Ba'asyir Denounces Jihad? A Tactical Shift, Not a Strategic One
By Zachary Abuza
Much is written about Abu Bakar Ba’asyir’s public denouncements of jihad. The first came in a statement to reporters when he was released from prison in mid-June 2006. The most recent one came this weekend in a sermon in a mosque in Kediri, East Java province. According to the Indonesian state news agency, Antara, Ba’asyir urged his followers to go abroad to wage jihad, though without explaining why. “If you want to go on jihad, do not do it here [Indonesia], but in the southern Philippines or even in Iraq.” He reiterated something that he had said in the past, that the Bali bombers were legitimate jihadis, but their jihad was “not at the right time or place.” He concluded by saying, “Therefore I ask [Mujahidin Congress of Indonesia] MMI followers not to imitate them because (their actions) are harmful. They miscalculated.”
Has Ba’asyir, who previously endorsed jihad against the West, embraced Osama bin Laden’s fatwah against America, and who, as the amir of Jemaah Islamiyah could very well have used his authority to stop the annual bombings, really committed himself to non-violence? Ba’asyir did not condemn the actions of the Bali bombers on moral or theological grounds, but on timing. Likewise, he is endorsing violent jihad in places other than Indonesia.
Why not Indonesia? Most likely, Ba’asyir is trying to keep himself out of prison. This was a large public sermon and we know little about what he is saying in private. Though released in June 2006, Indonesia has been under diplomatic pressure for his release and other remissions of JI members. Since then, he has publicly espoused a program of dawah to achieve his goal of establishing an Islamic state. He has also been active in expanding the Mujahidin Congress of Indonesia’s network across the archipelago and enhancing their social services. Like many within JI, there is a feeling that the annual bombings of soft Western targets while still being jihad, has been counter-productive because it has led to harsh crackdowns and arrests of key members. A tactical shift, but not a strategic one.