The offices in Jatipadang, South Jakarta, where counterterror police
arrested seven suspects on Thursday. Local residents say the men
were training to go to Palestine.
A group of men arrested by police in the Jakarta offices of Jamaah Anshoru Tauhid, led by hard-line Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, had claimed they were training to fight in Palestine, neighbors said on Friday.
“On one occasion, many people came to the house but we didn’t know any of them. They practiced pencak silat [traditional martial arts] and when one resident asked, they said they were preparing volunteers for a mission in Palestine,” Jahudin, who lives near the conservative organization’s offices in Jati Padang, South Jakarta, told reporters.
Another resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the group trained mujahideen to go to Palestine and was open to new members, although no locals had been interested. “They told me I could join them if I wanted to,” he said.
Jamaah Anshoru Tauhid has offices nestled on a narrow street in the densely populated suburb of Pejaten Barat. The nondescript two-story, 10-room building stands behind a small house.
One room on the second floor appeared to be a meeting room, the whiteboard on the wall containing schedules for a series of meetings. Bashir was listed at the top of the board as the speaker for the next gathering. Another room served as an office, with computers and bookshelves, and the rest were living quarters.
Senior residents said Bashir made occasional visits to the office, but none of the group members were known to neighbors even though they had been living in the area for about two years.
“I met Bashir several times during prayers at the nearby mosque, and we shook hands once. But none of the house occupants ever joined us in the prayers at that mosque,” said Haji Sayadi, 72. “When Bashir paid a visit, he was always surrounded by many guards — maybe 10 of them.”
Although he often exchanged pleasantries with the occupants of the office, Sayadi said he never talked to them at length. “I don’t even know their names,” he said.
Irfan, 26, who sells drinks and cellphone credit at a shop next door, said the group was distinguished by their clothing.
“The men always wore Muslim robes with trousers cut above the ankle. The women who visited the office always wore burqas,” he said.
“They regularly held gatherings, at least once a week. They often ordered drinks from my shop and allowed me to deliver them to the meeting room, where 30 or 40 people might have been present. But once I left, they would immediately shut the gate.”
Another resident, Muchtar, 68, said the group had sold cheap goats during the Idul Adha Islamic holiday, and on several occasions gave away rice, cooking oil and sugar to the poor.
“They might have attempted to buy our support, but no resident in this neighborhood ever interacted with them or joined their gatherings. But they never disturbed us, never made any noise, so we never had a problem with them,” he said.
Muchtar said the building had been purchased two years ago. Although he had met the owner, he said he had forgotten his name because he never lived in the building, just allowed the group to occupy it. “He is in his 50s, with a thick beard and usually comes here in a BMW,” he said.
Muchtar said there was no gunfire when armed police officers raided the offices late on Thursday to arrest the men.
Bashir founded Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid in September 2008 with the aim of promoting Islamic law.
