Officials from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), an Indonesian Islamist vigilante group that is notorious for hate crimes, say thousands of their members from across Indonesia have volunteered to travel to Rakhine State to fight for the Rohingya.
FPI spokesperson Slamet Maarif announced that 1,200 people volunteered to fight on behalf of the Rohingya in North Sumatra, plus 600 from Pasuruan, East Java, and 287 from Jakarta.
“So our members in seven areas have already opened up lists for volunteers to register, and now it is the duty of the FPI council to select which mujahideen (the Islamic term for one engaged in jihad) candidates we will dispatch,” Slamet said today as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
According to the FPI spokesperson, the group has four conditions for the registration of mujahideen volunteers: they must have their parents’ permission, be at least 21 years old, have “martial ability,” and be prepared to die in Rakhine State.
Slamet said registration for the first wave of volunteers would close on Wednesday, after which they will be dispatched. However, he did not say when the mujahideen would actually leave for Myanmar, as it would have to be coordinated with Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other countries.
The FPI representative also said that registration of volunteers was a form of Muslim solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Myanmar meant to make up for the absence of other meaningful action on behalf of the Rohingya.
“It means that if the international community’s armies cannot help our brothers there, we are ready to help. Whether in the form of humanitarian aid, assisting in negotiations or even, if we are ready, to take up arms,” Slamet said.
It remains highly unlikely that the Indonesian government will support thousands of FPI mujahideen in invading Myanmar. Furthermore, FPI estimates that it will cost between US$1,500 and US$2,300 to equip each volunteer and send them to Rakhine State. One FPI leader said he hoped a donor would finance the mission.
FPI are not the only people in Indonesia to be incensed by Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya. On Sunday, unidentified attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta.
Today, thousands of Indonesians took to the streets in downtown Jakarta demanding an end to the violence against the Rohingya.
“I think this is not only a religion issue, but moreover a humanitarian issue. What is happening there is very cruel,” Tita Fatmawati, a teacher from nearby Bogor, told AFP.
A poster announcing the demonstration features a demonic Wirathu, a nationalist Buddhist monk who seen as is the spiritual leader of the anti-Muslim movement in Myanmar.
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