Successfully fighting terrorists, but not their ideology

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/02/asia/indo.php

The Indonesian authorities have been, by most accounts, enormously successful in weakening the militant arm of the region's terror network since the 2002 bombings in Bali, jailing or killing most of its top leaders. But it has been less successful fighting the ideology of Jemaah Islamiyah, which spreads within an informal association of mosques, prisons and schools around the country, providing a continuing source of recruitment.

"The most interesting aspect is what the publishing operations reveal about the overlapping networks binding Jemaah Islamiyah together," said Sidney Jones, an analyst with the International Crisis Group in Jakarta.

"This organization is not some Arab import," she said in an interview. "It's an extraordinary social organization linked by family, schools, culture, training and now businesses."

There are at least a dozen loosely connected publishers in the Solo area. Although they are separate businesses often in competition with each other, they share editors, designers, printers, translators, distributors and even authors.

Most of the publications are Indonesian translations of Middle Eastern works. And although they all promote jihadi thought, some of the publishers have also printed books that are critical of Qaeda-style terror tactics.

A report by the International Crisis Group earlier this year suggests that the rise of radical publishers could indicate that Jemaah Islamiyah is beginning to wage jihad through the printed page rather than violent acts.

"Some publishers may be playing a more positive than negative role, directing members into above-ground activities and enabling them to promote a jihadi message without engaging in violence," the report says.

But the message, once put into book form, often enters the classroom and Islamic study circles, ultimately helping to recruit young people into Jemaah Islamiyah's ranks, according to the Indonesian authorities.

The government, however, faces a quandary. As a secular government piloting the largest Muslim population in the world, it must balance its campaign to stamp out terrorist activities with its simultaneous effort to nurture a developing democracy and freedom of expression.

Sukirno, like the other publishers in the Solo area, is well aware of the government's concerns and is not worried that his company might be shut down because of the kinds of books he publishes.

"Democracy in Indonesia is thriving, and if the government ever tried to interfere in the publishing industry, well, that would be dangerous," he said. "Interference would just give birth to waves of resistance and undermine democracy.

"Books are a reflection of a civilized nation."

mozzaok wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2009 at 2:59pm:

I think a democratic theocracy is a contradiction in terms. There will always be more benefits for the believers whose patronage after all keeps the theocrats in power and always an implacable groundswell of resentment against them. When the Papal states were forcibly annexed by Italy, the local population cheered the downfall of the clergy.