the three decades that Suharto was in power, Islamist groups and movements were, along with communist groups, viciously suppressed. With Indonesia being comprised of varying cultural groups, the influence of totalitarians such as communists or religious supremacists would naturally lead to conflict.

Two groups came into existence following the end of Suharto's rule. The strident Islamism expressed by these groups has threatened to destroy the values of religious tolerance and pluralism that are promised by the constitution (called "Pancasila") of Indonesia. Article 29, b, of the Indonesian constitution reads: "The State guarantees all persons the freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion or belief."

Both of these Islamist groups are said to have tacit support from senior figures within the military as well as the judiciary and police.

Laskar Jihad

Laskar Jihad (Lashkar Jihad) was led by Jaffar Umar Thalib. This group, which allegedly was formed with the approval of members of the military and the government in 2000, was the main instigators of sectarian violence during the Moluccan War which lasted from the end of 1998 until 2002. This war pitted fanatical Islamists against Christians and at least 9,000 people, mostly Christian, were killed. The fighting was worst on the large island of Sulawesi and in the Moluccan islands (the Spice Islands).

Thalib urged his followers to wage an attack upon Christian villagers in Soya on the island of Ambon. On Friday April 26, 2002, Thalib spoke to Laskar Jihad followers outside Ambon's biggest mosque. He urged a religious war against Christians, saying: "From today, we will no longer talk about reconciliation. Our ... focus now must be preparing for war - ready your guns, spears and daggers." Two days later, Laskar Jihad invaded the mainly Christian village of Soya on Ambon island. Men, women and children were stabbed, beaten to death, burned and decapitated. Even babies did not escape machete attacks.

The Soya massacre took place even though other Islamist groups had signed a peace deal with Christians on February 12, 2002. This deal was called the Malino Accord. It was brokered by Yusuf Kalla (who is now the vice president of Indonesia), was intended to put an end to the Moluccan War. Laskar Jihad refused to acknowledge the terms of the Malino Accord.

Thalib's vigilantes had also driven away Christian landowners in Malaku province, sharing their lands as "booty" among Laskar Jihad and Muslims from outside the province.

Thalib himself had fought Soviets in Afghanistan from 1988 to 1989 and had met bin Laden. He had ben educated at the Mawdudi Institute in Lahore, Pakistan, before dropping out and joining the Afghan Mujahideen. He ran an Islamic boarding school (pesantren) called Ihya'us Sunnah Tadribud Du'at on the large island of Java. Thalib allegedly supervised an illegal sharia court which stoned a man to death, but though he was arrested for this, Thalib was never prosecuted. Following the Soya atrocity, Thalib was prosecuted for inciting religious violence but bizarrely, he was acquitted.

Laskar Jihad announced it was officially disbanding in October 2002, but in 2003 it was waging war against the native peoples of West Papua. This territory - the Western end of New Guinea was never ceded by the Dutch, and was annexed by Indonesia in 1963, and officially recognized by the UN as "Indonesian" in 1969. Very few indigenous West Papuans consider themselves to be Muslim.

FPI - The Islamic Defenders Group

While Laskar Jihad continues to operate in secret, away from the prying eyes of the media, the Front Pembela Islam has been blatantly courting publicity.

The Front Pembela Islam or Islamic Defenders Front was founded in August 1998, only three months after Suharto was ousted from power. The uniformed members of this group in their white jackets and hats appear indistinguishable from the vigilantes of Laskar Jihad. Their motives are the same - to impose a strict interpretation of Islam as the sole religion of Islam and to ignore or destroy the rights of those they deem to be non-Muslims.

The BBC stated in 2003 of the FPI: "Unlike other groups it is not fighting for an Islamic state, but it does want to establish strict Sharia law." Its subsequent actions in enforcing Islamist local bylaws to be imposed on all citizens, including non-Muslims, belies the BBC's claims.

At the time, the group had claimed that it was suspending its activities, while its founder was awaiting trial for inciting his followers to carry out raids on social establishments.

The founder of the group is Al Habib Muhammad Rizieq bin Hussein Shihab, more commonly described as Habib Rizieq Shihab. From its inception , the FPI began to make its presence felt in the main cities of Indonesia. During the holy month Ramadan, members of the group would attack bars and clubs that were seen to be flouting the conventions of Islam. In 2001 he organized a series of attacks against American interests, targeting businesses he believed were supportive of, or funded by, the United States.

Even though Saudi-educated Habib Rizieq Shihab could have received seven years for inciting his followers to violence, when he was found guilty, he was only jailed for seven months. Upon his release from Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta on November 19, 2003, the FPI became more intransigent. The group, according to the now-defunct MITP Terrorism Knowledge Base, apparently funds itself via extortion from businesses.

In October 2004 during Ramadan, hundreds of FPI members attacked a restaurant and bar in the south of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city. They also raided a pool hall. Apparently when the attacks took place, police who were nearby took no action against the vigilantes.

Though there is little to distinguish them from the core group, the paramilitary wing of FPI, who carry out the raids on bars, is known as the Laskar Pembela Islam (Islam Defenders' Army). The FPI as a whole now has a total of 200,000 members who are based in at least 22 of Indonesia's 33 provinces.

On December 24, 2004, a massive tsunami devastated the province of Aceh, located on the northwestern tip of Sumatra island. Relief workers came to the area to assist in the amelioration of the local population's plight. A less positive addition to the relief work was the arrival of Islamist groups. These included the Laskar Mujahideen which had been involved with killing Christians in the Moluccan War. Additionally the Indonesian Muhajideen Council, whose spiritual head is the controversial cleric Abu Bakakr Bashir, arrived, as well as the Front Pembela Islam.

The arrival or Islamist groups had been spurred on by a decision by the largest group of Indonesian clerics to make a grim announcement. On January 14, 2005, the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesia Ulemas Council or MUI) warned that there would be a Muslim backlash if any of the Christian relief workers in the tsunami-devasted region of Aceh attempted to proselytize.

Fox News reported on January 21, 2005 on the intimidation of relief workers in Aceh by Islamists: "Hasri Husan, a leader of the Islamic Defenders Front, a militant Muslim group that is operating a refugee camp in Banda Aceh, made his feelings clear. 'We will chase down any Christian group that does anything beyond offering aid,' he said before making a slashing motion across his throat."

In July 2005, the Majelis Ulama Indonesia made a "fatwa" containing 11 decrees, which decried activities involving interfaith, pluralist and "liberal" thought. The fatwa declared that liberal interpretations of Islam, secularism and pluralism were un-Islamic and therefore forbidden. This ruling was seen by some as generating a climate of intolerance in Indonesia.

On September 21, 2005 a community of Ahmadis was attacked in Sukadana in West Java. No individuals were hurt, but a mob of 1,000 fanatical Muslims carrying swords and sharpened bamboo stakes ran through the village. At least 70 homes and six mosques were badly damaged. Only five people were arrested. The attack upon the Ahmadi sect in 2005 mirrors very closely recent events that have taken place in Indonesia.

In October 2005, Strategy Page reported that: "Armed men claiming to belong to organizations like the "Islamic Defender Front" continue to attack Christians, threatening to burn down houses and kill people if, in one instance, Catholics do not stop holding prayer services in their homes."

The Ahmadiyah or Ahmadiyya are Muslims, but they are treated by orthodox Islam as heretics. They revere the founder of their sect, Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani (1835-1908). As many Ahmadi believe their fonder was a prophet, they are treated as heretics. They are barred from entering Mecca for the Haj pilgrimage, and in Pakistan blasphemy laws prevent them from proselytizing. In Bangladesh political parties in the last coalition government supported attacks against the sect.

In January of this year, the MUI (Indonesia Ulemas Council) declared that the Ahmadi sect was "deviant". On Thursday January 3, 2008 a group claiming to represent 50 Islamic organizations petitioned the attorney-general of Indonesia, demanding that the Ahmadiyyah be abolished. The two main national Muslim groups, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, apparently also supported the motion. These have respectively 40 million and 30 million members. The Indonesian Muslim Brotherhood (GPMI) sent Ahmad Sumargono as a delegate.

On Sunday April 20 this year, thousands of Muslims marched in Jakarta, demanding that the Ahmadiyah sect be banned. A statement read: "We call on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to immediately issue a presidential decree disbanding the Ahmadiyyah organization, confiscate its assets and demand its members and followers to disband and return to the true teachings of Islam."

Instead of demanding that such calls to ban any religious group were in contravention of the terms expressed in the constitution, the President did nothing. A few days before the April 20 march, a government-sponsored committee had agreed that the Ahmadiyah were "deviant" and recommended that the group be officially abolished. The decision was approved by the attorney-general's office.

A month later, the minister repeated his comments on April 17. A group calling itself National Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Faith (AKKBB) demanded that Maftuh Basyuni within a week or face legal consequences. The minister ignored the deadline. Basyuni was educated in Saudi Arabia and appears to share that nation's contempt for "deviant" forms of Islam.

A complaint was registered with the police against Maftuh Basyuni for "insulting and slandering... the members of the Ahmadiyah community," but no action appears to have been taken against him. Basyuni remains employed as Religious Affairs Minister in Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government.

The Religious Affairs Minister's comments against the Ahmadiyah had come at a particularly sensitive time. In February 2006, a month before, a community of Ahmadis had been physically attacked on the island of Lombok, adjoining Bali. Almost 200 Ahmadis had been forced to live as refugees. One said of the minister's comments: "It's ridiculous to suggest that we form a new religion. We are Muslims who pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, and believe in the same Quran." 187 Ahmadi refugees later discussed claiming asylum in Australia.

This year, the Indonesian government has allowed the resentments between orthodox Muslims and those they deem to be heretical to reach dangerously tense levels.

On the morning of April 28 this year, a mob of 300 individuals attacked an Ahmadi mosque in Sukabumi district in West Java. The mosque was burned to the ground. Three days earlier, a group of Muslim activists had grouped outside the mosque demanding it remove any mention of Islam from its sign board.

On the afternoon of Sunday June 1, 2008, the National Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Faith (AKKBB) held a rally in Jakarta to support the right of the Ahmadiyah sect to exist, free from persecution. The date was significant - as it was a national holiday called Pancasila Day.

"Pancasila", the principle of the constitution, means literally "five principles", which are these:

  1) Belief in 1 supreme God

  2) A just and civilized humanity

  3) Nationalism, the unity of Indonesia

  4) Democracy guided by the wisdom of unanimity arising from discussion (musjawarah) and mutual assistance (gotong royong)

  5) Social justice, the equality of political rights and the rights of citizenship, as well as social and cultural equality

The Front Pembela Islam were also holding a rally on the same day, to protest against fuel price rises. The two groups met at Monas Square, where the National Monument is situated. Here the FPI launched an attack upon the members of the National Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Faith using bamboo sticks. Seventy people were injured, with seven of these seriously wounded. Witnesses claimed that members of the FPI had shouted: "If you are defending Ahmadiyya, you must be killed."

On the following day President Yudhoyono awoke from his political torpor to condemn the attacks made by the Front Pembela Islam. There were calls from inside the country and abroad for the FPI to be abolished.

Habib Rizieq Shihab had no remorse about the incident at Monas Square. He appeared before reporters and openly told his followers on June 2 to prepare for war. He said: "I have ordered all members of the Islamic Force to prepare for war against the Ahmadiyah (sect) and their supporters. We will never accept the arrest of a single member of our force before the government disbands Ahmadiyah. We will fight until our last drop of blood." He added: "We will not accept Islam to be defiled by anyone. I prefer to be in prison or even be killed than accepting Islam to be defiled."

On Wednesday last week 58 members of the Front Pembela Islam were arrested from their headquarters in Central Jakarta. Habib Rizieq Shihab accompanied the arrested individuals as they were taken to a police station. There, he too was arrested. One individual among FPI's leadership called Munarman is still on the run.

The Indonesian police have finally acted to put a stop to the FPI, a group that has been openly practicing violence and intimidation. The actions come too little and too late. The current government has vacillated while extremists have eroded people's basic rights and freedoms, and now the country is in danger of succumbing to violence.

In Part Two I will show how the Indonesian authorities have colluded with violent forces, rather than confront them head-on. In some instances, it appears that the government and the military has encouraged a climate of tension and potential conflict.

Adrian Morgan is Westminster Journal's Current Affairs Editor

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