Surabaya – Suicide bombings at two Jakarta hotels on Friday had nothing to do with Jemaah Islamiyah, a member of the Muslim Lawyers Team said on Monday.
"Please, don't link the bombing attacks to the Jemaah Islamiyah organization," Fahmi Bachmid said.
Bachmid, who served as a lawyer for Amrozi, one of the three men executed last year for the 2002 Bali bombings, said the police should not rush to link the bombings to an Islamic group or network. "No religion in the world, Islam in particular, teaches violence," he said.
He declined to comment on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's statement that the bombings may have been linked to this month's presidential election. "I am not willing to comment on that because I am not a politician," he said.
Bachmid asked that everyone wait for the police to finish their investigation into the attacks before coming to any conclusions.
"Let's allow the police to work first. Before the definite results of their investigation are known, all parties should refrain from speculating on the perpetrators of the bombings," he said.
Meanwhile, the Tarbiyah Islamiyah Organization also sought to distance religion from Friday's bombings. "Islam does not adopt terror such as bombings," said Basri Bermanda, chairman of the group's central executive board.
He said terrorist acts violated the tenets of Islam, but they could be carried out by groups misusing the label of Islam or by non-Muslims who wanted to tarnish the image of Islam.
Basri also said that Islam was not identifiable with violence. "Islam teaches peace and goodness," he said. He added that anyone who linked Islam with terrorism did not understand the religion.
Adnan Harahap, a member of the organization's central board, said most Muslims in Indonesia belonged to the "Ahlussunnah wal Jamaah" group, which practices the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. "Even though most Indonesians are Muslims, they do not adopt extremist attitudes," he said.
Adnan said that Islamic symbols were frequently abused by parties seeking to serve their own interests, in violation of the religion's teachings.
Abu Bakar Bashir, the former chairman of the Indonesian Mujaeedeen Council (MMI) and a Muslim cleric who in the past has been linked to Jemaah Islamiyah as its alleged spiritual leader, also called Friday's bombers "enemies of Islam." "Those who did the bombings have caused Muslims to become scapegoats for terrorist acts," he said.
Another Muslim organization, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, was also at pains over the weekend to condemn the bombings.
HTI spokesman Muhammad Ismail Yusanto said, "Islam firmly forbids the killing of people for no reason, destroying personal property and public facilities, much more so if such acts claim lives and cause widespread fear."
He called on the police and mass media outlets to be cautious in linking the bombings to an Islamic movement, group or organization. "It is possible that certain parties masterminded the bombings to create chaos and instability to achieve certain political aims," he said.