Indonesia

A Timeline of Recent Events

Islamism, Religious Conflict and Terrorism

Last Updated: 6-27-2005

1966 June 21 -- Suharno replaces Pres. Sukarno. Under pressure from the military and street demonstrations, and with many of supporters purged from the national Assembly, leftist Pres. Suharko transfers his power as chief executive to Suharno.
1967 April -- Christian churches are attacked in Aceh. Several days of anti-Chinese demonstrations break out in Jakarta.
1975 December -- Indonesia launches a full invasion of East Timor at Dili and Baucau, installs a new government at Dili with UDT and Apodeti members.
1981 March 11 -- Radical Muslims attack a police station at Cicendo, Jawa Barat.
1981 March 28 -- Radical Muslims hijack a Garuda airliner bound from Palembang to Medan. The plane is stormed by Indonesian troops in Bangkok; seven are killed.
1984 August -- Radical Islamic speakers give anti-Chinese, anti-Christian and anti-government sermons in poor areas of Jakarta, including Tanjung Priok.
1984 September 8-10 -- Disputes between a local mosque in the Tanjung Priok district of Jakarta and security officers sent to investigate anti-government leafleting turn to violence and arrests. (Mosque leaders accuse soldiers of defiling the mosque by entering with their boots on, and using dirty water to loosen and remove posters from the walls.)
1984 December 24 -- Church bombings in East Java. Islamic extremists suspected.
1996 October Anti-Christian violence in Situbondo, East Java.
1995 September -- Christian mobs burn down homes and shops belonging to Muslims in Dili and other cities in East Timor.
1995 December 26 -- Anti-Christian riots in Tasikmalaya, West Java.
1998 May 14-15 -- riots in Jakarta and Surakarta against economic difficulties and the Suharto regime. Worst violence in Indonesia since 1965
1998 May 21 -- Following prolonged period of economic turmoil, demonstrations and riots, Pres. Suharto announces his resignation. Vice-President B. J. Habibie is the new President of Indonesia.
1998 November 21-22 -- Disputes between Ambonese Christians and local Muslims in Jakarta break out into violence, then more rioting and looting in which six are killed. Looters block toll roads in Jakarta to rob drivers.
1998 December 28 -- Anti-Christian Rioting in Palu and Poso in Central Sulawesi.
1999 - August 30 - Almost 99% of 450,000-strong electorate votes in UN-organised referendum. (BBC)
1999 September - Result of referendum shows 78% voters favoured independence. (BBC)
Violence erupts as anti-independence militia helped by the Indonesian military resume campaign of terror, leaving up to 1,000 dead. A quarter of the population flees, mainly to West Timor. Martial law imposed. Gusmao freed. (BBC)
Australian-led peacekeeping force arrives, gradually restores order. Many militia members flee to West Timor to avoid arrest. Indonesian parliament recognises outcome of referendum. (BBC)
1999 October 29 -- "Laskar Islam Surakarta" group threaten to evict all U.S. citizens from the city of Surakarta within 24 hours if they do not leave voluntarily.
1999 - November 21-22 -- Disputes between Ambonese Christians and local Muslims in Jakarta break out into violence, then more rioting and looting in which six are killed. Looters block toll roads in Jakarta to rob drivers.
2000 - August 1 -- President Wahid, Megawati, Amien Rais, and Akbar Tanjung meet at the Kraton Yogyakarta on the invitation of Sultan Hamengkubuwono X. After private discussions, they issue a public agreement that conflicts among the leadership were not good for the country as a whole.
Bomb explodes at the residence of the Ambassador from the Philippines in Jakarta, killing two, and injuring the Ambassador and 20 others. Muslim extremists from the Philippines (Abu Sayyaf or MILF) are suspected.
2001 - November 18 -- Spanish police arrest eight persons in Madrid with links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Police there report that among the evidence seized is information about an al-Qaeda training camp in Indonesia.
2001 Early December -- Army sends over 3,000 fresh security forces to the area around Poso, Sulawesi Tengah, to help stop the continuing violence between Christians and Muslims there. Over 1,000 killed in the violence there in the previous two years.
2001 December 20 -- Leaders of Muslim and Christian communities around Poso, Sulawesi Tengah, issue a declaration agreeing to end three years of intercommunal fighting.
2002 January 17 -- Fathur Rohman, an Indonesian citizen, is arrested in Manila in connection with fatal terrorist bombings there in December 2000. He admits to being a member of the Jemaah Islamiya terrorist group. The arrest leads Philippine police to a house in General Santos, Mindanao, containing over a ton of explosives. He is later tried and found guilty.
2002 February 11 -- Muslim and Christian community leaders from Maluku meet at Malino, Sulawesi Selatan, to explore a possible end to the conflict in Maluku. A preliminary agreement is reached the next day.
2002 February 18 -- Senior Minister Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore criticizes Indonesia, saying that leaders of the Jemaah Islamiya and al-Qaeda terrorist networks operate freely in Indonesia and pose a security threat to Singapore.
2002 March 21 -- Philippine police arrest three Indonesian citizens in Manila for possession of explosives and suspicion of planning terrorist activities. One of them, Tamsil Linrung, had been active in Assembly Speaker Amien Rais' PAN party. Linrung and one of the other suspects are released at the request of the Indonesian government.
2002 April 9 -- Police reveal that five suspected members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network had arrived in Medan with Singaporean passports the previous January 6, but that their current whereabouts remain unknown. Officials in Singapore accused one of the five of unsuccessfully planning a terrorist attack on Changi Airport in Singapore.
2002 May 4 -- Police in Surabaya arrest Ja'Far Umar Thalib, leader of the extremist Laskar Jihad movement, which had sent weapons and fighters to Ambon and Maluku. -
2002 June 5 -- Omar al-Faruq, a Kuwaiti citizen and high-ranking member of the al-Qaeda terrorist group, is arrested by Indonesian authorities. He is later transferred to U.S. custody and sent to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for questioning.
2002 August 3 -- 5,000 demostrate outside the Assembly building in Jakarta, demanding that shariah law be recognized in the constitution. Among the demonstrators are Jafar Umar Thalib and Abu Bakar Baasyir.
2002 August 13 -- Muslim "laskar" burn Christian homes around Poso, Sulawesi Tengah; five are killed.
2002 October 10 -- Members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Malaysian KMM extremist movement, and Syafullah, a Yemeni al-Qaeda operative previously involved in the bombing of U.S. military barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996, meet in Semarang to make final plans for the bombing of "soft targets" in Bali.
2002 October 10 -- Members of Jemaah Islamiyah hold a press conference in Surakarta, saying that if Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, head of Jemaah Islamiyah, is arrested, they will wage jihad.
2002 October 12 -- Bomb blasts in Denpasar, Bali, kill 202, including 88 Australians.
2002 October 13 -- Laskar Jihad headquarters in Yogya closes suddenly.
2002 October 14 -- Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil tells reporters that the Bali bombings were the work of "al-Qaeda and local terrorists".
2002 November 30 -- Fifty are reported dead in Muslim/Christian fighting in the Watubela islands in Maluku.
2002 December 3 -- Several ulama connected with Persatuan Islam, Muhammadiyah, and Partai Keadilan issue a fatwa accusing Ulil Abshar Abdalla of the Jaringan Islam Liberal of blasphemy, for saying that Muhammad was primarily a historical figure and questioning the basis of Islamic law.
2005 October 1 -- Bomb blasts in Bali kills 22. Three separate bombs tore through restaurants packed with Saturday evening diners. Two were outdoor seafood eateries on Jimbaran Beach and one a steak bar at Kuta Beach. (nytimes.com)

References

http://www.gimonca.com/cgi-bin/timeline.cgi

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