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Abu Dujana: Jemaah
Islamiyah's New al-Qaeda Linked Leader
4-4-2006
By Zachary
Abuza
With the death of Jemaah Islamiyah's (JI)
master bomb-maker, Azahari bin Husin, there has been intense speculation
over JI's current leadership, in particular the position of Amir
("spiritual leader"), which has been vacant since 2003. In
recent weeks, Indonesian authorities have focused their sights on a
little-known militant, Abu Dujana. Indonesian police have now made his
arrest their "priority."
Dujana was born in Cianjur, West Java, around 1968. West Java was the
traditional stronghold of the underground Darul Islam movement, and Dujana,
like many JI members, appears to have close family connections to the
Darul Islam movement. He was educated by Dadang Hafidz, a militant
Islamist with deep ties to the Darul Islam organization.
After years of Quranic tutorial, Hafidz selected Abu Dujana for advanced
training in Pakistan. He studied there for a few years before joining the
mujahideen and leaving to fight in Afghanistan. Abu Rusdan, who would go
on to lead JI in 2002, reported that he first met his compatriot in a
mujahideen training camp in Pakistan in 1986 (indictment of Abu Rusdan).
Dujana was trained in small arms, tactics and bomb-making. In Afghanistan
he came into close contact and developed a deep friendship with Zulkarnaen,
who would become head of JI's military operations. His other classmates in
Pakistan were Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, who was the
operations chief of JI until his arrest in August 2003, and Nasir bin
Abbas (BBC, March 22).
In the early 1990s, Dujana returned to Southeast Asia, although there is
little information about what he did in this period. JI was founded in
1992-1993 by Abdullah Sungkar and Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, and many of the
Afghan veterans who were frustrated with Darul Islam's passivity became
the core of JI's leadership, committed to waging an armed jihad against
the Indonesian state. Cells were patiently established and recruiters
began working as JI-controlled madrassas were established throughout the
Indonesian archipelago and into Malaysia. Dujana spent a period of time as
a teacher at one of those schools, the Luqmanul Hakiem School, outside of
Johor, Malaysia, which was run by the leader of the Bali attacks, Mukhlas
(Tempo, September 21, 2004; interrogation of Nasir bin Abbas).
It is not known if, after 1996, Dujana spent any time in Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) camps in the southern Philippines, conducting
training for JI and MILF members along with al-Qaeda instructors.
Following the fall of Indonesia's strongman Suharto in May 1998, sectarian
conflict erupted in parts of the archipelago. Although not started by JI,
the organization was quick to take advantage of the situation. Senior JI
members Abu Jibril and Agus Dwikarna established paramilitaries in the
Malukus and Central Sulawesi, respectively. Owing to his Afghan
experience, Dujana spent some time in these conflict zones and helped to
coordinate JI's efforts from 1998-2001. His former mentor Hafidz was
himself a key supporter and procurer of weapons for JI's sectarian strife.
In this period of time, Abu Dujana's rise through JI's Mantiqi II division
was swift. By 2000, he was the secretary of Mantiqi II. One year later, he
was attending almost every key meeting of JI's leadership that was held in
Indonesia. Top JI members who have been arrested all cite his presence at
key strategy sessions and leadership appointments. For example, Nasir bin
Abbas states that Dujana was among the top 10 leaders present when he was
elected to head Mantiqi III in April 2001 (interrogation of Nasir bin
Abbas). In October 2002, following Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's arrest, Dujana and
Zulkarnaen, Mukhlas, and Sulaiman met to elect Abu Rusdan as JI's new Amir.
At that meeting, Dujana was elected to be Rusdan's secretary (indictment
of Abu Rusdan). Rusdan, however, was arrested soon thereafter and
Indonesian officials believe that Dujana became the acting Amir, though he
is not a religious leader.
Dujana assisted a number of JI suspects who had fled the dragnet in
Singapore in late 2001. In 2002, he turned his sights on executing
Hambali's line of attacking Western targets. Dujana was among the plotters
of the October 2002 Bali bombings, and met with Zulkarnaen, JI's military
chief, and Mukhlas in Bali days before the attack (interrogation of Nasir
bin Abbas). The ICG reports that Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohammad
Top consulted with him before the August 2003 bombing of the JW Marriott
in Jakarta (Tempo, September 21, 2004). Following that attack, Dujana was
placed on the government's 10 most wanted list.
Dujana is thought to be a key leader of the organization, and not simply a
default candidate from group attrition. He is one of the remaining leaders
who spent time in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is personally known by the
al-Qaeda leadership. As a senior police official recently said, "He
has good relations with al-Qaeda...[He is] trusted" (BBC, March 22).
Authorities thought they had arrested him in November 2004 (Jakarta Post,
November 28, 2004). In January 2005, they tracked him to Subang, West
Java, in conjunction with the investigations into the September 2004
bombing of the Australian Embassy, although he and others escaped arrest.
In November 2005, police raided the home of Abu Dujana's father, Achmad
Tamami (Jakarta Post, November 13, 2005). He now uses the alias Sorim.
Among the other top JI leaders at large are Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both
believed to be in Mindanao; the Malaysian, Noordin Mohammad Top, JI's top
recruiter and money man; Zulkarnaen, JI's chief of military operations;
Qotada; Nu'im; and Zulkifli bin Hir. |
