CBC News Indepth: Indonesia

INDEPTH: INDONESIA
Jemaah Islamiyah
CBC News Online | June 14, 2006

Abu Bakar Bashir points at prosecutor after sentence passed (AP PHOTO)

What is Jemaah Islamiyah?

Jemaah Islamiyah ("Islamic community" in Arabic) is a militant group active in Southeast Asia and dedicated to establishing a Muslim fundamentalist state in the region. The group has been blamed for the Bali bombings in October 2002, the Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta in August 2003, the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in September 2004 and a series of bombings elsewhere in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Following the Bali bombings, the U.S. designated JI a foreign terrorist organization.

Who is in it?

Although the exact size of the organization is unknown, media reports suggest it has 200 members in Malaysia alone. It is active in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and possibly in the Philippines, Australia and Thailand.

About 40 alleged members of JI were convicted in the Bali bombings and more than a dozen in the Marriott bombing.

JI was led by Nurjaman Riduan Ismuddin, also called Hambali, until his capture in Thailand in August 2004. The group's spiritual leader (and, some suspect, operational leader, as well) is Abu Bakar Bashir. Bashir was arrested shortly after the bombings and served 18 months in prison for immigration offences. Bashir was arrested again as he left prison in 2004, this time in connection to the Bali bombings under Indonesia's anti-terror laws but the country's top court later ruled that the law could not be applied retroactively. He served 26 months for conspiracy and was released in June 2006.

Indonesian officials say JI is now led by an Indonesian named Zulkarnaen.

Is JI linked to al-Qaeda?

While it's generally believed that some link exists between the two militant groups, security experts disagree on the extent of that relationship. Some U.S. officials have called JI a subdivision of al-Qaeda while others say the association is looser, and al-Qaeda has only financed some of JI's activities.

How did JI start?

JI has its roots in Darul Islam, a radical conservative movement that advocates the establishment of Muslim Shariah law in Indonesia. Darul originated after colonial rule by the Dutch ended in the late 1940s. The movement was really wiped out after a failed rebellion in the 1950s. Bashir began to advocate Darul Islam in 1969 and was imprisoned during a crackdown on Islamist activism. He escaped to Malaysia in 1985 and began to recruit volunteers under the name Jemaah Islamiyah.

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