Indonesian Islamists recruiting volunteers for Rohingya jihad

Indonesia’s Islamic Defenders Front has called for volunteers to wage jihad in Myanmar in defence of Rohingya.

A protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta yesterday.

Indonesia’s extremist Islamic ­Defenders Front (FPI) has called for volunteers to wage jihad in Buddhist-majority Myanmar in defence of its Muslim Rohingya population, raising fears the latest outbreak of violence has become a lightning rod for foreign Islamic militants.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday called for an immediate end to the latest ­violence against Rohingya and sent Foreign Minister Retno ­Marsudi to discuss the matter with Myanmar’s State Counsellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Real action is needed, not just statements and condemnations. The government is committed to helping the humanitarian crisis, in synergy with Indonesian civil ­society organisations and the inter­national community,” Mr Joko said.

Anger in Indonesia at the ­persecution of Rohingya has sparked several days of protests outside the now-heavily guarded Myanmar embassy in Jakarta. Early on Sunday a petrol bomb was thrown at the embassy.

FPI spokesman Slamet Maarif said yesterday the group had not yet decided whether it would send volunteers to Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State, where military operations have forced almost 90,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, or simply raise funds for the cause but that all recruits must be “willing to die for their religion”.

“We want to help in any way we can. We are even prepared to wage jihad there if need be. That is why one of the main requirements for our recruits is the willingness to die as a martyr,” he said.

“Muslims are being slaughtered there. Our volunteers will be facing armed military officers and civilians there. That is why we want young men who are willing to die for their religion.”

Matthew Smith from human rights monitor Fortify Rights said it was no surprise extremist groups were now recruiting for jihad in Myanmar.

“This has been a concern for a very long time,” he said.

“The (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) militants have said they are not associated with ­extremists but that in no way prevents extremists from getting ­involved in the situation.”

Mr Smith said there was also a “high risk” the violence, currently restricted to Rakhine’s three most northern townships, could spread to other areas of the state.

A day before the latest outbreak, an independent report headed by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan warned Myanmar risked fuelling “extremism” if it did not lift restrictions on the movement and citizenship for its Rohingya minority. The latest clashes began on August 25 with co-ordinated attacks by ARSA militants on up to 30 state security posts, sparking a heavy-handed response from the military.

The military has since been ­accused of razing Rohingya villages, shooting at fleeing civilians — including children — and standing by as Buddhist villagers attack their Muslim neighbours with knives and machetes.

The accounts carried out of Myanmar via a caravan of ­Rohingya refugees are strikingly similar to those of late last year, when the military launched “clearance operations” on Muslim villages in the hunt for ARSA militants responsible for an October 9 attack on security posts. In this latest round of violence a least 400 people have been killed and about 100,000 displaced, including more than 11,000 non-Muslims evacuated by security forces to towns further south.

Following weekend appeals from the UN and world leaders for Myanmar authorities to show ­restraint in their dealings with ­Rohingya civilians, Ms Suu Kyi’s office said yesterday security forces were now distributing aid to Muslim villages in Rakhine “who would like to stay peacefully, thereby attempting to expose ARSA extremist terrorists”.

A statement on Ms Suu Kyi’s official website reiterated claims that ARSA militants were responsible for the torching of 2625 houses in 32 villages. Many Rohingya refugees have blamed security forces for the arson.

It also reported 14 non-Muslim civilians had been murdered by the militants.

It made no mention of ­Rohingya casualties or the numbers of Rohingya forced to flee the violence in the other direction — across the border to Bangladesh.