A largely residential areas of middle-class urban workers, Pamulang district in South Tangerang, Banten, now struggles to detach itself from being stereotyped as a terrorist hotbed.
Located just 15 kilometers south of Jakarta, Pamulang has seen a string of terrorism-related incidents, which revolve around firebrand cleric Mohammed Iqbal Abdurrahman, widely known as Abu Jibril.
While no conclusive evidence has linked Abu with terrorist activities, law enforcement officials have consistently refused to overlook his role.
On Tuesday, the police killed top terrorist leader Dulmatin and his two bodyguards who were hiding out in a house in Pamulang.
At the same time, the police also stormed a house belonging to local resident Fauzi for allegedly supporting Dulmatin’s activities.
Fauzi, a wealthy paramedic, is a member of Abu’s congregation.
“Fauzi is one of my followers. He was at my morning prayer before police stormed his place,” Abu said
Tuesday. He denied knowing Dulmatin and distanced himself from allegations of involvement in terrorism.
“Islam prohibits any teaching that supports terrorism,” he said.
However, police arrested his son Muhammad Jibril late last year for allegedly funding terrorist attacks on the JW Mariott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the middle of last year.
Muhammad is being indicted at the South Jakarta Court.
Attention on Abu began in the middle of 2005 after a small explosion occurred in front of his house.
The police, who claim the device was similar to those used in sectarian conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi, between 1998 and 2000, raided Abu’s house but no charges were filed against him.
Abu, who runs the arrahmah.com radicalism and jihad movement news portal, leads an exclusive prayer group of middle- and upper-income Pamulang residents.
The group formed five years ago when Abu took over Al-Munawwarah mosque from local residents of the Witanaharja housing complex. Abu moved to Pamulang six years ago.
Abu’s teacher, hardline cleric Abubakar Ba’asyir, regularly preaches at Abu’s prayer meetings, advocating a jihadist movement.
Abu, born in 1957, was a student of the Al-Mukmin boarding school in Ngruki, Central Java, founded by Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leaders Ba’asyir and Abdullah Sungkar. JI has been declared a terrorist group by many Western nations.
In 1985, Abu fled to Malaysia following then president Soeharto’s intense crackdown on Islamic militants and radicals.
According to police, he was recruited in Malaysia to fight in Afghanistan, eventually becoming a trainer there.
Following the Soviet pullout from Afghanistan, Abu spent most of the 1990s in Malaysia helping Ba’asyir and Sungkar develop JI. He was its treasurer along with Hambali, a key JI financier currently held in the US.
Abu returned to Indonesia after Soeharto’s downfall in 1998, and played a role in supporting sectarian conflict in Poso until he was arrested by the Malaysian government, which held him from 2001 and 2004 under the country’s Internal Security Act for promoting radicalism.
Upon his return to Indonesia in 2004, Abu found difficulty staying below the radar until Ba’asyir henchman Sutisna set him up in a safehouse in Pamulang, according to Indonesian Muslim Movement cleric Abdurrahman Assegaf.
“Pamulang has become a hotbed of terrorist activities since Abu settled in the area,” Abdurrahman said.
“We should crack down on people like Abu who promote radicalism and violent approaches to jihad.”
JP/Irma
Police said Pamulang was a meeting point for an alliance of terror cells from Banten, West Java, and Aceh formed by Dulmatin.
The Banten cell includes Adam and Zaki Rahmatullah. Both were recruited by Rois, the cell leader who is now awaiting a death sentence for his role in the Australian Embassy bombing.
The West Java cell includes Sofyan Kasauri, who supplied firearms for terrorists in Aceh. The Aceh cell includes Yudi Zulfahri, who facilitate the alliance into operating in Aceh.
“All evidence suggests Pamulang is the command center for [the terrorists] operations at their Aceh training camp,” Insp. Gen. (ret) Ansyaad Mbai, the antiterror chief at the Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Ministry, said.
“I believe those preaching radicalism and violent jihad in Pamulang should be arrested. They are the root cause of all this evil,” he said, adding that unlike neighboring countries, Indonesia has no internal security laws, allowing extremists to freely spread hatred to gain support for violent action. (rdf)
