REPLY TO LESLIE OF NST S'PORE

AN EMAIL MESSAGE TO ME FROM AN OLD FRIEND FROM THE NEW STRAITS TIMES SINGAPORE.

Dear Tan Sri Sanusi,

I hope this note finds you well.

As I briefly mentioned in my recent telephone text message to you, I am currently the Senior Regional Correspondent for The Straits Times of Singapore and cover political and economic developments in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

I have long been researching the regional Islamic groups and recently completed an article on the tenth anniversary of the discovery of Jemaah Islamiyah and the changing face of militancy in the region.

As you may be aware, the Indonesian security agencies have embarked on a campaign to combat the spread of hard-line radicalisation among the Muslims in the country and these efforts include the publication of critically researched books and reports on jihadism in Indonesia.

A recently published book entitled NII Sampai JI, Salafy Jihadisme di Indonesia by Solahudin, who is widely regarded in Indonesia as a foremost expert, draws many links to Malaysia.

The book has also been acclaimed by Indonesian experts as the most definite work on the militant Islam in Indonesia and the region.

Apart from how Abu Bakar Bashyir and Abdullah Sungkar established Malaysia as their base to sow the seeds of the grouping that would become Jemmah Islamiyah, the book also refers to your links with several leaders of the Islamic movement in Indonesia.

On the subject of the preparation of Jihad in Sumatra, author Solahudin refers to an operation in the mid-1970s by leaders such as Gaos Taufik to seek the supply of weapons and financial aid from Libya.

According to the narrative in NII Sampai JI, sometime in July 1975 Gaos Taufik wrote the outline of a letter that was later translated into Arabic by university lecturer and then brought to Aceh for it to be signed by Teungku Daud Beureueh.

The book also states that Teungku Daud had separately made arrangements with two of his trusted associates in Malaysia to lobby the Libyan Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Your name and Hasan Tiro are listed as the two associates.

In September 1975, Rifa’i Ahmad, a leader of the Islamic movement, left for Malaysia and met with you. Author Solahudin also identifies you as the person with close ties with Dauh Beureueh because of your marriage to his granddaughter.

The author states that in the meeting with Rifa’i, you listed several conditions that needed to be fulfilled in order to secure the support from Libya. Among them was a proposal that the Indonesian group carry out strike operations against “kantor-kantor Pertamina and pipa-pipa minyak Pertamina.”

Solahudin also states that you had told Rifa’i Ahmad that there was an offer from Libya to train five cadres of his grouping for various districts.

According to Solahudin’s narrative, several days later Teungku Daud Beureueh arrived in Malaysia to meet with representatives from the Libyan Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The outcome of that meeting, Solahudin states, was discussed at length during a meeting in Majid Benggali Islam in Penang and was attended by Teungku Dauh, Rifa’i Ahmad, Hassan Tiro and yourself.

The author states that during the meeting you had said that the request for US$12.5 million in financial aid from Libya could not be granted because there was no unrest in Indonesia to warrant such a large contribution.

As you can see, the allegations against you are serious and I would appreciate your comments on this for an article that I am preparing.

I look forward to your responses.

Yours truly,

Leslie Lopez

Senior Regional Correspondent

The Straits Times

Mobile: +6012-2780097

MY REPLY TO THE ABOVE LETTER:

Dear Leslie.

THANK YOU

1. Thank you for contacting me on the above matter. I must apologise for taking too long to reply as I was waiting for a copy of Solahudin's book to arrive from Jakarta. As I have had no response from Jakarta so far, I will reply with the assumption that all that you wrote are not misquoted in any way.

2. I must say that the contents of Solahudin's book can only be considered serious if there is any truth in what he had written. It is certainly a sensational piece writing.

3. It is quite natural for a reader of any piece of writing to consider everything bad said about others are true and the untruth is only realised when something bad is said about you which you know is not true or inaccurate.

4. Having been in politics for a long time, I am immune to such fiction and quite used to slanderous statements.

SOURCES OF PROBLEMS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD

5. I am also not surprised with the acclaim attributed to this book by Indonesian experts as it must be this type of experts who give wrong advices to their bosses resulting in a worsening situation all over the Muslim world.

MARRIAGE OF THE TIRO AND BEUREU-EH FAMILY

6. Of all the names mentioned in your letter I am related to two of them and they are (1) Teungku Muhammad Daoed Beureu-Eh to whose granddaughter I am married and (2) Teungku Hasan Muhammad Di Tiro who is my uncle as my grandmother Cut Manyak is the daughter of Teungku Tjhik Di Lambada who is the son of Teungku Tjhik Di Tiro. For these relationships, of which I am very proud of, I have no apology to offer.

PERSONALLY UNKNOWN PERSONALITIES

7. The following names are known to me through my reading of the newspapers. They are (1) Abu Bakar Basyir who is unknown only to the deaf and dumb in Malaysia and Indonesia and (2) Abdullah Sungkar whose name I have heard when I was the Deputy Minister of the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs.

8. I have never heard of the names (1) Solahudin the author of 'NII Sampai JI', Salafy Jihadisme di Indonesia, (2) Gaos Taufik, (3) Rifa'i Ahmad and (4) Majid Benggali Islam in Penang.

 

REFERENCE TO PREVIOUS TITLES IN THIS BLOG

9. As to the Presidents, Ministers, Generals and politicians who are familiar or related to me in Indonesia they can be accessed in the writings in my blog sanusijunid.blogspot.com under the following headings:

(i) War Criminal Conference dated 26th October, 2009, on why I was not involved in the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka,

(ii) Kembalinya Seorang Presiden dated 3rd January, 2010, upon the death of Gus Dur,

(iii) Terima Kasih Tun Ghazali Shafie dated 3rd February, 2010, which included the hijacking of the Garuda Airlines,

(iv) Om Bus Dalam Kenangan on Minister Bustanil Ariffin dated 23rd February, 2011,

(v) IPMI Convocation Speech on Leadership and Motivation dated 21st March, 2011,

(vi) The 2nd Aceh Development Internatioal Conference dated 28th March, 2011,

(vii) Tun Dr. Mahathir Dalam Majlis Ramah Mesra Dengan Tokoh-Tokoh Aceh Nusantara,

        dated 20th May, 2011

(viii) Profesor Riset Mentertawakan Demonstrasi 'Bersih' dated 19th July, 2011,

(ix) Kematian Yang Bermakna dated 9th January, 2012 and

(x) Ulangtahun Ke 41 Mendirikan Rumah Tangga dated 14th February, 2012.

10. I would recommend that Solahudin read the above writings in my blog should he intend to implicate me in his future writings.

BETWEEN FACTS AND FICTION

11. The following events, as it appeared (inclusive of wrong spellings), were also attributed to me in the book:

a)      '... Teungku Daud had separately made arrangements with two of his trusted associates in Malaysia to lobby the Libyan Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Your name and Hasan Tiro are listed as the two associates.'

b)      'In September, 1975, Rifa'i Ahmad, a leader of the Islamic movement, left for Malaysia and met with you.'

c)      ' ....... in the meeting with Rifa'i, you listed several conditions that needed to be fulfilled in order to secure the support from Libya. Among them was a proposal that the Indonesian group carry out strike operations against "Kantor-kantor Pertamina and pipa-pipa minyak Pertamina.' 

d)     ' ....... you told Rifa'i Ahmad that there was an offer from Libya to train five cadres of his grouping for various districts.'

e)      ' ... Teungku Daud Beureueh arrived in Malaysia to meet with representatives from the Libyan Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.'

f)       'The outcome of that meeting ..... was ..... a meeting in (with) Majid Benggali Islam Penang and was attended by Teungku Dauh (Daud), Rifa'i Ahmad, Hassan Tiro and yourself.' There are misspellings in this sentence.

g)      ' .... during the meeting you had said that the request for US$12.5 million in financial aid from Libya could not be granted because there was no unrest in Indonesia to warrant such a large contribution.'

12) As I am aware of all the places visited by Teungku Muhammad Daoed Beureu-Eh whenever he was in Malaysia it appears that all the above 7 events are fictions invented by the author to glamourise his book.

13) I met the Libyan ambassador, H. E. Ali (he might be the one who was the Libyan Ambassador to the United Nations who defected from Gaddafi during the recent Libyan upheaval),  twice, during the functions organized either by ABIM (Malaysian Muslim Youth Organisation) or PKPIM (Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar-pelajar Islam Malaaysia). We just greeted one another and never discussed anything serious.

14) I did not meet with any Libyan in this country or overseas either together or separately with Teungku Hasan Muhammad Di Tiro.

15) I have never met with Bakar Basyir, Abdullah Sungkar, Ghaos Taufik or Rifa’i Ahmad in Malaysia, Indonesia or anywhere in the world.

16) I don’t think that Teungku Hasan Muhammad Di Tiro will entertain any idea at destroying the Pertamina facilities, in Sumatera, as he had the intention of taking over the Pertamina’s operation to finance the development of Aceh should they achieve independence.

PERTAMINA

17) When Ibnu Sutowo was the President Director of Pertamina and Julius Tahiya was the head of Caltex in Indonesia they had an insurance company called Tugu Asuransi. This insurance insured the oil fleet which in turn was reinsured with Reliance Minet in Hong Kong. I was at that time employed by The Chartered Bank in Kuala Lumpur.

18) I was one day invited by The Chartered Bank’s customer in Hong Kong, Reliance Minet, to visit Hong Kong. When I arrived I was told by the executive from Reliance Minet, who waited for me at the airport, that Ibu Sutowo, The Presiden Director of Pertamina, needed my opinion on certain financial matters.

i) From Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport I was taken by car to Mandarin Hotel in front of Connaught Center where Ibnu Sutowo and Julius Tahija had their office. On visiting the branch office of Pertamina in Hong Kong I saw that the same office was used as the office of Tugu Insurance in Hong Kong.

ii) Pak Ibnu Sutowo told me of his problems and that through one of Professor Schiller's student in Jakarta, who was ten years my senior in Hamburg and working with Bank Indonesia my name was recommended to look into the financial problems that Bapak Ibnu Sutowo was facing.

iii) In short the solution to the problems resulted in Pak Ibnu retiring from Pertamina and was rewarded with the ownership of the Hilton Hotel and the Pacific Bank in Jakarta.

iv) On my part, as I was working with The Chartered Bank, I did not accept any payment for the services but instead requested Bapak Ibnu Sutowo and Julius Tahija to invest in an insurance venture in Malaysia, 30% of whose shares should be equally shared between MAYC and Shamelin Cooperative. The result was the formation of Tugu Insurance in Malaysia.

v) As Shamelin needed some cash to start the Taman Shamelin Perkasa  project in Cheras and MAYC needed some money to build an extension to Wisma Belia named Wisma Tunku in honour of the founding father of Malaysia, the shares of Tugu Insurance was sold, and its name changed first to Tugu Eagle Insurance and later became Arab Malaysia Insurance.

19) It is therefore ridiculous for me to destroy Pertamina instutions anywhere in the world.

LIBYA

20) I do not believe that the Libyans, or anyone, would ever donate US$12.5 million to Aceh. Should there be such donations then the Acehnese would not have been arrested by the Malaysian authorities for drug trafficking to finance their war.

21) I am aware of the Libyans training about 700 Acehnese in preparation for the war in Aceh. It was confirmed by a few Acehnese whom I met at the Istana behind Sultan’s Mosque in Singapore where they were in transit on their way to Tripoli via Karachi. I met them accidentally when my wife, an architect, was appointed by the late Tengku Aziz, who was the descendent of the old Sultanate of Singapore, to be the consultant for the renovation of the place. The project did not take off.

JOURNEY TO TRIPOLI

22) Not knowing who I and my wife were they were proud to tell us their purpose of travelling to Tripoli via Singapore. They travelled with valid passports and entered and left Malaysia legally. I knew they were Acehnese as they spoke the language which they did know I and my wife understood.

23) I have no doubt that other Malaysians were in touch with the Libyans, the famous one being Ibrahim Libya. I left ABIM in late 1973 and have never met any Libyan from that time on.  I was shocked when I was informed by my Minister Tun Ghazali Shafie that my former organization was getting financial support from the Libyans.

BIN LADEN'S PRAWN FARM IN JERLUN

24) I was further shocked when I was informed that Osama Bin Laden, when he was still close with the American, launched a prawn farm project (Samak) in my parliamentary constituency and employed a graduate school teacher, who challenged me, but lost, as the head in the UMNO Jerlun Langkawi divisional election. This teacher was paid an exhorbitant salary for a job he was not trained to do.

25) I was not involved in the Aceh war and that was the reason that I was not invited for the ceremony to install the previous governor of Aceh although my friend, whom I introduced to my uncle Teungku Hasan Muhammad Di Tiro, was given a red carpet reception at the ceremony. I am happy for him for good reason.

26) I am therefore not surprised or shocked with the contents of Solahudin’s book.

GAM IS SECULAR

27) Whatever one says about GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka - The Aceh Independence Movement) it is certainly not a terrorist organisation. Teungku Hasan Muhammad Di Tiro and the organisation he led, GAM, were secular in nature and they would certainly not damage their reputation by getting involved with Jemaah Islamiah.

28) Thank you Leslie for letting me know of the existence of the book and I hope that Solahudin will, by now, be sufficiently rewarded for such an unholy effort. I pray to Allah s.w.t. that Solahudin be forgiven.

29) I believe you will not mind if I print our communication in my future blog entry.

Sanusi bin Junid
Kuala Lumpur
17th February, 2012