6 - Mapping Radical Islam: A Study of the Proliferation of Radical Islam in Solo, Central Java

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Solo is a unique city. Previously known as the centre of the great Islamic Mataram Kingdom, Solo is also well known as the heartland of Javanese culture, a culture into which Islam has been mixed. The people of Solo are famous for their distinctive behaviour, graciousness and refined manners, besides their gorgeous batiks. These characteristics also permeate their language, which is the most highly evolved Javanese in Java. On the other hand, since the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Solo has become a place where various Islamic radicals have flourished. In the middle of the New Order period, some of the leaders of the Pondok Pesantren Al-Mukmin in Ngruki opposed the government and openly expressed their desire to establish an Islamic state. Their involvement in the Usrah movement in the 1980s forced Abdullah Sungkar and Abu Bakar Ba'asyir to flee to Malaysia. Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's involvement in the establishment of Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) in 2000 signified the re-emergence of Darul Islam's power in Indonesia in general, and in Yogyakarta and Solo in particular. More recently, the issue of Pondok Ngruki resurfaced with the school's alleged connections to radical Islamic violence, including the Bali bombings. The International Crisis Group (ICG) first introduced the term the “Ngruki Network” as the “group” most responsible for acts of radical violence since the beginning of the twenty-first century. In its further development, the network has become notorious as Jama'ah Islamiyah (JI), one of the factions of S.M. Kartosuwiryo's Darul Islam, which allegedly acts as the link to Al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia.

Solo became notorious for the “sweeping” of hotels and bars by vigilante groups targeting Americans and other Western aliens. Although the Front Pemuda Islam Surakarta (FPIS) has been at the forefront of such activities, it is not the only vigilante group in Solo. The decline of the Soeharto regime in 1998 was marked by the emergence of vigilante groups who tried to participate in social and political issues, either locally or nationally.