08 August 2006
A hard-line Indonesian Islamic group is reportedly planning to open a register for volunteers to fight against Israel in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Leaders of the Indonesian Mujahedin Council (MMI), led by radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir who has served a jail sentence over his role in the 2002 Bali bombing, already had 500 members willing to go and is to open registration in Jakarta now, according to deputy MMI chairman Irfan Suryahadi Awwas quoted by the news agency "Agence France Presse" (AFP). But national police deputy spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said any would-be fighters from Indonesia would not be going anywhere. "We can and will prevent them from leaving," he told AFP. "Their departure for the Middle East would be a violation of our state constitution, which says that Indonesia should pro-actively contribute to world peace. Another militant group, the Front for the Defenders of Islam (FPI), meanwhile planned to send five fighters to the Middle East through Malaysia on Wednesday, the "Koran Tempo" daily newspaper reports. It quoted a coordinator for the operation, Abdul Muthalib, as saying they would be the first of 50 to be sent.
