An Arrest in California for Material Support of Terrorism in Southeast Asia

By Zachary Abuza

Today, federal prosecutors in California issued a 16-count indictment against Rahmad Abdhir (aka Sean Kasem), for providing material support fort a terrorist, his brother Zulkiflir Abdhir (aka Zulkifli bin Hir or Marwan). Rahmad was in frequent email contact with Zulkifli, and not only sent him money, but sent him packages of materials, and kept him updated on the news, as well.

Zulkifli Abdhir is one of the most senior members of Jemaah Islamiyah at large. Zulkifli was born in Muar, Johore, Malaysia on 5 January 1966, and later trained in engineering in the United States. Malaysian authorities believed that he was a leader of the Kampulan Mujihidin Malaysia (KMM), though I tend to think that it was a Wakalah of JI. Zulkifli fled Malaysia to Mindanao in the southern Philippines around August 2003 and served as a trainer with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). He is thought to be the senior most JI trainer with the MILF. On 27 March 2007, the United States Government added Malaysian national, Zulkifli bin Hir, to their most wanted terrorists list. At the same time, they upped his rewards for justice bounty to $5 million. On 5 September 2003, the Malaysian government designated Zulkifli on the UN Security Council’s 1267 Committee. A brief profile of Zulkifli can be found here.

The cease-fire between the Philippine Government and the MILF, which had held well in 2004-2005, started to unravel in 2006-07 as the peace process was deadlocked. Zulkilfi was alleged to be behind a number of bombings in Central Mindanao in 2006-07 conducted with a member of the MILF, Abdulbasit Usman, possibly with support by other JI members Dulmatin and Umar Patek, who at that point were in Jolo. On 10 August 2006, Philippine National Police entered an MILF patrolled village in search of Zulkifli provoking a firefight in which two police were killed.

The indictment is interesting in demonstrating the informal support that terrorist receive. We tend to focus on the more formal channels, such as charities or governments. Kinship and social networks matter in Southeast Asia. The second point is that it sheds even more light on the MILF’s continued relationship with JI; which the MILF deny until they are blue in the face. While Zulkifli complained to his brother that the MILF were short of funds and could not always arm him, he said that he was often fighting with them and teaching courses on “sniping.”

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