INDONESIA'S SHIAS: A SMALL COMMUNITY UNDER SOME

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 002556

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, INR/EAP(ZENZIE),DRL
NSC FOR EPHU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2017
TAGS: PGOV KISL PINS PINR PHUM ID IR
SUBJECT: INDONESIA'S SHIAS: A SMALL COMMUNITY UNDER SOME
PRESSURE

REF: JAKARTA 001919

Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Summary: Indonesia's low-profile Shia community is
believed to be growing, but it is a very small minority in
this Sunni-dominated country. Leaders of the only national
Shia organization say many Shias hide their faith to avoid
discrimination. Violence targeting Shias is rare, but there
have been two incidents reported this year. The broader Shia
community is divided: the vast majority support Indonesian
nationalism, but a much smaller "Qum" group is pro-Iranian
and radical. Over all, Shias are a very small group with
very limited influence on Indonesian policy related to Iran
and its nuclear program. (Septel reviews Indonesian-Iranian
relations.) End Summary.

A Small Minority
================


2. (SBU) Shia Islam has grown in relative terms in Indonesia
since the Iranian Revolution, mostly via conversions (see
below). It is impossible to definitively assess how many
Shia there are because some apparently practice "Taqiyya," a
Shia tactic of concealing their faith to avoid
discrimination. Contacts agree, however, that there are
several million of them in this Sunni-dominated country of
over 200 million Muslims. Current Shia activity is centered
in Jakarta, Bandung (West Java),and Makassar (South
Sulawesi),with smaller groups in East Java, West Sumatra,
and Aceh. Jakarta is also home to the Iran-linked Islamic
Cultural Center (ICC) and a half-dozen well-known Shia
foundations.

Shias United
============


3. (C) The Shia community's national organization is the All
Indonesian Assembly of Alhulbayt Associations (IJABI),which
is led by Jalaluddin Rahmat, Indonesia's most prominent Shia.
(Note: See para 10 for bio details. Also see reftel.)
IJABI has been recognized by the Indonesian government as a
foundation since 2000. Claiming 2.5 million members, IJABI
expressly rejects a political role and says it seeks to end
any and all sectarian violence in Indonesia. Rahmat and his
California Berkeley-educated deputy, Emilia Renita Az,
estimate there are about five million Shia in Indonesia.
While declining to provide names, Rahmat and Az claimed that
many Indonesian politicians and intellectuals are secretly
Shia, including one high-ranking figure serving in the
Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI).


4. (SBU) IJABI has offices in 25 of Indonesia's 33 provinces
and runs 16 schools, including the highly-acclaimed Mutahari
high-school in Jakarta. These schools offer free tuition and
cater to Sunni as well as Shia children. The organization,
through its links to Rahmat and his Jalal Center for the
Enlightenme>Q|QO2QzBtion to having good relations
with mainstream mass-Muslim groups like Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
and Muhammadiyah, she and Rahmat also engage hard-liners such
as the thuggish Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). Rahmat called
FPI and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) co-founder Abu Bakar Bashir
"terrorists." She volunteered that an Iran-trained
Indonesian Shia, Syaid Hussain Al Habsyi, was arrested in the
early 1980s for links to Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar, another
JI figure. Notably, the Iran-linked ICC's web site includes
an interview with FPI leader Habib Riziq Shihab in which he
speaks glowingly of his Shia friends.

Sunni-Shia tension
==================


6. (C) IJABI leaders say that violence against Shias was
unheard of until this year. On January 5, an IJABI branch in

JAKARTA 00002556 002 OF 003


Bondowoso, East Java, came under attack from a conservative
group of NU members egged on by the local chairman of the
Islamic Clerics Council (MUI) and a visiting Saudi cleric,
according to Az. Four of the attackers were arrested, and
within a few months had been tried and convicted.
Nevertheless, in April 2007, police in Madura, East Java,
were forced to intervene to prevent an armed mob from
ransacking the home of a Shia cleric. A few days later,
thousands of protesters in Bangil, East Java, demanded a ban
on Shia organizations, leading NU Chairman Hasyim Muzadi to
call upon Shia to avoid public statements that could upset NU
members.


7. (C) While violence against Shia is apparently a new
development, IJABI leaders say that discrimination is common
and is the primary reason many Shia keep their beliefs to
themselves. (Note: The national MUI in 1984 issued a fatwa
warning Sunni adherents about Shia inroads.) Az claimed that
it was commonly feared that if their religious beliefs were
known, Shia would not receive promotions or be fired from
their positions, especially in more conservative Sunni
districts.

The Shia and NU
===============


8. (C) Contacts assert that Shias are successfully
converting new members, a claim which is difficult to
confirm. The NU appears to be the mass-Muslim group whose
members are most susceptible to Shia inroads, though Az
claims that most recent converts are from Muhammadiyah. NU
has long incorporated many Shia traditions and its kyais
(clerics) hold leadership roles similar to Shia imams.
Rahmat noted that currently there are 200 NU students
studying in Iran and that most of the prominent pro-Shia
ulamas in Indonesia are associated with NU, including Said
Agil Siradj. Nasruddin Umar, the Director General of Islamic
Community Guidance at the Ministry of Religion (himself a
high-ranking NU official),termed Shia "a threat" to NU in a
conversation with poloff in August.

The "Qum" group
===============


9. (C) IJABI paints itself as firmly Indonesian and
committed to democracy, in contrast to what it claims is a
smaller group of Shia more directly influenced by their
leaders' experiences in Iran and which supports a
transnational theocracy. This "Qum" group, unlike IJABI,
views Ayatollah Khomani as a political leader, not just a
spiritual leader. (Note: In 1982, ten Indonesians were
selected to study in Qum, Iran; by 1990 over 50 Indonesians
had graduated from Qum schools; and in 2004 alone, 90
Indonesians were sent to Qum. Nearly all studied at Madrasa
Hujjatiyya or, more recently, Madrasa Imam Khomeini.) IJABI
did not provide many details on the "Qum" group. Though
Rahmat tried to blame this Qum group, about which little is
known, for Y_WnyeQQQQQ2\3Q!QcQ[rQecision-making
regarding Iran does not appear to have been heavily impacted
by its domestic Shia constituents.

Bio-note
========

10. (SBU) Jalaluddin Rahmat: Born in Bandung (1949) to an
NU family, but later joined Muhammadiyah -- attended a
variety of pesantren in West Java, eventually attending a
high school associated with Persatuan Islam (PERSIS) --
undergraduate degree in Communication from Padjajaran
University in Bandung -- M.A. from Iowa State University on
a Fulbright (1981) -- ran into trouble with the Indonesian
military and local branch of MUI in 1985 and left Indonesia
to pursue his studies in Qum -- found his way to Australia
where he received his Phd. from Australian National
University -- in 2003, helped found the Islamic College for
Advanced Studies at Paramadina University, where he still

JAKARTA 00002556 003 OF 003


teaches -- has authored over 45 books on Islam,
communications, and philosophy -- married to Euis Kartini --
speaks Dutch and Arabic in addition to near fluent English.


HUME