DEFENDERS OF THE FAITHFUL: DEWAN DAKWAH ISLAMIYAH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 JAKARTA 000660

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2012
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KISL PREL SOCI ID
SUBJECT: DEFENDERS OF THE FAITHFUL: DEWAN DAKWAH ISLAMIYAH
INDONESIA (DDII)

REF: A. 06 STATE 181045 (KOMPAK DESIGNATION)

B. 06 JAKARTA 3159 (PORNOGRAPHY BILL)

Classified By: Political Officer Catherine E. Sweet, Reason 1.4(d)


1. (C) Summary. On February 22, we met with the Executive
Board of Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia (DDII),a
historically important hard-line Islamist group whose
charitable wing, KOMPAK, has been linked to Jemaah Islamiyah
(JI). DDII, which has a reputation for being anti-West,
anti-Semitic and pro-conspiracy theory, has been a channel
for Saudi funding and doctrine in Indonesia since the 1950s,
although it generally lacks ties to other international
Islamist groups. According to Chairman Hussein Umar, DDII is
primarily concerned with carrying out dakwah
(proselytization) to Islamize Indonesia, albeit within the
parameters of the constitution. While acknowledging that
KOMPAK's local branch was linked to "activities" in Poso,
Central Sulawesi, Umar asserted that the branch was acting
independently; he said that KOMPAK had since been dissolved
(The Asia Foundation's Islam expert, Robin Bush, and the
International Crisis Group's Sidney Jones dispute this).
Asked about allegations that KOMPAK members had participated
in terrorist training camps in the Philippines, Umar replied
that "we do not know who goes to the Philippines or what they
do, but we did not order it." Umar expressed sympathy for
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's doubts about Muslim involvement in the
2002 Bali bombing, but unequivocally condemned the use of
terror and denounced those Arab religious leaders who condone
suicide bombings (notably Al-Jazeera's Shaykh Qaradawi and
the clerics at Cairo's Al-Azhar University). Umar said that
DDII is concerned with Muslim human rights worldwide,
decrying the lack of "justice" in the Muslim world and
calling the Iraq war a "wound" for Muslims. Finally, Umar
lamented what he sees as an ongoing process of liberalization
and secularization in Indonesia that is "marginalizing
Islam." End Summary.


2. (C) On February 22, we met with the Executive Board of
Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia (DDII),a hard-line Islamist
group whose charitable wing, KOMPAK, has been linked to
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). The visit was largely convivial, with
even the standard tirades about U.S. foreign policy delivered
politely by Chairman Hussein Umar (full participant list in
para 16). The discussion made apparent that Umar and DDII
are avid consumers of the transnational Islamist discourse of
Muslim persecution and victimization at the hands of the
Christian West. However, there was a staleness about their
presentation that suggested DDII's time as a preeminent
Islamist organization has come and gone.

DDII's Objective: Spreading the Word
--------------


3. (C) Chairman Umar, who is recovering from open heart
surgery, told us that DDII is primarily concerned with
carrying out dakwah to Islamize Indonesia. He hastened to
add that this would be done within the parameters of the
constitution, saying that although DDII might have
differences with the government, it did not seek to change
the governmental system. When asked who DDII's target
dakwah audience is, Umar replied that DDII works primarily
within the Muslim community. He denied that DDII tries to
convert individuals who practice other religions, although he
readily admitted that people "without religion" are fair game
(he specificially mentioned communities in Papua, Kalimantan
-- especially the Dayak -- and the Sarawak border area with
Malaysia as areas of real interest).


4. (C) Umar contrasted DDII's activities with what he called
the "aggressive" behavior of Christians toward Muslims in
Indonesia. He claimed that interfaith harmony was being
disrupted because of the lack of a code of ethics governing
proselytization, as well as unclear rules on the
establishment of houses of worship. He told us that in the
mid-1960s, the government convened a group of prominent
religious leaders to discuss intercommunal tensions that had
been brought about by proselytization across faiths.
Specifically, he said, the Muslim community felt that
Christian missionaries were taking over in areas like
Makassar, South Sulawesi. At that meeting, the government
proposed that proselytizing activities be limited to one's
own community: in other words, Christians could only target
other Christians, while Muslims could carry out dakwah only
within the Muslim community. The initiative failed, he
charged, because the Christian representatives would not
agree to the terms. Umar asserted that as a Balinese, he
values diversity, and he boasted about having Christian
friends and even a Christian roommate once (although he

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commented that while he, Umar, prayed several times a day,
the Christian rarely went to church). Umar also reminded us
that under Islamic law, Christians and Jews must be
protected. But, he claimed, without a law restricting
interreligious proselytizing, there will only be chaos. He
further alleged that Christian missionaries have access to
funding that Muslim dakwah organizations like DDII do not,
which necessarily tips the balance in the Christians' favor.

KOMPAK: "We Don't Want to Be Involved in That"
-------------- --


5. (C) We inquired about DDII's charitable activity, and
particularly that of KOMPAK, its charitable wing that was
reportedly closed in 2004 following allegations of
involvement in terrorist finance (ref A and previous). As he
has in previous meetings, Umar again asserted that KOMPAK had
been dissolved. He explained that KOMPAK (an acronym for the
Crisis Management Committee) was founded in 1998 and said it
was one of several DDII units that carried out humanitarian
activity. He acknowledged that while KOMPAK was linked to
"activities" in Poso, Central Sulawesi, he averred that DDII
itself was not implicated. "We do not want to be involved in
that," he stressed. Umar added that although KOMPAK's
national chapter did provide humanitarian assistance to the
strife-torn communities of Poso and Ambon, it was the local
branch of KOMPAK that was causing trouble in Poso. "We did
not even know about it," he claimed.


6. (C) Still, Umar offered up a half-hearted defense of
KOMPAK, pointing out that it had worked with various
prominent international humanitarian organizations on
disaster relief. Asked about allegations that KOMPAK members
had participated in terrorist training camps in the
Philippines, Umar replied that "we do not know who goes to
the Philippines or what they do, but we did not order it."
KOMPAK's Poso branch was totally separate from KOMPAK's
national organization, he claimed, and DDII shut the whole
organization down when the Poso and national chapters were
being conflated. Said Umar, DDII's policies are consistent
with Islam, and are therefore peaceful. (Comment. There
seemed to be a disconnect between the Executive Board and the
membership, not just on KOMPAK but on other issues. Whether
this is a willful disconnect, a refusal to acknowledge that
DDII members are engaged in nefarious activities, or simply a
sign that DDII's leadership does not have control over the
organization, is less clear. End comment.)


7. (C) For their part, both the Asia Foundation's Robin Bush
and the International Crisis Group's (IGC) Sidney Jones
believe that KOMPAK still exists. In particular, Jones said,
KOMPAK's branch in Central Sulawesi is currently active and
implicated in the ongoing sectarian violence there.
Furthermore, according to several ICG reports on
intercommunal violence in Central Sulawesi, there are solid
ties between Mujahidin KOMPAK and Jemaah Islamiya.
Interestingly, Umar disparaged Sidney Jones during our
meeting with him, claiming that she had never spoken to DDII
to get their side of the story. "She would understand if she
came, but she never has," Umar alleged.

Umar Condemns Terrorism and Ulama Who Sanction It
-------------- --------------


8. (C) We asked Umar for his opinion on the terrorist attacks
that have roiled Indonesia over the last six years. Umar
replied that DDI rejects terrorism, especially since the
people targeted in the attacks were innocent. At the same
time, Umar expressed support for Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's
conspiracy theory that non-Indonesians were responsible for
the 2002 Bali bombing. According to this hypothesis, the
explosion was too powerful to have been caused by anything
that convicted bomber Amrozi could have gotten his hands on.
Instead, the theory goes, this "micro-nuclear" or "C-4"
explosion must have been detonated by a professional, since
the inputs for such explosives cannot be found in Indonesia.
Umar alleged that the former director of the Indonesian
intelligence service, who he said was a Christian, has
asserted that the CIA or Mossad was responsible for the
attack. He also expressed concern that unspecified
intelligence services were carrying out operations in
Indonesia to "frame" Muslim hardliners.


9. (C) However, when we pressed him about other terrorist
attacks where Muslims have admitted their culpability (such
as Hasanuddin's confession to masterminding the beheading of
three schoolgirls in Poso, Central Sulawesi),Umar was less
equivocal. "He (Hasanuddin) must be executed," Umar
declared. "Terrorism can never be supported by an

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institution like DDII," Umar continued, because it is
inconsistent with dakwah. Umar then went a step further, and
condemned Arab religious leaders who condone suicide bombings
(notably citing Qatar-based Shaykh Qaradawi, whose Al-Jazeera
program has wide viewership in the Muslim world, and the
clerics at Cairo's Al-Azhar University).

Defender of Muslims' Human Rights
--------------


10. (C) According to Umar, another DDII concern is human
rights and particularly those of Muslims, both within
Indonesia and around the world. He cited the ongoing
conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Thailand and the
southern Philippines as areas of notable concern, and he
referred several times to a lack of "justice" in the Muslim
world. Although he said that DDII does not have political
ambitions, he argued that DDII, as part of the world's
largest Muslim country, could not support any policies that
were inconsistent with the principle of sovereignty and the
will of the people. Umar spoke at some length about the war
in Iraq, repeatedly describing it as a "wound" for Muslims.
In his opinion, while many (Muslim) countries disagree with
U.S. policy, they are not able to express their views.
Nevertheless, he expressed hope that the problems in Iraq
would end soon, and he called on the U.S. to "have a
conscience about this."


11. (C) On the ongoing violence in Poso, Central Sulawesi,
Umar said that it is fundamentally an economic conflict
stemming from the problem of transmigration. He sees the
Muslim community as particularly victimized, and claimed that
Muslim lands that were confiscated and redistributed to
transmigrants have not been returned. "There is still no
justice for them," according to Umar. In his opinion,
dialogue would be more effective than police action in
resolving the dispute. He praised the 2001 Malino Accord as
being "very good," but decried the fact that the government
had not followed through with its pledges to improve everyday
life in the Muslim community.

Indonesia Becoming Too Liberal, Secular
--------------


12. (C) Umar spoke of the vastness of Indonesia's land and
the richness of its natural resources. It is "a paradox," he
lamented, "an enormous country with vast resources, yet
people still queue for rice." Umar suggested that the U.S.
might be better regarded in the eyes of the world if it used
its power for good causes, like eliminating poverty in
Indonesia (we pointed out that counterterrorism assistance is
just a tiny portion of the aid the U.S. provides each year to
Indonesia, while the vast majority is for developmental
assistance). Umar conveyed DDII's interest in upholding
Indonesian society's morals, mentioning the draft
anti-pornography and pornographic actions legislation that
has been hotly debated over the past year (ref B). Indonesia
does not want to be like Holland, he asserted, where drugs,
homosexuality and pornography are legal in accordance with
its "so-called freedom." "There are limits to freedom,"
declared Umar.


13. (C) Umar said that DDII has no problem with the Shi'a
community, which he said is very small in Indonesia, since
their differences are limited to questions of Islamic law.
The group of Muslims with whom DDII does take issue, he
asserted, is the "ultra-liberal" Muslim community. He
condemned what he termed ongoing liberalization and
secularization in Indonesia, a process that he said began in
the 1960s and was "marginalizing Islam." Oddly, Umar placed
blame in large part on the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, a prominent think tank which he
alleged was led by a group of Catholic intellectual
"extremists." (Note. Several of Indonesia's most respected
Muslim scholars are affiliated with CSIS. End note.)

Inheritors of the Maysumi Mantle
--------------


14. (SBU) As the Asia Foundation's Islam expert, Robin Bush,
told us, DDII remains emotionally relevant to Indonesian
political Islam because of its historical linkage to the
Council of Indonesian Muslims, commonly known as Masyumi, an
umbrella organization that the Japanese occupation
authorities forced all Islamist groups to join in 1943.
During Indonesia's independence struggle, Masyumi advocated
on behalf of creating an explicitly Islamic state. After
independence, President Sukarno, who rejected the notion of
applying Islamic law, or sharia, used Masyumi as a

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counterbalance against the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
The party was further weakened when the mass Muslim
organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) broke away in 1952, instead
endorsing Sukarno's vision of a secular Indonesia. Although
Masyumi garnered just 21 percent of the vote in the 1955
elections, Sukarno forcibly dissolved the organization in the
1960s amidst fears of a rising Islamist threat, triggered in
part by the Darul Islam separatist rebellion. Sukarno's
successor, Suharto, was even harsher toward the Islamists
than Sukarno, despite the fact that many Muslims supported
the 1965 coup attempt that eventually brought Suharto to
power.


15. (SBU) In 1967, Mohammad Natsir, one of the most
important figures in Indonesia's revolutionary history,
founded DDII. A former Masyumi chairman and prime minister
from 1950-1951, Natsir established the organization to carry
out dakwah, or proselytization, and charitable activities
after he was effectively banned by Suharto from participating
in politics (Natsir quipped that Suharto considered Islamists
to be like "cats with ringworm"). Many of DDII's founding
hard-line leaders died during the Suharto regime; what
remained of the group fragmented after Suharto fell, with
many opting to join the multitude of new Islamist political
parties like the Crescent Star Party (PBB),the United
Development Party (PPP),National Mandate Party (PAN),and
the Justice Party (PK, which later became the Prosperous
Justice Party, or PKS). Since the 1950s, DDII has been a
channel for Saudi funding in Indonesia, and the organization
tends to follow the Saudis' lead on issues of doctrine. For
example, DDII instructed its followers to observe Idul Adha,
whose date varies according to the lunar calendar, on the day
designated by the Saudi authorities. By contrast,
Indonesia's mainstream Muslim organizations, who used
astronomy and lunar sightings to fix the holiday's start
date, celebrated Idul Adha one day later. For the most part,
DDII has been primarily focused on Indonesia and generally
lacks ties to other international Islamist groups. DDII does
have, however, a reputation for being anti-West, anti-Semitic
and pro-conspiracy theory.

Participants:
--------------


16. (U) Hussein Umar, Chairman
Drs. Mohammad Siddik, Executive Director, DDII National
Zakat Institute
Amlir Saifa, Secretary, DDII
Ma'mun Dawud, Treasurer, DDII National Zakat Institute
Drs. Zahir Khan, Chairman, Yayasan Persaudaraan

H. Hardi Arifin, Treasurer, Yayasan Pendidikan Islam Ibn
Khaldun Bogor
Mas'adi Sulthani, Chairman, DDII Central Board
HEFFERN