Anti-Americanism in Indonesia

Two months after the bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali, which claimed 191 lives, anti-American sentiment is still rife.

One suspect in the bombing enquiry has told police they thought they were bombing Americans, not Australians.

And the appeal of radical Islamic groups remains strong - fuelling Western anxiety that the so-called "war on terror" may yet become a clash of civilizations.

Phil Rees reported from Indonesia on why events five thousand miles from their home can drive people to kill in the name of God.

CHANTING:
Jihad, jihad

PHIL REES:
It is a rage borne of events half a world away. In Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip.

TRANSLATION:
How can anyone blame the suicide bombers? They get so angry when they see their brothers shot and killed in Palestine. They are resisting, so I don't blame them.

REES:
Mira Agustina cooks breakfast in the dead of night. It's the holy month of Ramadan. At dawn she will begin her day-long fast. Mira lives alone with her two children in a quiet village on the Indonesian island of Java. She is also the wife of a suspected Al-Qaeda operative.

Mira says she knew nothing of her husband's involvement in the group. She knew him only as Mahmoud. The CIA says his name is Omar Al-Faruk, a sleeper for Al-Qaeda working in South-East Asia.

One day last summer, at a local mosque, ten men from Indonesia's intelligence service arrested Mira's husband. He was handed over to the CIA for interrogation and apparently confessed his involvement in Al-Qaeda. He said the movement had received money from a Saudi donor to buy arms and explosives in Indonesia.

Mira hasn't heard any news of her husband. She doesn't know if she will see him again. She feels a victim of a wider conflict.

MIRA AGUSTINA:
TRANSLATION:
Now I can share what women in Bosnia and Palestine feel. My children lost a father. I lost my husband. I feel just like them.

REES:
The growth of trade in the 15th century brought Islam to Java. It didn't conquer by the sword, but seeped in, mingling with Hindu and Buddhist cultures, drawing its people to the worship of one God.

Since the fall of the dictator, Suharto, Islam has been more strictly adhered to. Radical clerics have promoted a more literal interpretation of the Koran.

Habib Rizieq's family were immigrants from the Yemen. Five million Yemenis have settled in Indonesia. He believes he's a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed. Rizieq is now under house arrest and I visited the home that has become his prison. Posters of Osama Bin Laden glare down at his young daughters. Four days after the carnage at Bali, he was jailed alongside another militant cleric, Abu Bakar Ba'Asyir. Neither has been charged with direct involvement in the bombing. It was a rounding up of the usual suspects. Rizieq was released after three weeks.

HABIB RIZIEQ
(Chairman, Islamic Defenders' Front)
TRANSLATION:
What's happening now is a globalised resistance. After the build-up of disappointment and anger, Muslims are acting against attempts by America to rule the world.

REES:
Rizieq's band of militants in the Islamic Defenders' Front targets bars and nightclubs. The movement campaigns for the introduction of an Islamic legal code, including a ban on the sale of alcohol. Following the Bali bombing, the Government is trying to curtail the group. Only a minority of Indonesians want the introduction of Islamic law. But millions of others are resentful that Western values are creeping into Indonesian life. Some are inspired by the leader of Al-Qaeda.

HABIB RIZIEQ:
TRANSLATION:
We see Bin Laden as a symbol of resistance against the tyranny and arrogance of the United States. Tomorrow, 1,000 Osama Bin Ladens will be born in Indonesia. If the Government doesn't want any more of the people who bombed Bali, it should act against US influence.

SIDNEY JONES:
This one is 'Live Purely or Die as a Martyr'. It's about the battle between Christians and Muslims in Maluku.

REES:
Sidney Jones is a former human rights' worker. She now monitors the radical Islamic movement in Indonesia. The videos are used as a recruiting tool.

SIDNEY JONES:
Somebody would go to a religious school, get a group of men together and show one of these tapes. People would naturally get very angry at the brutality they see - gore, people being killed, bodies. It's one image after another drilled into the heads of the viewers, and after the tape is over they have a discussion about Jihad, about Holy War, about what you need to do to resist this kind of oppression of Muslims. Often that leads to an invitation to take part in some kind of quasi-military training. After a month or two it often led to people going out to Maluku or to Poso.

REES:
The war in Maluku pitted a Muslim militia against its Christian counterpart. The capital city Ambon was divided. Thousands died in three years of fighting.

SIDNEY JONES:
The Ambon conflict in Maluku heightened the determination to defend the faithful against onslaughts by the West and Christians. Maluku became for a new generation what Afghanistan and the southern Philippines had been for a slightly older generation. It was the motivating force, the galvanising force. You could see pictures on television every night. You could actually get a gun and fight there.

TRANSLATION:
"The Koran is to build our people. The gun is to destroy the obstacles that stand in our way. We cannot separate them."

REES:
We traced one source of the videos to an organisation called the Mujahideen Council. The movement's chairman is Irfan Awas. It was his brother who held aloft the gun and the Koran in the recruitment video.

IRFAN AWAS:
(Mujahideen Council)
TRANSLATION:
Since the Mujahideen Council was formed we have been facing an international power that is trying to damage Islam.

REES:
Awas was jailed for nine years by Indonesia's former dictator, Suharto. Now his battle is less with the Indonesian Government than with a global enemy. The slaughter at Bali fits into a vision of a worldwide conflict.

IRFAN AWAS:
TRANSLATION:
It's understandable that one of the men who bombed Bali expressed his hatred towards the US, Australia and their allies. It's understandable that he committed such action. America has to learn the true meaning of peace. America is the biggest contributor to a violent world.

SIDNEY JONES:
Everything that has happened since September 11 has reinforced the notion of Muslims under siege. You get reports here of Indonesian students being interviewed by the FBI because they are between the ages of 18-40, have Muslim names and come from a Muslim country. That just reinforces perceptions that the "war on terror" is a war against Islam and that the US in particular, but the West more generally, has an agenda to get rid of Islam.

REES:
Most Indonesians are simply sceptical of America's motives when it pursues a "war on terror". But a radical minority actively welcomes the prospect of a divided world where Muslims are locked in a lethal conflict with the West.

This transcript was produced from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight. It has been checked against the programme as broadcast, however Newsnight can accept no responsibility for any factual inaccuracies. We will be happy to correct serious errors.