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One in 10 Indonesians back suicide
bombings-survey
By Achmad Sukarsono and Telly Nathalia
JAKARTA, March 16 (Reuters) - Eleven percent
of the people
in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country,
believe
suicide attacks against civilian targets are sometimes
justifiable, a survey said on Thursday.
Though the number is relatively small, analysts
say the
findings of the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) are a
wake-up
call for Indonesian leaders and moderate clerics who fear
a
tiny radical Muslim fringe may be making inroads into the
general public.
Suicide bombings blamed on Islamic militants
have killed
hundreds in recent years in Indonesia, a country whose
population of 220 million population is around 85 percent
Muslim -- most of them following a moderate form of the
religion.
The government has been making an extra effort
to counter
militant Islamic ideas since the discovery of videos last
November showing the last words of suicide bombers who killed
20 people in restaurants on Bali island last year. Authorities
and moderate clerics were shocked that young Indonesians
could
talk so blithely about the horrific bombings.
"Religious radicalism, when it is translated
into violent
methods in the name of religion, has received enough support
--
one in every 10 Muslims in Indonesia," LSI senior researcher
Anies Baswedan said. "It seems small, but this is already
quite
a big support for extreme acts."
The survey, based on 1,200 respondents across
Indonesia's
33 provinces, showed 11.2 percent believed suicide bombings
were justifiable on occasion while 0.5 percent said the
method
could always be justified to defend Islam from its enemies.
The survey also revealed that 8 percent support
masterminds
of past suicide bombings, including Noordin M. Top, the
most
wanted terror suspect in Indonesia, who authorities say
is an
expert in recruiting young suicide bombers among the country's
impoverished masses.
Police believe Top, a key operative of the
al Qaeda-linked
Jemaah Islamiah militant network, is on the run in rural
areas
of Indonesia's main Java island.
Anti-terror campaigns in Indonesia have faced
hurdles,
including perceptions the United States is out to attack
Islam,
as well as the ample space given to militant voices and
their
sympathisers in the Indonesian media.
SHARIA SUPPORT
The survey also found that almost half the
respondents back
stoning as a punishment for adulterers while support for
other
extreme elements of Islamic sharia was also significant.
However, LSI said the findings could be misleading.
"Agreement to ideas based on sharia was
quite high but this
trend was not reflected in the support for political parties
that fight for the imposition of sharia in Indonesia,"
Baswedan
said.
"Agreement...does not equal to willingness
to support
(sharia) applications," he said.
The current parliament, elected in 2004, is
dominated by
parties against imposing strict sharia laws nationwide.
In their personal lives many Indonesians follow
liberal
practices, or mix ancient traditional religions and magic
with
Islam in ways that do not square with what they profess
to be
their beliefs.
The survey also showed that while more than
70 percent
support the moderate beliefs of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest
Muslim group in Indonesia, minority respondents are more
favourable to ultra-conservative groups than liberal ones.
Only 2.5 percent back the Liberal Islam Network
(JIL) while
11 percent agreed with causes advocated by the Indonesian
Mujahidin Council (MMI) of Abu Bakar Bashir, who has been
convicted on terrorism charges and identified by intelligence
officials as the leader of Jemaah Islamiah.
MMI wants to Indonesia to become an Islamic
state, while
Jemaah Islamiah has advocated a regional Islamic government.
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