Indonesia urged to monitor JI book business
JAKARTA - INDONESIA needs to keep closer tabs on a flourishing publishing network linked to militant group Jemmah Islamiah, which reflects a debate on tactics among Islamic extremists, an International Crisis Group report said.
It said the profitable book business had been growing at a time when Jemmah Islamiah (JI), a regional network blamed for a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia including the 2002 Bali bombings, had been weakened and appeared to be rebuilding.
The increase in publications, which indicate a debate within JI over the desirability of using Al-Qaeda tactics, could be a sign that the organisation was trying to rebuild by focusing on religious outreach and recruitment, the report said on Friday.
'These publishers are disseminating a radical message, but they also may be playing a positive role by channelling JI energies into jihad through the printed word rather than through acts of violence,' said the International Crisis Group's Sidney Jones, a prominent Jakarta-based authority on JI.
Indonesian authorities have scored successes against JI by persuading some members to abandon violence and cooperate, and also through arrests of key members in recent years.
The Indonesian anti-terrorist unit, Detachment 88, was involved in a series of raids last year that authorities say netted the heads of JI and its military wing.
The report said that banning publications, which are often Arabic translations and include titles such as Join the caravan of martyrs or Becoming an infidel without knowing it would be counterproductive, but there was a need for more scrutiny.
As well as being a possible recruiting tool, the report said the publishing web based around the central Java town of Solo illustrated the social network holding JI together and helped explain the ability of JI to rebound from setbacks.
While publishing houses were not owned directly by JI, it said profits from books, which sometimes had huge sales of more than 100,000, were almost certainly ploughed into JI activities.
It also warned that some individuals close to Noordin M Top, a fugitive Malaysian national considered a major figure behind a series of bomb attacks and thought to be heading a more radical breakaway group after the mainstream JI backed away from attacks in Indonesia, may be working as translators for JI publishers.
The report said authorities could increase oversight by enforcing laws requiring publishers to register books and turn over copies to state libraries, as well as paying tax on earnings. It said that JI-linked business could also be prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws, although this was likely to be tricky legally and politically counterproductive.
'It would be far more productive to enforce laws that provide a rationale for monitoring and have the potential to yield a wealth of information.'
The International Crisis Group has estimated JI, which is believed to want to create an Islamic state in South-east Asia and has previously been linked to Al-Qaeda, has about 900 members and labelled it the region's largest jihadist organisation.
Although there has been no major bomb attack since 2005, police say Indonesia still faces a considerable threat from Islamic extremists. -- REUTERS
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