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Jemaah Islamiyah isn’t dead – it is evolving
Although it has officially disbanded, much of the former militant group’s ideological infrastructure remains intact.
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Para Wijayanto, the former leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, said the terror group regrets its actions, which have resulted in the loss of hundreds of innocent lives over the years.
ST PHOTO: AQIL HAMZAH
Noor Huda Ismail
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At dawn in late May, the iron gates of Cilegon Prison in West Java slid open. Para Wijayanto, 60, stepped into the light – a grizzled veteran of the Moro conflict, the last emir of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and South-east Asia’s fading link to Al-Qaeda. His grey robe fluttered in the morning breeze; his white skullcap sat neatly on his head.
There was no fanfare. Only his wife, veiled in black, and a few plainclothes officers stood witness. The quiet release contrasted with the legacy of the group in which he was such a key figure: JI was behind the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people.
