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Ladin who was killed by the Saudi authorities in 2003. Some of the Arafah Group
publications have introductions by Abu Bakar Ba’asyir.
A second JI publisher is the Al-Qowam group, which was founded in 1999 and is
led by JI activist Hawin Murtadlo who graduated from Ngruki in 1991. Al-
Qowam publications focus on Salafi piety rather than politics or related jihadi
matters and as a result it enjoys a good reputation in non-jihadi, Salafi circles.
This is an important consideration because it remains the case in Indonesia as elsewhere
that many Salafists are opposed to Jihadi terrorism. 32
The third major publishing group associated directly with JI is the Al Aqwam
Group, which is led by Bambang Sukirno. Sukirno achieved early commercial
success with the publication in September 2004 of Imam Samudra’s curiously
titled Aku Melawan Terroris (I Fight Terrorists), in which the convicted JI terrorist
justifies his role in the 2002 Bali bombing. Sukirno also publishes the popular
jihadi monthly magazine an-Najah and, in 2005, he published Abu Muhammad
al-Maqdisi’s polemical Saudi in the Eyes of an al-Qaeda member and Saudi dissident
Safar al-Wawali’s Awaiting the Death of Israel.
Conclusion
Several leading JI figures have begun to make their mark as jihadi authors. One
of the first significant books written by a JI activist is Samudra’s Aku Melawan
Terroris which has sold more than 12,000 copies—making it a best seller in
Indonesian publishing terms. More recently, Mukhlas, with the assistance of the
Muslim Lawyers Team (TPM) has produced his first book. Nevertheless, as was
noted at the outset of this chapter, Indonesia, which leads the world in
progressive Islamic thought, has yet to produce significant, original, jihadi
intellectuals. Rather, Indonesia’s particular genius in this area is the way in
which diverse schools of thought, such as those associated with the Muslim
Brotherhood, with the ideas of Maududi and of India’s Deobandi movement,
and ideas associated with Saudi Salafism/Wahhabism, which in the Middle East
are pitched against each other despite their broad Salafi doctrinal common world
view, are brought together in a constructive synthesis.
There remains limited support in Indonesia for al-Qa’ida’s brand of jihadist
violence, although even this is more substantial than expected. There is
remarkably broad support for the sort of issues being championed by Abu Bakar
32
This matter is treated at length in: ICG, “Indonesia Backgrounder: Why Salafism and Terrorism
Mostly Don't Mix” ”, Asia Report N°83 (13 September 2004).
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