Bali bombing group Jemaah Islamiyah ‘no longer extremist’

Indonesia’s most prominent militant group has declared the disbandment of the network responsible for Southeast Asia’s most deadly attacks in the early 2000s.

Australian Federal Police forensic experts join their Indonesian counterparts in sifting through the rubble of the October 12, 2002, bomb blast scene in Kuta. Picture: AAP

Indonesia’s most prominent militant group Jemaah Islamiyah has renounced its extremist views and declared the disbandment of the network responsible for Southeast Asia’s most deadly attacks in the early 2000s.

In a video recorded on June 30, verified in a report by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, senior JI figures declared the ­dissolution of the organisation known for a string of deadly attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings.

“We declare the disbandment of Al-Jamaah Al-Islamiyah and our return to the embrace of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia,” said Abu Rusdan, one of the 16 JI figures in the video.

In a further move to pursue public recognition, they expressed their commitment to guarantee that the curriculum and teaching materials in JI-affiliated boarding schools would be free from extremism and they would form a team to review it.

JI was founded in 1993 with the goal of establishing an Islamist state in Southeast Asia, with networks to extremist Sunni jihadi organisation Al-Qa’ida.

It claimed responsibility for a number of terror attacks, most notably the Bali bombings on October 12, 2002, which killed 209 people, including 88 Australians, and left about 250 injured.

Institute for International Peace Building executive director Taufik Andrie said the organisation had been evaluating its position for at least 15 years following an internal shift under the leadership of Para Wijayanto. Between 2008 and 2019, he introduced gradual changes that focused more on education and moved away from violence.

“This strategy shift aimed to make the organisation more open and accepted by the public, allowing them to develop da’wah, education, and businesses better, and even involve in political activities,” he told The Australian.

More recent terror attacks in Indonesia, especially those after 2014, have mostly been conducted by ISIS-affiliated Jemaah ­Ansharut Daulah, while the frequency of terrorist acts involving JI members decreased.

Anti-terrorism expert Adhe Bhakti of the Centre for Radicalism and Deradicalisation Studies further argued that even without launching a single attack, JI members were still targeted by anti-terror authorities.

He said since Para Wijayanto was arrested in 2019, at least 200 JI members have been arrested, “not because they were doing these good things but because they were (still) members of an organisation that has been banned and designated as a terrorist entity.”

He argued that by announcing the dissolution of the organisation, the senior leaders rationally admitted that if they continue to use the name Jemaah Islamiyah they will still be targeted for arrest by the police.

“These former JI members will not cease their activities but will continue to do what they’ve been doing in the last 15 years: business, philanthropy, da’wah, education, and politics,” he said.

Whether the decision will be obeyed and implemented by its lower rank members remains to be seen, since the risk of the creation of splinter groups is likely.

“JI splinter groups also have their own challenges, namely those who feel the need to do something in a violent way without being prevented by the leadership elements. Especially since the JI organisation implements a “separate cell” system, making minimal control, allowing attacks from JI members outside of leadership control to occur.”