BRUNEI MONITORS JAMA'AT AL-TABLIGH

S E C R E T BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000629 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR S/CT, DS/IP/EAP, DS/IP/ITA, EAP/MTS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2031 TAGS: ASEC BX PINR PTER SUBJECT: BRUNEI MONITORS JAMA'AT AL-TABLIGH REF: (A) MANILA 1885 (B) JAKARTA 10039 Classified By: Ambassador Emil Skodon, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S) French Ambassador to Brunei told Ambassador that the Government of Brunei's Internal Security Division (ISD) informed the French external intelligence service that it is actively monitoring approximately 400 Bruneian residents who are members of the Islamic missionary organization Jama'at al-Tabligh (JT). ISD passed this information during a recent visit to Bandar Seri Begawan by the French service's liaison officer in the region. ¶2. (S) ISD told the French that it does not necessarily consider JT a terrorist organization nor does it have any evidence that JT members resident in Brunei are planning to engage in terrorist activity. It is, however, concerned about the potential for JT to be infiltrated and used as a cover for terrorism. (Comment: This concern would appear to be well-founded, given ref A report that captured Abu Sayyaf Group adherent Al-Sharie Amiruddin told Philippine interrogators that he had worked with a JT branch in Marawi City to organize his surveillance and recruiting trips to Brunei. End Comment.) ¶3. (S) According to the French Ambassador, ISD initially told the French liaison officer that there were five Bruneian JT members undergoing terrorist training in the southern Philippines. Doubt was later cast on this report, however, when other ISD officers advised that this may have been an unverified extrapolation traceable to reports that five Bruneians were among groups of Indonesian volunteers who earlier this year announced their intention to travel to southern Lebanon to fight Israeli forces (ref B). SKODON