Richard Ness : Editorial & Opinions : CBA Caught in Terrorism Funding Alert
CBA Caught in Terrorism Funding Alert - 27 Sep 2006
by
Australian Financial Review
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
CBA Caught in Terrorism Funding Alert
by Morgan Mellish in Jakarta
A hardline Islamic charity in Indonesia that has had links to the Taliban and Jemaah Islamiyah is using the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to raise donations.
The Medical Emergency Rescue Committee - which until recently gave money to the families of jailed terrorists - is soliciting donations to an account at the Commonwealth Bank's Jakarta branch.
The organisation, known as MER-C, provides medical services in Muslim conflict zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq, Poso and Ambon in Indonesia and, more recently, Lebanon.
Although it is not on the official United Nations list of organisations with links to terrorism, experts believe some donations to MER-C are likely to end up in the hands of Islamic extremists.
International Crisis Group's South-East Asia project director, Sidney Jones, said MER-C had been under suspicion at the Australian and United States embassies in Jakarta for some time.
"They do have connections with extremist groups in all sorts of different ways," Ms Jones said.
"This is a legal organisation but it's on the fringes. One category of donations is for families of mujahid - effectively families of people in prison [for terrorist offences].
"This is the most direct linkage [to terrorism financing]. That said, they also provide real, genuine medical services. They were very active in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami in Aceh."
Commonwealth Bank spokesman Bryan Fitzgerald said that as MER-C was not on the official banned list, the bank could not take action. "We satisfy all the legislation in regards to terrorism financing," he said.
"We don't open accounts for anyone who's on the banned list. If no government has identified them as terrorists, other than word of mouth, then there's not a lot that can be done."
International anti-terrorism financing laws enacted after September 11, 2001, resulted in a number of Islamic charities being banned from opening bank accounts. Mr Fitzgerald said the bank co-operated with the Australian embassy in Jakarta and the Indonesian government on issues such as this but it was up to the authorities to decide if MER-C was supporting terrorists.
Senior MER-C figures, including founder Jose Rizal Jurnalis, are close supporters of JI's spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, and some of the organisation's members have been linked to Indonesia's spate of terrorist attacks.
Dr Jurnalis, who was Mr Bashir's personal doctor when he was in jail, said it was normal for people to be suspicious about his organisation. However, he said money from the Commonwealth account, which was used for fundraising after the 2004 tsunami, had gone only towards medical services. The account is still open.
"We can't stop people from being suspicious," he said. "But we overcome those allegations by proving our work on the ground. Our principle is neutrality. We treat all patients, either Muslim or non-Muslim, equally."
MER-C's website shows donations to other accounts were made until at least June 2004 to "mujahid family" - that is, families of jailed terrorists. However, Dr Jurnalis said those payments had now stopped because donors were worried about being branded terrorists. He said he could not remember whose families had received assistance.
Ms Jones said MER-C's past connections to JI were well documented. One MER-C member with links to the radical group dating to the 1980s was arrested after the bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003 but was subsequently released.
Meanwhile, a 2003 report by the International Crisis Group described "Bashir's right-hand man", Aris Munandar - who it said produced JI training videos - as active in MER-C.
The charity also distributes graphic and inflammatory videos showing Muslim victims of inter-religious violence in the Malukus, in northern Indonesia, in 1999. The videos claim MER-C is neutral but then go on to show only horrific images of Indonesian Muslim victims, saying they've been "slaughtered like cows" by Christians.
Another South-East Asia terrorism expert, Zachary Abuza, wrote last year that MER-C's one-sided approach to the Malukus conflict "inevitably raised suspicions".
MER-C also claims on its website that it entered Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, with the permission of the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan.
Dr Jurnalis, who has spoken admiringly of the Taliban, said he first met Mr Bashir years ago when the radical cleric was in jail but said he hadn't seen him since his release in June after serving about two years for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombing.
"When I saw an old man like him being treated badly, I was touched," he said, referring to when he first met Bashir in jail.
"I introduced myself and offered to monitor his health when he was detained. But I have not met him again since he came out. So far, he has not asked for my assistance to check his health. I hope he is well."