Changing militants' mindset with little success

By Olivia Rondonuwu

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Jibril, a former Indonesian militant, describes his years of military training in Afghanistan from 1985 to 1987 as "the best holiday in my whole life."

He was one of the first batch of Indonesians to train in Afghanistan, where he met other mujahidin, from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Saudi Arabia, and learned guerrilla tactics and how to make and defuse bombs.

On his return to Indonesia, Jibril, who like many Indonesians uses one name, joined the Muslim-Christian ethnic clashes in Ambon, Eastern Indonesia.

He spent three years on the run from police who began rounding up Muslim activists linked to militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) after the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 foreigners and Indonesians.

Eventually, in 2006, he turned himself in and joined Indonesia's de-radicalization programme, a voluntary scheme which tries to get militants to accept a more moderate form of Islam.

The de-radicalization programme has proved controversial.

Many Australians were shocked in 2007 when they learned that Indonesia's counter-terrorism unit had hosted a fast-breaking meal during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan for those convicted of the 2002 Bali bomb attacks.

Jibril, now 46, is among the first to admit that the programme has its shortcomings.

He still firmly believes in "jihad". He was taught by radical clerics when he was young, and was strongly opposed to raids by the Indonesian military on Muslim activists in the early 1980s, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the more recent "War on Terror" by the United States and its allies.

The bonds between him and fellow militants, whose agenda is to create an Islamic state, means they will always extend support to each other, he said, including shelter from the police.

"Generally, if he is a brother, we would help because we have a strong bond of friendship," Jibril said. Despite the risk they could be captured by police and jailed for up to seven years, it is hard to change the mindset of a militant, he said.

"We are like water that has been dipped with a teabag, we will never become plain water again," he said.

DOES DE-RADICALISATION WORK?

Some analysts also question whether such programmes can be effective in the long run or are, in fact, counter-productive. Some argue that in southern Thailand, the peace programmes actually played into the hands of the insurgents.

Rehabilitation programmes by the Thai military have been disjointed, serving more as a public relations tool for the authorities. Analysts say it is highly unlikely any real militants have gone through the peace-building camps, which are held at army bases and teach "correct" Islam, government policy and the positive aspects of the Thai state.