Abu Bakar Bashir
The Malaysian connection
His Indonesian followers have fled Malaysia and the preacher will no longer be able to find sanctuary there again. Tempo Magazine
Nov 9, 2002

The call to prayer at daybreak was just over at the Al Mukmin Islamic Boarding School in Ngruki, Central Java. In the dark dawn mist, a tall, slender man was seen walking towards a woman at the school compound.

The two talked briefly, then went their separate ways, the man leaving on a black motorcycle. The woman returned to her house.

That morning, like any other morning, the man headed towards the mosque or perhaps to the taklim councils in the surrounding villages. That man, Abu Bakar Bashir (Tempo's spelling is Ba'asyir) did not return to Ngruki until close to 15 years later.

When he took his leave of his wife that early morning on April 1, 1985, Aisah Baraja, his wife, never thought their separation would signal the beginning of her family's eventual move to Malaysia.

Everything was kept in great secrecy. Bashir's group also included:
Mohamad Iqbal bin Abdul Rahman, aka Fikiruddin (or his Abu Jibril),
Agus Sunarto,
Ahmad Fallah,
Rusli Aryus,
Mubin Bustami,
Fajar Sidiq and
Agung Riyadi.

They all fled to Malaysia in support of Al Mukmin's two founders: Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar, who were being threatened with imprisonment for their refusal to accept Pancasila as the sole, state ideology.

"Nobody knew we set off for Malaysia that dawn," said Ustad Wahyudin, Sungkar's son-in-law.

The Bashirs and the Sungkars left behind at Ngruki did not hear from their respective families until a year later, when a courier brought them a letter from Malaysia.

From Ngruki, Bashir's group hopped from one town to another, Semarang, Bandung, Jakarta, Lampung and Medan, before finally setting foot in Malaysia.

From Medan, they took a motor boat with 10 people on board. Until today, detailed information about the escape to Malaysia made by Bashir, some ustad and some students at Ngruki, is still murky.

What has become an open secret is that Bashir and his group went to Malaysia illegally, without proper documents.

In Malaysia they assumed their aliases. Abdullah Sungkar, for example, was better known under his pseudonym of Abdul Halim.

Bashir always introduced himself as Abdus Samad bin Abud. Later, it was found out that the choice of that particular name had a special purpose. Samad was one of Bashir's teachers, while Abud was his father's name.

Then Abu Jibril was also known as Ustad Rahman. The group stopped by at Kuala Pilah, about 250 kilometers southeast of Kuala Lumpur.

In tracking the trail of Bashir and his colleagues in Malaysia TEMPO found out that they were first received by Ustad Hasyim Gani.

According to another version Abdul Wahid Kadungga, the son-in-law of Kahar Muzakar, a former key figure of the Darul Islam movement in South Sulawesi, was the first person who "met" the group in Malaysia.

Ustad Hasyim is very well-known in this area. To local residents, this ustad has good manners and a noble character. Hasyim welcomed Bashir and his group as fellow Muslims, and opened up his home to them.

Sungkar and Bashir could not refuse the offer. They were running out of money and had with them only a few pieces of clothing. The host let them use one of his houses as their temporary lodging.

This plywood house, where Sungkar and Bashir stayed when they first came to Kuala Pilah, still stands intact.

A local resident, who witnessed the arrival of those visitors from Ngruki a long time ago, pointed to a red-painted small house measuring 20 meters by 30 meters, when TEMPO recently visited Hasyim in his house.

The guests from Ngruki stayed there for a year. Locals did not hear any rows, complaints or protracted polemics between Hasyim and his guests.

In fact, Bashir and his Al Mukmin group seemed to have taken the opportunity to gain knowledge from their host. They learned how to understand the Qur'an not only as a text but also in practical terms.

During discussions, the two founders of Al Mukmin showed no arrogance. "They were quiet and asked Hasyim many questions," said the TEMPO source.

Bashir and Sungkar had good prospects as Muslim preachers at Kuala Pilah. When they became (financially) self-sufficient, they rented a white house on stilts in Pelangai, Negri Sembilan.

This building, surrounded by an arched wall and a wire fence, looks well maintained. Tun Leman, a descendant of the owner of the house did not know exactly how much the house was rented for to the group from Java.

The occupants were a male with a checked turban and a woman with a veil covering her face.

In Pelangai, Abu Jibril seems to have left the group and stayed in Johor Baru. Agung Riyadi finally rented a house of his own in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur, quite far from his ustad.

Later, Bashir and Sungkar stayed in different houses. Sungkar, his wife said, had rented a house in the Simpang Durian area.

Bashir, meanwhile, moved to Simpang Pertang.

In short, while in Malaysia, these ustad and their students moved house often.

Sungkar himself bought his own house in Simpang Durian in 1994. He died of a heart attack three years ago.

Bashir himself, prior to his return to Indonesia, was once a neighbour of Abu Jibril in Kampung Sungai Manggis.

What did Bashir actually do in Malaysia? He told TEMPO he preached Islam and lectured on Islam in the mosques and set up As-Sunnah, a community of Muslims.

Selling perfume

Apart from preaching Islam, Bashir and his wife sold perfume and caraway seeds to make ends meet.

Meanwhile, Ustad Wahyuddin, in his notes made in Malaysia, said that during their time in Negri Sembilan and Kampung Manggis, Bashir and Sungkar did not set up a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) or a mosque.

They were only active in forming Qur'an reading groups and attended such groups when invited. They did this not only in Malaysia but also in Singapore.

Bashir was an effective preacher. The Malaysian government gave him a red identity card, a permit for him to give sermons as a freelance Islamic preacher.

Once a month he preached at the Grand Mosque in Kuala Lumpur and often received an invitation to preach before the Malaysian Special Forces.

Later, however, when political changes took place in the country, Bashir's fate changed.

This happened following the number of seats the (ruling party) United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) failed to gain in the general election, when it had to compete with the All-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) in Kelantan and Penang.

Since then, the Malaysian government intensified their raids and arrests of Islamic activists. They were charged with violation of the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Head of PAS international relations bureau Dr. Syed Azman, noted that prior to the September 11, 2002, tragedy, the government had launched this operation to cut off popular support for PAS.

Anti-terror crackdown

However, in the aftermath of the New York tragedy, more such operations were conducted under the pretext of arresting members of Al Qaeda or the Taleban seeking refuge in Malaysia.

Some of the Ngruki group were affected by this new development, among them was Abu Jibril. He has been jailed in Kemunting penitentiary since June last year.

His wife, Fatimah Zahra has been charged with a no less serious crime of propagating jihad (holy war) and syahid martyrdom in the cause of Islam.

She was also accused of urging the Islamic community to topple the Malaysian government and build Daulah Islamiyah Nusantara, the Islamic State of Nusantara.

Malaysian police charged Abu Jibril with developing ideas for the establishment of an Islamic state, with Bashir's support.

The two have also been accused of setting up the Malaysian Mujahidin Council (KMM) to realise their objective of establishing an Islamic state.

Later KMM was interpreted as Malaysia's Militant Group. Bashir spared no time in refuting accusations that he was one of the KMM's key figures, as claimed by Malaysian State Police chief, Tan Sri Norian Mai.

"I know Hambali"

"The charge is untrue," Bashir said. Ustad Hambali, whom the Malaysian authorities are pursuing on suspicion of being a terrorism mastermind, is regarded as Bashir's right-hand man.

"I know him [Hambali] as a fellow Muslim and a businessman," Bashir said. Malaysian intelligence has long been monitoring the close relationship between Bashir and Hambali.

They have even described Bashir as the top leader of Jamaah Islamiah. In this organisation's structure, Hambali is the deputy to Bashir.

Another person is Mantiqi Ula, the ideology chief. PAS president, Abdul Hadi bin Haji Awang did not deny that charges of conspiracy slapped on KMM, or later referred to as Jamaah Islamiah, were closely linked with changes in Malaysia's internal politics.

Abdul Hadi, also the Chief Minister of Terengganu, said he was familiar with the names Bashir and Sungkar from media reports about them. More denials about Jamaah Islamiah are emerging.

Abdul Hadi, also chairman of the opposition party in the Malaysian parliament, denied that Jamaah Islamiah can be found in his state of Terengganu.

"It's just a provocation to block the revival of Islam," he noted. In all his political activities in Malaysia, Abdul Hadi has met with many Islamic activists but claims he has never heard about Jamaah Islamiah.

A TEMPO source in Malaysian governmental circles said that Abdul Hadi could be right. If Bashir, Sungkar and Hambali had set up KMM or Jamaah Islamiah, the authorities would have taken action against them much earlier.

Also, Malaysia's Ministry of Religious Affairs must have distributed a circular if this organisation were banned.

However, pressure from the opposition has not lessened the government's pursuit of Jamaah Islamiah suspects. As many as 69 Islamic activists have now been imprisoned in Malaysia.

The number of those arrested may become bigger with Malaysia's intelligence service still chasing Hambali, Azhari Hussein, Zulkifli Marzuki, Nurdin M. Top, Abdul Razaq bin Abdul Hafid and Syamsul Husein, all charged with involvement in Jamaah Islamiah.

Bashir's men flee Malaysia

This policy has scared a number of Indonesian Muslim residents in Malaysia and has forced them to leave the country.

In the Simpang Durian area of Negri Sembilan, the number of Indonesians living there has been greatly reduced.

Those who have returned home are mostly former participants in the Qur'an reading activities established and led by Sungkar and Bashir. Only rubber tree tappers still have the courage to stay in this Malaysian state.

So, there would be no welcome for Bashir if he exiles himself again to Negri Sembilan, where 17 years ago, he rebuilt his career and his reputation as a Muslim preacher, and where he won over many converts.
Tempo