Jemaah Islamiya (JI)
Goals and Objectives. Jemaah Islamiya is a radical Islamic group that aims to create a strict Islamic state in place of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southern Philippine islands, and southern Thailand.
Favored Tactics. Most of Jemaah Islamiya’s attacks have involved bombings of varying degrees of sophistication.

Brief History. The group’s roots trace back to Darul Islam, a violent Islamic group that opposed Dutch rule in Indonesia in the 1940s. After the Dutch left, the movement opposed the new independent government of Sukarno for being too secular. The name Jemaah Islamiya (JI) emerged in the 1970s, during the Suharto era, but it is unclear whether the name referred to an organized group or an informal gathering of anti-government Islamic militants. The co-founders of JI, clerics Abu Bakar Baasyir and Abdullah Sungkar, established a boarding school in Solo, on the main island of Java. Many suspected JI activists have been alumni of that school. In 1985, the two co-founders fled to Malaysia, where they began to send Indonesians and Malaysians to Afghanistan, initially to fight the Soviet occupation and then to train in Al Qaeda camps. Apparently some time in the mid-1990s, Baasyir and Sungkar merged their evolving network into Al Qaeda and began preparing for attacks in Southeast Asia. Bombings in Jakarta, Manila, and Thailand started in 2000. JI is linked to a wave of attacks in December 2000 against Christian churches in Indonesia, for example, and aborted plots to bomb Western embassies in Singapore.

The group is most infamous for the October 12, 2002 suicide bombing of a night club on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed 200 people, many of them young Australian tourists. Abu Bakar Bashir, arrested one week after the Bali bombing, is believed to be the group’s spiritual leader, though he denies it. An Indonesian court convicted Bashir of plotting to overthrow the government, but dropped more serious charges. His four-year jail sentence was later reduced to three years by an appellate court. Riduan bin Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, is reportedly JI’s chief of operations and was arrested in mid-August 2003 in connection with the Bali bombing. The CIA has dubbed Hambali "Asia’s bin Laden."

Other specific evidence of JI’s shared origins with Al Qaeda has come out in the aftermath of the Bali tragedy. During the trial of Bali bomber Ali Gufron (also known as Mukhlas), the defendant claimed that he had fought alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in the Battle of the Lion’s Den (Battle of Jaji), which occurred in 1987 during the war against the Soviet Union. It is known that Osama bin Laden’s recruitment center (Maktab al-Khidmat - see below) provided logistical support for  non-Afghan mujahedin, including Indonesians, during that period; and Mukhlas has testified that he met bin Laden while the Saudi was leading troops at Jaji. Building on Mukhlas’ testimony, further specific research has shown that the senior leadership of JI, including Hambali, camped, trained, and got their education in the Afghan war against the Soviets.

Authorities in the region state that JI has continued to plot attacks against Western targets in Southeast Asia.204 On August 5, 2003, JI militants are suspected of having bombed a J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta killing 14 and wounding 148.

Favored Tactics. Most of Jemaah Islamiya’s attacks have involved bombings of varying degrees of sophistication.

Anti-American Activities. In December 2001, JI was linked to plans to bomb the U.S. embassy and other locations frequented by American businesspeople and military personnel in Singapore. In mid-2002, a captured Al Qaeda operative revealed a joint Al Qaeda/Jemaah Islamiya plot to attack U.S. interests in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Cambodia with car bombs on the anniversary of 9/11. On Aug. 5, 2003, Jemaah Islamiya was linked to a car bombing at a J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 14 and injured 148.

Areas of Operation. JI operates throughout Southeast Asia, although Indonesia has traditionally been its primary area of operation. The group has also operated in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and possibly the Philippines. It may also have a presence in neighboring Southeast Asian countries and in Australia.