Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Jakarta (Agenzia Fides) – In Aceh, the extreme north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, "a new jihad" is making its way into society, in particular a group calling itself "Al Qaeda Indonesia in Aceh.” This is what is affirmed in a new report by the International Crisis Group, entitled "Indonesia: Jihadi Surprise in Aceh," released by the think tank based in Brussels. The report notes the rise of fundamentalism in the province and calls for greater central government control.
"We will keep an eye on things, but we can not confirm the contents of report," Fr. Ignazio Ismartono, Director of "Crisis Center" of the Indonesian Bishops' Conference, tells Fides. Fr. Ismartono, a Jesuit, has been working in Aceh since 2003 and is coordinator of a series of post-tsunami reconstruction programs in the area of social welfare, education, and promotion of economic development projects.
"We're constantly working with hundreds of children and young Muslims in Aceh and we have not found new traces of jihadist fundamentalism. Indeed, given the aid that Western countries, and especially American NGOs, have bestowed in Aceh, and seeing the new face of the city, the local population has developed feelings of gratitude and esteem to the West, much higher than in the past.
Thanks to the post-tsunami aid, with a total value of over $ 6.7 billion, 1,700 schools, 996 public buildings, 36 airports and ports, 3,800 mosques, 363 bridges, and over 20,000 km of roads have been rebuilt. "Now you understand why today the citizens of donor countries are called friends or even brothers," Archbishop Antonius Sinaga, OFM Cap of Medan, the main city of North Sumatra, recently told Fides.
Certainly, in the province of Banda Aceh sharia has been enforced (valid only for the Muslim population) and in rural areas, Fr. Ismartono says, sometimes “there are cases of an application [of the Islamic law] with fundamentalist tendency.” But, overall, Aceh "has been reborn at a social and cultural level and the general mentality is much more open and welcoming than before," said the Jesuit.
However, Fr. Ismartono notes a “rather conflicting relationship between local government and the central government" (physiologic in a plural country such as Indonesia). Furthermore, "oftentimes the experts who prepare these reports reside in Jakarta," while "what is really needed is a closer, more local, look into the reality of Aceh."
Finally, the Jesuit tells Fides of “some existing attempts and political plays in expectation of the visit of Obama (expected in March, then postponed to May), aimed at discrediting Indonesia and painting it as a fundamentalist country.” The nation, although of a large Muslim majority, "is an example of coexistence and pluralism of cultures and faiths, according to the motto of unity in diversity." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 21/04/2010)
