Why Hambali, ‘Southeast Asia’s Osama bin Laden’ detained at Guantanamo, is not just an artefact of history
The alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings put Southeast Asia’s violent extremists on a collision course with the US and its allies
Two decades on, his actions continue to reverberate – not least in the Jemaah Islamiah-linked schools that are the ‘Ivy League’ of Indonesia’s jihadi universe
Two decades after Singapore began cracking down on a pan-Southeast Asia terrorist group calling itself Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the network’s operations leader, Hambali, remains at Guantanamo Bay awaiting trial. The evidence against him shows that he took orders and money from the al-Qaeda mastermind behind 9/11 to stage terrorist attacks in the region, including the deadly Bali bombings in 2002, and was planning yet more attacks when captured in 2003. In the second of atwo-part feature, Susan Sim, who was a journalist in Jakarta during the events of September 11, 2001, takes a look at his legacy of mayhem.
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In late August this year, a US military commission in Guantanamo Bay charged Hambali and two Malaysians he had recruited for an aborted al-Qaeda suicide attack on the United States – Mohd Farik bin Amin, alias Zubair, and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, alias Lillie – with conspiracy, murder, terrorism and attacking civilians.
The charges centred on two terrorist attacks in Indonesia where Americans had been among the casualties. Hambali himself does not appear to dispute his involvement in both attacks. But the charge sheet also implicates him in every significant JI activity up to and a year beyond his capture.
In addition to his planning of the Bali bombing and facilitating the financing of the Jakarta Marriott Hotel bombing he is accused of scheming with senior al-Qaeda leaders to carry out post-9/11 attacks against US interests; a plot to use an all-Malaysian cell to hijack an aeroplane and fly it into the Library Tower (now known as the US Bank Tower) in Los Angeles; and helping al-Qaeda develop an anthrax programme by providing Malaysian microbiologist Yazid Sufaat.
When a summary was read out to Hambali during a hearing in March 2016 to determine if his “continued law-of-war detention” was warranted, his response, as read out by his personal representatives and publicly released, was that “he wants nothing more than to move on with his life and be peaceful. He hopes to remarry and have children to raise.”
During his time at Guantanamo, Hambali had learned English and taught himself Arabic and “enjoys watching the programmes Planet Life [and] Blue Planet” on DVD, they said, adding: “His father and uncles were all teachers, so [studying] came naturally for him.”
Hambali, real name Riduan Isamuddin. Photo: EPA
While mostly compliant, Hambali’s jailers noticed that he did use the daily prayers and lectures he led to “promote violent jihad” among fellow detainees, and said they believed he was using his language classes and status as “teacher” to exert undue influence over others.
