Word: ji
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...Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) organization, which has been named as the prime suspect in the attack, is a case in point. The secretive body accused of involvement in scores of terrorist attacks and attempted strikes against Indonesian Christians and Western interests in Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore, has roots that date back to the 1970s. Islamist groups who dreamed of an Islamic state centered in Indonesia - whose 90 percent Muslim population makes it the world's largest Muslim nation - stretching from southern Thailand and Malaysia all the way to the southern islands of the Philippines eventually found their way into...
...putting Indonesia?and particularly Megawati?in this bind is Abubakar Ba'asyir, the Muslim cleric who is allegedly the spiritual and political leader of JI. As TIME reported last week, the U.S. interrogation of Omar al-Faruq, a militant who has confessed to being al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian point man, revealed that he and Ba'asyir had planned to bomb American embassies and consulates in the region the week of the first anniversary of Sept. 11. Despite this and related disclosures that indict him as at least a suspect, Ba'asyir (who has denied these accusations) remains free, openly...
...surprisingly, Ba'asyir's, and JI's, apparent untouchable status has set off alarm bells in Washington. U.S. calls for action against Islamic militants in Indonesia have been ratcheted up in recent weeks. President Bush discussed the issue with Megawati in a Sept. 16 phone call; the next day, the director for Asian affairs of the National Security Council, Karen Brooks, made a quiet two-day visit to Jakarta. While those conversations amounted to polite encouragement, the U.S. has also been using the threat of harsher tactics to bring Megawati into line. Washington is threatening to officially classify JI...
...increases the pressure, the complex of interlocking forces on which Megawati's power depends seems virtually certain to preclude any action on her part. Not even allegations that al-Faruq and Ba'asyir plotted to assassinate Megawati have stirred her. If she takes steps against Ba'asyir and other JI members believed to be at large in Indonesia, she risks alienating the Muslim majority, whose support she desperately needs if she and her party are to be returned to office in the 2004 elections. Says Arbi Sanit, a lecturer in politics at the University of Indonesia: "Every politician in Indonesia...
...asyir). Local authorities say the fresh detentions foiled plans to target a range of facilities in the republic, including the Defense Ministry, Changi International Airport, water pipelines and communications installations. In the Philippines, meanwhile, officials last week apprehended four Indonesians, one of whom they accuse of being linked to JI and helping to plot bomb attacks that killed 15 people and injured nearly 100 in a mall in Mindanao last April...