East Java, Indonesia – Umar Patek was launched from jail final December after serving simply over half of a 20-year jail sentence for the Bali vacation island bombings in 2002, which killed 202 individuals. He was additionally convicted for a collection of bomb assaults on Christian church buildings on Christmas Eve, 2000, that left 18 lifeless.
On the run for nearly a decade, 57-year-old Patek from Central Java was arrested in 2011 in Abbottabad in Pakistan and extradited to Indonesia the place he was discovered responsible of bomb making and homicide the next yr. The US State Division had provided a reward of $1m for any data resulting in his seize.
Patek’s early jail launch for good behaviour in 2022 was sharply criticised by Australian officers and the relations of the a whole bunch of victims of the Bali bombing.
Al Jazeera not too long ago interviewed Patek at his house in East Java the place he spoke about his function in Bali and revealed that the horrific bomb assault twenty years in the past was an act of revenge for the violence inflicted on Palestinian individuals by Israeli forces.
He additionally talked about repentance and of being not sure whether or not God would forgive him for killing so many civilians.
Al Jazeera: How did you turn into concerned with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the armed group behind the Bali Bombings?
Umar Patek: In 1991, I used to be working in Malaysia and met Mukhlas [a senior JI figure who was sentenced to death and executed in 2008 for masterminding the Bali bombings] in Johor Bahru on the Lukman Hakim Islamic Boarding Faculty.
I labored on a plantation in Malaysia, and would go to non secular courses within the night on the faculty. Then Mukhlas requested me to work on the faculty, so I moved in. After three months on the faculty, he provided me the possibility to go to Pakistan. I needed to review and he stated I might research faith there.
I first went to Peshawar after which to Sadda, a tribal space in Pakistan which is near the border with Afghanistan, the place there was a navy academy that educated individuals to be mujahideen [Islamic fighters]. From there I moved to a navy academy in Torkham in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, I used to be in the identical class as [Bali bomber] Ali Imron. In whole, I used to be away for 5 years from 1991 to 1995.
We discovered every little thing on the navy academy to coach us to be mujahideen, akin to tips on how to use weapons, map studying and bomb making. We practised blowing up bombs in areas the place there have been no individuals, like in caves or on hillsides, in order that there wouldn’t be any fatalities.
We additionally needed to make it possible for no goats had been by accident killed as a result of a number of individuals have a tendency goats in Afghanistan.
Once I completed my navy coaching in 1995, I went to the Philippines to affix the Moro Islamic Liberation Entrance as a result of I supported their trigger as a Muslim.
From 1995 to 2000, I lived at Camp Abubakar within the Bangsamoro area within the Philippines, however the camp was captured by the Philippine Military in July 2000 and I used to be informed to go away as a result of I appeared like I got here from the Center East.
My household is initially from Yemen, though I’m the fourth era of my household to be born in Indonesia. My face didn’t seem like the individuals in Moro.
In December 2000, I went again to Indonesia and stayed with Dulmatin [a JI member and one of the most wanted men in Southeast Asia who was nicknamed “the Genius” because of his expertise in electronics for bombs]. Dulmatin requested me to go to Jakarta for work. He had a job promoting automobiles and he stated I might additionally search for work there, which is how I grew to become concerned within the Christmas Eve church bombings.
AJ: You admitted to mixing the chemical compounds for the bombs used within the Bali bombing in 2002 and the Christmas Eve church bombings in 2000. However you additionally stated you didn’t know what the bombs can be used for. The place did you assume the bombs can be planted?
Patek: I didn’t combine the bombs for the church bombings, I solely knew in regards to the bombs on the time of supply. It was Eid al-Fitr [the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan] and Dulmatin stated, “Let’s go house to Pemalang for the vacation and drop off some issues alongside the best way.”
We stored stopping at church buildings, though I didn’t get out of the automotive. Each time we stopped at a church, I grew extra suspicious that we had been dropping off bombs as a result of the packages had been packed in laptop computer luggage.
I used to be sentenced for the bombings regardless that I didn’t make the bombs or get out of the automotive as a result of I used to be there and I didn’t do something to cease it. Dulmatin then requested me to go on a visit to Bali in October 2002. We went right into a home which was already stuffed with bomb making gear.
I met with [JI members] Imam Samudra, Mukhlas, Idris and Dr Azahari. Imam Samudra stated that they needed revenge for the occupation of Palestine and the assault on Jenin [by Israeli forces in 2002 which killed more than 50 Palestinians as well as 23 Israeli soldiers], so that they needed to bomb Westerners in nightclubs in Bali. He ushered me into one of many rooms in the home the place all of the substances to make the bombs had been ready.
I informed them, if we needed to get revenge for the atrocities dedicated towards Muslims in Palestine, we must always go to Palestine and never kill Westerners in Indonesia. I requested them, “What’s the relationship between these individuals who will likely be victims and your motive of revenge for Muslims in Palestine?”
I informed them that in the event that they needed to kill Westerners in giant numbers utilizing a one-tonne bomb, it might not simply kill the individuals in entrance of it. It could explode in every single place. I informed them that it might kill a number of different individuals who weren’t their goal.
I stated {that a} bomb would additionally doubtless trigger Muslim casualties. I requested them, “Who will take duty within the subsequent world [paradise] if there are Muslim victims due to this bomb?”
Imam Samudra stated that, on the day of judgement, everybody can be judged individually for his or her actions primarily based on their intentions.
I felt that there was no method I might refuse. Imam Samudra had locked the entrance door of the home in order that nobody might go away.
So I did it, and made the final 50kg [110lbs] of the bomb.
AJ: Greater than 200 individuals died in Bali on account of the bomb you helped to make. How do you’re feeling about killing so many individuals?
Patek: I felt responsible once I blended the supplies for the bomb and I felt I used to be sinning. I felt I used to be breaking Indonesian regulation however, greater than that, I felt it was a sin towards God.
AJ: Do you contemplate your self to be a mass assassin?
Patek: Sure. I really feel that I’m a assassin and a sinner.
I’ve apologised to the victims of the Bali bombing a number of occasions and met with the households of the victims of the bombing, too. I informed them I used to be sorry. Everybody who has met with me in particular person has forgiven me. Once I meet victims, I say, “I’m Umar Patek and I used to be concerned within the Bali bombing,” then I clarify why I used to be there, and apologise.
Some individuals don’t need to meet me and don’t need to forgive me, like individuals from Australia. That’s their proper, however my duty as a Muslim, and somebody who has executed fallacious, is to apologise. I don’t know if I will likely be forgiven, solely God is aware of that.
I didn’t ask for forgiveness to get out of jail early, however every little thing is all the time fallacious in different individuals’s eyes. If I ask for forgiveness, individuals say I’m pretending and it’s a strategic alternative. If I didn’t apologise, individuals would say I used to be boastful.
AJ: Did you agree with the 20-year jail sentence that you got?
Patek: I accepted it on the time. There’s nothing truthful on this life on Earth, justice will solely come within the hereafter.
AJ: Your launch from jail was extremely controversial, significantly in Australia, as you solely served 11 years of your 20-year sentence. Ought to you could have been freed?
Patek: I fulfilled all the factors in accordance with Indonesian regulation to qualify for launch in 2022. I had additionally been very against the thought of the Bali bombing from the start. The witnesses at my trial all stated the identical, which is why I used to be sentenced to twenty years in jail [only]. The central individuals within the Bali bombing had been sentenced to dying or died in different methods like Dulmatin, who was shot by the police.
I final noticed him in June 2009, once I got here house from the Philippines to Jakarta. He requested me to go to a JI navy academy in Aceh, however I stated I didn’t need to. I had had sufficient. I informed him I used to be simply transiting in Indonesia to get my passport and visa to go to Afghanistan. I needed to reside there for the remainder of my life and I requested him to return with me, however he refused.
He [Dulmatin] was shot in Pemulang in Tangerang [a city on the outskirts of Jakarta]. I questioned if he had repented for his sins earlier than he died. I by no means heard him say he felt regret or disappointment in regards to the victims of the Bali bombing and about individuals who weren’t the goal of the bombing. He by no means stated something about that and by no means requested for forgiveness.
So I used to be unhappy for him.
AJ: Is the killing of civilians ever justified?
Patek: Once I was within the Philippines with the [Moro front], I lived with [the chairman] Salamat Hashim and he would typically preach to us. He strongly forbade mujahideen from attacking civilians, not simply Muslims but additionally Christians. He stated that that was not allowed, and that solely members of the military, or civilians who had been preventing with the military, and who had been additionally carrying weapons, had been allowed to be attacked.
He as soon as stated to me, “Why do you need to wage jihad in Indonesia, who do you need to battle there? The president is Muslim, the federal government is Muslim, the Folks’s Consultant Council is principally Muslim, a number of police are Muslim, the military is stuffed with Muslims. It’s haram [forbidden] to assault them as a result of attacking Muslims isn’t allowed.”
He felt that it was not proper to assault individuals in Indonesia, and I stated that on the time of the Bali bombing, however nobody needed to hearken to me.
AJ: What are your ideas on the Israel-Gaza struggle?
Patek: Within the opening part of the 1945 Indonesian Structure, it says that “all colonialism should be abolished on this world”.
Occupation anyplace, not simply in Palestine, isn’t allowed.
It’s Hamas’s proper to take again their land. The information that they’re killing infants and kids is a hoax perpetrated by the Western media. Indonesia was occupied by the Dutch colonialists. Would you name Indonesian heroes, who fought for his or her independence, terrorists? The Dutch would name them terrorists, however they had been simply taking again their land.
AJ: Are you deradicalised now?
Patek: What’s radicalised? If a Christian desires to comply with their faith in accordance with the teachings of the Bible, would we name them radicalised?
I really feel that the media has a false picture of me as somebody who’s scary and merciless. They all the time paint me as somebody who’s harmful.
Folks typically ask me why I don’t need to be a terrorist any extra and why I’m so cooperative. I additionally say that it’s from my household. They’re those who melted my coronary heart and set me again to the fitting path.
I’m the oldest of three brothers. All my members of the family are reasonable Muslims, none of them have ever adopted the identical ideology I used to comply with, they usually have typically confronted me about it over time.
If my household had stated they didn’t need to have something extra to do with me due to my previous ideology, maybe I might nonetheless be radical in my pondering, however luckily they embraced me and that allowed me to vary.
AJ: How do you’re feeling about non-Muslims?
Patek: Once I was a baby rising up, all my neighbours had been Chinese language Christians. I all the time used to play with them. Since I used to be younger, I’ve all the time been round non-Muslims.
I don’t hate Christians. My spouse’s prolonged household are Christians and, once we bought married, we had no issues and took photographs collectively on our marriage ceremony day.
Once I married my spouse, I invited all of her household to the marriage at Camp Abubakar. To start with, they didn’t need to come as a result of they had been anxious we’d lower their heads off. I informed them that the mujahideen didn’t hurt civilians, and that we solely attacked the police and the military. I stated that I assured their security.
Within the Moro custom, when somebody bought married, mujahideen would shoot their weapons within the air to have a good time. However as a result of my spouse’s Christian household was there, I informed my fellow mujahideen, “Don’t do the normal celebration as a result of we have now Christians coming and it’ll scare them.
“They may assume we are attempting to kill them.”
