Military

DATE=12/11/02

TYPE=CORRRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDONESIA J-I REPORT

NUMBER=2-297341

BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN

DATELINE=JAKARTA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT=

INTRO: A new report suggests that the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah may be spread through Southeast Asia more extensively than previously thought. The report also says that while the militants used to target Christians in Indonesia, the October 12th bombing in Bali suggests that Westerners may be their new targets. Patricia Nunan has more from Jakarta.

TEXT: The International Crisis Group says it is more convinced that Jemaah Islamiyah, or J-I, has an extensive network in Indonesia.

Sidney Jones is a researcher with the I-C-G's Jakarta office.

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I think the center of it is still in Malaysia - and I think the top leaders, to the extent that there is a leadership, I think that's in Malaysia as well. But I think there is more of an organization, more of a structure than I was willing to believe about two months ago.

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Ms. Jones says that is partly because of her examination of past bombings in Indonesia - especially several attacks on Christmas Eve 2000. At least 19 people died in attacks at several Christian churches. She says the bombings were the work of J-I.

Previously, authorities thought the bombings were the work of Muslim groups attacking Christians because of the years of communal conflict in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi and Maluku provinces.

The I-C-G released its findings Wednesday in a new report.

J-I has roots in Malaysia - where many Indonesian Islamic leaders fled to avoid persecution by the government of former President Suharto.

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Ms. Jones says that when many of the exiles returned to Indonesia after the Suharto government fell in 1998, Indonesia's own religious fighting fueled their extremism.

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The Ambon conflict in Maluku and the Poso conflict in Sulawesi also served to heighten the determination to defend the faithful against onslaughts by the West and by Christians.

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Washington says J-I is a terrorist group linked to the al-Qaida network. The United Nations and the European Union have put the group on their lists of terrorist organizations. Singapore and Malaysia say they have foiled J-I plots to attack Western embassies and other targets in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia has been less certain about the group's presence. Some officials say it exists in the country and others insist it does not.

Since the October 12th bomb attack in Bali, Ms. Jones says it appears J-I has shifted from attacking Indonesian Christians to targeting Westerners. Nearly 200 people died when two bombs rocked a crowded Bali tourist district on October 12th. Most of the victims were foreign tourists.

Indonesian authorities have arrested a number of suspects in the Bali blast they say are linked to J-I. But they have yet to officially declare the incident a J-I plot.

Ms. Jones says J-I may be shifting its aims partly because of the U-S-led war on terror. She says many hard-line Muslims fear the West "has an agenda" to get rid of Islam. (Signed)

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