This month, Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry published a report on the activities of JI in the country. Much of the report outlines how militant Islamic groups across southeast Asia have co-operated and shared personnel, funds, and training facilities in furtherance of their Jihad. It also provides evidence of the presence of Al-Qaeda in the region and its efforts to use organisations such as the JI as sock puppets proxy groups to strike at Western interests. The report alleges that of the groups active in the region it is JI which enjoys the closest relations with Al-Qaeda.
| We guessed that. The others are small potatoes, tools to be used by the Übermullahs... |
Through a network of ’sleeper’ agents and handlers operating under false identities, Al-Qaeda is able to provide material support to these groups and, at least in the case of the JI, to exert some influence over their choice of targeting. Such links are mutually advantageous — local groups receive funds and training, while Al-Qaeda effectively acquires a ready-made network of terrorist cells, thus negating the requirement to build such a network from scratch. The JI’s ultimate strategic objective is to use terrorism to bring about the creation of an Islamic Caliphate across southeast Asia.
| I'm surprised at the number of people I meet who don't believe in the jewelled turban objective. They're convinced I'm making it up... |
According to the report, JI believed it could first engineer the overthrow of the Singapore and Malaysian governments by mounting a series of terrorist strikes against targets in Singapore. The attacks would be represented as acts of aggression by the Malaysian government. The JI hoped that the result would be an erosion of trust between the two governments, a ’Muslim Malaysia’ and a ’Chinese Singapore’, and eventual ethnic strife. At this point, it was reasoned that Muslims in both countries would respond to calls for a Jihad, which would ultimately bring down both administrations.
| Uhhh... That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense. Who thought that up? Rube Goldberg? |
Of particular note are findings on the JI methods of recruitment and indoctrination. Potential candidates were first identified through religious study groups, where they would be introduced to discussion of Jihad and the world-wide plight of Muslim populations. Students demonstrating a particular interest in Jihadi theology were then engaged specifically over a period of around 18 months, and made to feel a sense of exclusivity by their recruiters.
| Those would be the funnel organizations, hoovering up the little lost souls, the simple, the rustic, the easily led... |
Certain students were selected as JI members and gradually subjected to well-documented techniques of escalating commitment. They were first taught that anyone who left the group was an infidel, and that all Muslims who did not subscribe to Jihad were also infidels - a dogmatism designed to convince group members that even the killing of innocent Muslims was justified.
Members were then required to take an oath called the Baiah, pledging allegiance to the group’s emir, or leader. This was often followed by a form of ’psychological contracting’ in which, following their attendance at a particularly fiery sermon, group members would be asked to fill in forms indicating their choice of responsibilities, up to and including martyrdom. Having signed these contracts, members were not permitted to reverse their decision. According to the report, this proved a most effective technique - while some members admitted to having had ’cold feet’ about certain operations, they felt they could not withdraw because they were already ’in too deep’. |