Islamic Defenders Front (Front Pembela Islam -FPI) 



Origins

FPI was founded in August 1998 on the Java Island as a radical Islamic pro-Suharto movement. In particular, certain sources report that FPI emerged in the last months of the Suharto-regime with the help of certain members of the military.

Location / Main area of operation

FPI has its stronghold in Jakarta, where it reportedly has committed several armed attacks against bars, nightclubs, brothels and casinos.   Allegedly, FPI’s fighters have also been involved in operations in the province of the North Maluku since January 1999. By late 2001, FPI claimed to have branches in 22 Indonesian provinces.
 


Objectives

FPI’s members often refer to their objectives as being the implementation of the Sharia law within the current Indonesian political institutions and ensuring the country’s unity. Specifically, while the group seeks the strict application of the Sharia, it accepts the current political arrangement in Indonesia. At demonstrations, FPI has also referred to a “communist danger” that needs to be fought.  

 

 

Number of Members


Reportedly, the group counts more than 5,500 members in Jakarta itself. FPI attracts mainly young people. In 2005, FPI was supposed to be the largest radical Muslim group in Indonesia.

 

Type : National

FPI is a national non-state armed group as it operates only in Indonesia.

Conflict Status : Active

Between 1999 and 2000, FPI allegedly committed several attacks on bars, nightclubs, brothels and casinos in Jakarta and other cities accusing them of being “contrary to Islamic values”. However, some press commentators claim that the organization extorted money from the businesses targeted. In June 2000, FPI allegedly also attacked the office of the national Human Rights Commission.
In October 2001, FPI mobilized over 10,000 people for a partly violent demonstration in Jakarta to protest against the U.S. operations in Afghanistan. Specifically, demonstrators requested the suspension of diplomatic relations with the United States. The police in Jakarta dispersed the demonstration and detained the FPI leader Syihab temporarily.
The FPI Central Leadership Council informed in November 2002 that the group suspended its activities and disbanded its militia all over the country stating that they wanted to dissociate from Islamist violence following the attack in Bali.
Nevertheless, FPI was reactivated along the public opposition to the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Allegedly, FPI named “citizens from countries which have joined the allied forces ‘kafir harbi’, an Arabic expression for non-Muslims who can be legally killed.”
Following the Tsunami in 2004, 250 FPI members flew to Aceh. The majority of them were helping to pick up the dead at the coasts; nevertheless, reportedly they also preached that the Tsunami was Allah’s punishment for the impure moral conduct of the population.
 

Structure of the organization

According to a brief prepared by the Parliamentary Library of the Australian Parliament, FPI has a paramilitary wing called Laskar Pembela Islam. Allegedly, FPI has been tacitly helped by the police and the municipality in Jakarta. Other observers go further stating that parts of the Indonesian military were involved in founding FPI, and supported it with military training and weapons. Certain analysts see a confirmation of those ties in the sudden break up of the group after the Bali-attack, when the government ordered to dismantle radical Islamist groups.
 

Leadership

Al-Habib Muhammad Rizieq bin Hussein Syihab: he is of Arab origin and the top leader of FPI. He studied in Riyad, South Arabia. He was arrested on 16 October 2002 and was held on remand charged with “incitement in connection with attacks the group had made on entertainment venues in Jakarta” on 4th October 2002. On 19 November 2003, he was released after a 7-months sentence in the prison of Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta.

Hasri Husan: he is a senior leader of FPI. According to the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, he has criticized aid agencies present after the 2004 Tsunami and has threatened those that stayed after the humanitarian work was ended.

Alwi Usman: he was identified in June 2000 as the group’s deputy operational head.
 

External aid/Third party involvement

FPI has allegedly links with Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI), a coalition that regroups Islamic groups in view of a campaign to introduce the Sharia in Indonesia.

External effects of the NSAG's armed activities

There is no information available on this subject matter.

Funding

FPI is believed to receive financial aid of the Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN), an Islamist political party in Indonesia. Furthermore, FPI is accused of extortion of the businesses they have attacked. A press report cites several analysts going as far as to state that the group’s raids of nightclubs and gambling dens indicate that FPI “works as a militia arm of the police to exact extortion fees.” Certain analysts also state that FPI is financed by parts of the military.
 

Relationship with the international community

As of October 2007, FPI is not included in the lists of terrorist organizations of either the United States or the European Union.

Books

  • Balencie, J-M and A. de la Grange (2005), Les Nouveaux Mondes rebelles (Paris: éditions Michalon).
  • Baud, Jacques (2003), Encyclopédie des terrorismes et violences politiques (Panazol: Lavauzelle).
     

Articles and Chapters

  • Abuza, Zachary (2005), “Education and Radicalization: Jemaah Islamiyah Recruitment in Southeast Asia”, in James J.F. Forest (ed), The Making of a Terrorist (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers), Vol. I, available at link.
  • Aspinall, Edward (2004), “Indonesia,” in Bogdan Szajkowski (ed), Revolutionary and Dissident Movements of the World (London: John Harper Publishing), at 183-190.
  • Ufen, Andreas, “Islam und Politik in Indonesien”, 2 International Politics and Society (2001), available at link.
     

Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations

  • EU Council, Common Position 2006/380/CFSP of 29 May 2006, Official Journal of the European Communities L 144/25, 31 May 2006.

Governmental reports

  • U.S. Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Fact Sheet Office of Counterterrorism, Washington DC, 11 October 2005, available at link.

Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations

  • Bolte, Patrick, Möller, Kay and Rzyttka, Osman, Politischer Islam, Sepraratismus und Terrorismus in Südostasien, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit, SWP-Studie 2003/S, 12 March 2003, available at link.
  • Huber, Martin, Watch Indonesia, Zu den Hintergründen des Terrorismus, Indonesien-Information Nr. 2, 2003, available at link.
  • International Crisis Group, ‘From War on Terror to Plain War’: Comment by Sidney Jones in Le Monde Diplomatique, available at link.

 

Press Information (in chronological order)

  • “Threats to Kill Australians”, Herald Sun, 20 March 2003.
  •  “Iraq Warns US there Will Be: ‘Tears of Blood’; the battle for Iraq”, Newcastle Herald, 20 March 2003, at 1.
  • “Fluthilfe Vorübergehend Geduldet”, Berliner Zeitung, 19 February 2005.
  • “Conflict Hits Indonesia Hard”, The Boston Globe, 9 May 2005, at A1.
     

Interviews

Internet resources

Statements of the armed group

  • Front Pembela Islam’s internet blog, link

Agreements involving armed groups