A Sketch of Santoso – Indonesia’s Most Prominent Militant

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The leader of Mujahideen Indonesia Timur (MIT – Mujahideen of East Indonesia), Shaykh Abu Wardah Santoso (a.k.a. Abu Yahya), revealed his face for the first time on July 10 in a six-minute, professionally-made jihadist video posted on YouTube. An armed Santoso stands flanked by two hooded soldiers and calls for more of his men to become “martyrs” and kill soldiers of Indonesia’s anti-terrorism squad, Densus 88. [1] 

Until the release of this video, which was originally entitled “Risalah Kepada Ummat Islam di Kota Poso” (A Message to the Muslim Community in Poso) only grainy pictures of Santoso existed. However, some locals in Santoso’s base of Poso, Sulawesi claim to have seen him passing through the city from time to time (Tempo [Jakarta], May 16). 

In the video, Santoso says, “Densus 88 is the real enemy, the real Satan… when you face the fight against Densus 88, you need to be in spirit, you need to be strong, you need to be brave as has been shown by previous Islamic heroes in history.” [2] Santoso accuses Densus 88 of “massacring our brothers and sisters in Poso in 2007,” referring to an incident that year in which Densus 88 killed 14 militants who were suspected of a bombing in Tentena Market in the Christian area of Poso in 2005. 

Santoso is an ambitious leader, as demonstrated when he equated himself to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq who was killed in an airstrike in Baquba, Iraq in 2006. MIT’s computer hackers posted a message from Santoso in 2012 on the East Kalimantan government’s website, wherein Santoso calls himself Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi al-Indonesi. Similar to the July 10 video, Santoso challenged Densus 88 in that posting by saying, “If you are really men, then face us” (Borneo Post, October 18, 2012).  

Santoso stands out among other radicals in Indonesia because of his ideological affinity for al-Qaeda, while also focusing on Indonesia and providing training to militants in his bases near Poso to confront the “near enemy”—the Indonesian government and Densus 88. Other radicals in Indonesia focus mainly on burning down Christian churches or destroying “un-Islamic” institutions such as stores that sell alcohol or beauty parlors. Furthermore, since the demise of Jemaah Islamiya (JI) in the late 2000s, no radicals have focused on violent jihad as much as Santoso.

According to MIT militants who were arrested in Sulawesi, Indonesians from across the country have traveled to Santoso’s camps in Poso and trained in bomb-making and the use of M-16s (Arrahmah, January 29, 2012). MIT originally coalesced in 2010 when militants fled to Poso from JI-founder Abu Bakar Bashir’s terrorist training camp in Aceh, Sumatra following a raid by Densus 88 (The Straits Times, February 13). 

At the time of the raid in Aceh, Santoso, who was then a field commander of Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), is believed to have been in West Nusa Tenggara (WNT). Santoso fled from WNT and returned to Poso in 2011, when teachers from the Umar bin Khattab Islamic pesantren (boarding school) in Bima, WNT accidentally set off an explosion while making bombs, leading to a Densus 88 raid of the pesantren and the arrest of the teachers and their collaborators (Jakarta Post, January 13). Well before he was in WNT, however, Santoso spent time on the Moluccas (Maluku) Islands where he reportedly fought in clashes between Muslims and Christians from 1999-2002 and first developed his jihadist ideology (Jakarta Post, January 6). 

Whereas JI raised money through international financing, including from al-Qaeda, Santoso’s men have relied on al-fai (robbing booty) from the institutions of “unbelievers,” especially banks in Java and Sumatra, to obtain funds for operations (Kompas [Jakarta], June 10). MIT also has engaged in other criminal activities, such as hacking foreign exchange trading websites (Jakarta Globe, December 24, 2012). 

Santoso commands 25 to 50 men around Poso (Jakarta Globe, February 13). His fighters are mobile in Poso, constantly relocating and laying explosives behind as booby traps to combat Densus 88 efforts to hunt them down (Jawa Pos, July 14). Despite being relatively small in number and on the run, Santoso’s men have been responsible for various attacks, including: 

  • The murder of two police officers in Poso in August 2012;
  • A bomb attack in North Poso, also in August 2012;
  • A September 2012 bomb attack at a police station in Poso;
  • The November 2012 shooting of the North Poso police station chief;
  • The shooting of four police Mobile Brigade members in North Poso in December 2012, which Santoso claimed under the name of “Batalyon Abu Warda.” The attack was in revenge for the police closing a girls’ pesantrenin Poso two months earlier (Jakarta Post, January 13). 

Densus 88 has deployed 25 officers to hunt for Santoso in Central Sulawesi. The Indonesian Police have placed Santoso on their “Most Wanted” list and left messages in the Muslim community in Poso in search of leads on Santoso. The Communication and Information Ministry has also asked YouTube to ban Santoso’s recent video and blocked other websites that support MIT (Jawa Pos, July 14).

Until Santoso is captured or killed, he will remain Indonesia’s most prominent militant and will likely continue to develop his prestige through jihadist videos and continuing attacks by MIT, which will provide the group with increased attention. Densus 88 seems to have limited MIT’s operations to the Poso area, but there are increasing signs of MIT members in other parts of Sulawesi, such as Makassar, as well as networks in Java, Sumatra and other Indonesian islands. MIT could become a transnational movement with Santoso as its head, especially if Santoso’s affinity for al-Qaeda leads MIT to shift to international targets, as did its predecessor organization, Jemaah Islamiya. 

Jacob Zenn is an analyst of geopolitical trends across regions and frequently writes for Terrorism Monitor. A fluent speaker of Bahasa Indonesia and former student of Universitas Negeri Malang, he carried out field research in Java and Sulawesi in May 2013. 

Note 

1. “Mujahideen Indonesia: Operation Densus 88,” YouTube, Accessed July 26, 2013, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a9QbLxoNwM.

2. Ibid. 

Source: https://jamestown.org/a-sketch-of-santoso-indonesias-most-prominent-militant/

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