Nurdin Hasan & Nurfika Osman – As police continued to hunt armed militants in Aceh, analysts said on Wednesday that they were not surprised the group had chosen to make its base in the province, which they claimed made an inviting target for those wishing to spread terror in the region.
"Aceh not only provides excellent cover [geographically], it was once absolutely conflict-ridden," military analyst Andi Widjajanto told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday, referring to the nearly three-decade-long guerrilla war waged by the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) against Indonesian rule.
A peace deal in 2005, reached after the Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated much of the resource-rich province, brought an end to the conflict.
"The fact that Aceh is near the Malacca Strait also helps," Andi said, "by providing a good gateway to escape and by helping them [terrorists] move about quickly to spread their ideas."
Police earlier said that geographically, Aceh provided excellent cover for the militants. The province's mountainous, forested regions made it difficult for authorities to detect paramilitary training camps set up by the militants.
Teuku Ardiansyah, a security analyst from the Katahati Institute in Aceh, however, said on Wednesday that geographic advantages were not the only attraction for militants.
"The Acehnese will accept anybody who arrives in their villages," Teuku told the Globe. "They are known for that. They tolerate it because, even when GAM was around, there have never been any recorded terrorist activities in Acehnese history, like bombings and what not."
"In addition, these [militant] groups would have been looking for a place where police raids would not be conducted very frequently. Aceh was that place, particularly after the conflict ended," Teuku added.
"Even when Umar Al Faruq [an Al Qaeda operative] arrived in Aceh in 1999 as a representative of Osama bin Laden, he acknowledged that Aceh could never be turned into a base for terrorist activities because the characteristics of the Acehnese were so different."
Members of the armed group being hunted by police, according to terrorism analyst Al Chaidar in North Aceh, were linked to the Darul Islam hard-line movement that sought to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state between 1942 and 1962.
"The implementation of Islamic Shariah law in Aceh was a magnet for militant groups," Al Chaidar said. "They thought they could bring their families here to see how the law was being correctly implemented. But they were disappointed. They found the implementation artificial because they believed in the [ultra-orthodox] Wahabi style."
Established in 1949 by Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosoewirjo in West Java, Darul Islam is a hard-line political movement.
Sekarmadji's execution by the military in the 1960s officially ended the movement, but splinters of Darul Islam continue to exist. The ideology of the group is found within the teachings of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terrorist organization. JI, however, wants to establish a pan-Islamic state in the Asean region, while Darul Islam wants to establish Negara Islam Indonesia, or an Indonesian Islamic state.
Police have so far arrested 21 militants in Aceh, West Java and Jakarta since the first arrests were made on Feb. 22 in Aceh.
They also have killed six suspected militants, including top terrorist suspect Dulmatin, who was gunned down on Tuesday during a police raid on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Brig. Gen. Tito Karnavian, head of anti-terrorism unit Densus 88, said Dulmatin was the mastermind behind the paramilitary camp in Aceh.
Andi said Dulmatin had been far more dangerous than slain terrorists Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Moh Top. Azahari was killed in a police raid in Batu, East Java, in 2005, while Noordin was killed in Solo, Central Java, last year.
"He [Dulmatin] was not just a bomb-maker but provided intensive military training in Mindanao [southern Philippines] since 2003," Andi said. "He then became the JI leader for the Southeast Asian region. His character was far more aggressive than Azahari or Noordin."