barfly
25-03-03, 12:14
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) _ A Muslim group known for
extorting money from nightclubs and bars in Jakarta says it
wants to recruit Indonesians to fight for Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein.
On Tuesday, the Islamic Defenders Front's storefront
office was filled with unemployed youths, pedicab drivers
and students who said they wanted to register as potential
volunteers for the «jihad.»
«I see my Muslim brothers struggling for their lives,»
said Sutarya, a 32-year-old father of three, standing in
front of an Iraqi flag and a poster of Osama bin Laden.
«If I was there, I would cut the throats of the Americans
and British soldiers.»
The militant group _ best-known for demanding protection
money from Jakarta nightspots _ announced Sunday it was
launching a recruiting drive. It claims to have 500
volunteers.
«We have to defend our Muslim brothers,» said Hajj
Tubagus Mohamad Sidik, a leader of the group. «We need
these people to go to the front lines to fight and care for
the injured.»
Critics dismiss this as idle boasting. In 2001, the group
announced plans to send thousands of fighters to join the
Taliban in Afghanistan, but failed to dispatch anyone.
Indonesia's largest Muslim groups have ridiculed
suggestions of sending volunteers to Iraq, but Religious
Affairs Minister Said Agiel Hussein Al-Munawar said he saw
nothing wrong with the idea.
«The government has no right to ban people from
performing jihad, if it is done in the right context,»
Said said, according to The Jakarta Post.
At the Islamic Defenders Front's office, potential
recruits said they were itching to go but organizers said
the logistics could prove insurmountable. The group
acknowledges that most of its recruits lack passports and
it has little money to pay for their flights.
Other expressions of anti-war sentiment in Indonesia _ the
world's largest Muslim nation _ have been in the form of
largely peaceful rallies. On Tuesday, anti-war protests
were again held in several towns, including in Ambon, where
protesters scrawled slogans outside a U.N. office.
The government has been trying to play down local
opposition to the war and has beefed up security around
foreign embassies.
Police on Monday arrested 10 members of the radical
Islamic Youth Movement for trying to force their way into a
Sizzler restaurant in Jakarta to harass foreigners and
protest the war in Iraq.
Dit lijkt me een beetje een moslim mafia of schat ik dat nu helemaal verkeerd in? Ik bedoel, dit kom je meestal in het criminele circuit tegen:
"The militant group _ best-known for demanding protection money from Jakarta nightspots _"
extorting money from nightclubs and bars in Jakarta says it
wants to recruit Indonesians to fight for Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein.
On Tuesday, the Islamic Defenders Front's storefront
office was filled with unemployed youths, pedicab drivers
and students who said they wanted to register as potential
volunteers for the «jihad.»
«I see my Muslim brothers struggling for their lives,»
said Sutarya, a 32-year-old father of three, standing in
front of an Iraqi flag and a poster of Osama bin Laden.
«If I was there, I would cut the throats of the Americans
and British soldiers.»
The militant group _ best-known for demanding protection
money from Jakarta nightspots _ announced Sunday it was
launching a recruiting drive. It claims to have 500
volunteers.
«We have to defend our Muslim brothers,» said Hajj
Tubagus Mohamad Sidik, a leader of the group. «We need
these people to go to the front lines to fight and care for
the injured.»
Critics dismiss this as idle boasting. In 2001, the group
announced plans to send thousands of fighters to join the
Taliban in Afghanistan, but failed to dispatch anyone.
Indonesia's largest Muslim groups have ridiculed
suggestions of sending volunteers to Iraq, but Religious
Affairs Minister Said Agiel Hussein Al-Munawar said he saw
nothing wrong with the idea.
«The government has no right to ban people from
performing jihad, if it is done in the right context,»
Said said, according to The Jakarta Post.
At the Islamic Defenders Front's office, potential
recruits said they were itching to go but organizers said
the logistics could prove insurmountable. The group
acknowledges that most of its recruits lack passports and
it has little money to pay for their flights.
Other expressions of anti-war sentiment in Indonesia _ the
world's largest Muslim nation _ have been in the form of
largely peaceful rallies. On Tuesday, anti-war protests
were again held in several towns, including in Ambon, where
protesters scrawled slogans outside a U.N. office.
The government has been trying to play down local
opposition to the war and has beefed up security around
foreign embassies.
Police on Monday arrested 10 members of the radical
Islamic Youth Movement for trying to force their way into a
Sizzler restaurant in Jakarta to harass foreigners and
protest the war in Iraq.
Dit lijkt me een beetje een moslim mafia of schat ik dat nu helemaal verkeerd in? Ik bedoel, dit kom je meestal in het criminele circuit tegen:
"The militant group _ best-known for demanding protection money from Jakarta nightspots _"