WEST JAVA -- GOI CRACKS DOWN ON ISLAMIST GROUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 000979 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, S/CT,DS/IP NSC FOR E. PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2018 TAGS: PGOV PINS KISL PTER ID SUBJECT: WEST JAVA -- GOI CRACKS DOWN ON ISLAMIST GROUP REF: JAKARTA 04 9578 Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b+d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Police in West Java--a province adjacent to Jakarta--on May 12 arrested 35 reported members of the Indonesian Islamic State (NII),an underground Islamist group. Thirteen of the group were charged with subversion. There is no evidence that those arrested have links to terrorism, though their aim was apparently to set up an Islamic state. Little is known about the NII. Islamists have a long history in the West Javan region, including involvement in the failed Darul Islam rebellion of the 1950s-60s. END SUMMARY. ARRESTS IN WEST JAVA ¶2. (C) The GOI has cracked down on an Islamist group, which apparently supported anti-central government activities. On May 12, local police with the assistance of the intelligence section of the GOI's anti-terror unit (Special Detachment 88 or SD-88) in Cihanjuang, Cimahi and Ciwidey, West Java, raided the premises of the underground Indonesian Islamic State (NII) group. All told, the police arrested 35 people, charging 13 of the suspects "with intent to overthrow the government, hostility, fomenting hatred and tarnishing the image of the government, blasphemy, and practicing a religion not recognized by the state," according to media reports. (Note: It is not clear where the blasphemy and religion-related charges arise from; those arrested were apparently Sunni Muslims, the majority religion in Indonesia.) If found guilty, life sentences are possible. ¶3. (C) The size and scope of the group's activities remain unclear, but they seem to have been focused on subversive politics and not terrorism. Indonesian National Police sources confirmed to POLOFF that SD-88 was involved in both intelligence gathering on the group's activities and in the arrests. SD-88 was involved due to its expertise in intelligence gathering and not because the NII group had links to terrorism, sources told us. There are no known connections between NII and terrorism. A STATE WITHIN A STATE? ¶4. (SBU) The group apparently had elaborate plans to set up an Islamic state. In the raid, police found the group's "constitution, territorial ordinance, criminal code, independence proclamation text, bank accounts, and structural organization," according to media reports. Based on the documentation, the group allegedly operated in West Java, and also in West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan, Papua, etc. Evidence collected shows the suspects held positions like "regional governor" to "district chief." Chief Inspector General Susno Duadji told the media, "They have a structural governance, a constitution, ministers, religious leaders, governors, and officials all the way down to the village level." THE SHADOWY WORLD OF THE ISLAMIST ¶5. (C) Little is known about the NII, though the group is not new on the radar screen of Islamist groups. Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group has written about the group, for example. As noted, there is nothing to suggest that the NII and those arrested were involved in terrorism. Islamists have a long history in the West Javan region, however, including involvement in the failed Darul Islam rebellion of the 1950s-60s. This seminal rebellion was crucial to a wide spectrum of Islamists in Indonesia, including the founders and some of the operatives of the terrorist Jemaah Islamiyah group. Via the arrests, it is not clear whether NII and its operatives have been completely rolled up. HEFFERN