Crescent Moon Rising. Kerry B Collison

      Of Kerry B. Collison’s other best-selling novels, reviewers wrote:

      “If the international community had heeded Kerry’s writings, it is possible that the present drama (in Indonesia) could have been better understood and dealt with.” – Defense and Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy Journal, Washington.

      “…it has reawakened a passion for discussion of what really did happen in the heady days that shaped modern Indonesia.” – Lavonee Chea, Men’s Review, Malaysia

      “…inspired by his long experience…intriguing plot and vivid descriptions. – Sydney Morning Herald

      “Vignettes will fascinate historians.” – The Age

      “Collison puts the Indonesian experience into perspective.” – Sydney Telegraph

      “Collison’s knowledge of the region is unmistakeable.” –The Cairns Post

      “Authentically experienced and geographically recalled…” –The Canberra Times

      ‘Kerry Collison demonstrates a keen observation of the forces which motivate the military and corporate elite.’ – The West Australian

      ‘…certainly a powerful thriller.’ – Australian Book Review

      ‘…written about Osama bin Laden and the Muslim militant/ terrorist presence in Indonesia three years before events of September 11th.’ – Tracy Boyce, Men’s Review, Malaysia.

      Published by: Sid Harta Publishers

      P.O. Box 1042

       Hartwell Victoria Australia 3124

       email: [email protected]

      Phone: [phone]

       Fax: [phone]

      First Published: 1 October, 2005

       Copyright © 2005 Kerry B. Collison

       Text: Kerry B. Collison

       Cover design& Typesetting: Chameleon Print Design

      © This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any person without the written permission of the copyright owner.

      National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication (CiP):

      Collison, Kerry B.

       The Bali Bombings - Crescent Moon Rising.

       ISBN 1 921030 39 9.

       I. Title.

       A823.3

      Digitally Distributed By

      Ebook Alchemy Pty Ltd

      www.ebookalchemy.com

      ISBN: 9781877006067 (Epub)

      Prologue

       Djakarta

       31st March 1981

       0325 hours

       Grimfaced, General Benny Moerdani listened intently for the words he had waited so anxiously to hear.

      ‘It’s done,’ the Indonesian Special Forces’ commander reported.

      ‘Casualties?’

      ‘The pilot and one of our anti-terrorist team,’ the officer’s voice carried down the secure line from the Indonesian Military Attaché’s office in Bangkok.

      ‘And Si Anu?’ General Moerdani remained tense; he had personally briefed the Special Forces’ officer. “Si Anu” referred to their undercover agent in the terrorist squad.

      ‘He was killed fleeing the aircraft,’ came the sombre reply, the commander’s words signaling the success of Moerdani’s covert operation, planned and executed to discredit the Komando Jihad, (Holy War Command) Islamic radical group.

      ‘You’ve done well,’ Moerdani offered, satisfied that the government agent would not come back to haunt him. ‘Quarantine the team, then get them back to Jakarta immediately.’

      * * * *

      Moerdani sat alone in his office smoking a Cuban Rey Del Mundo Choix Supreme relishing in the success of the covert operation. The Garuda Indonesian Airlines DC-9 aircraft “Woyla”, designated Flight 206, had been ‘hijacked’ by five members of the Komando Jihad when en route from Jakarta to Palembang and flown to Bangkok. Moerdani had spoken directly to the Thai armed forces chief and was granted authority to mount the rescue mission on Thai soil. Had this support not been forthcoming, the intelligence czar would have diverted the aircraft to a more receptive destination. Moerdani, Indonesia’s Army Intelligence Chief and President Suharto’s right-hand-man’s ostensible purpose with this exercise was to demonstrate his troops’ level of anti-terrorist skill and save passenger lives – his real goal, to destroy militant Islamic factions that threatened to destabilize the New Order.

      The General blew a perfect coil of smoke through the stale office air, smiling at the irony of the situation. A decade before, with Indonesia experiencing an increase in radicalized Islam the Komando Jihad had been set up as a front organization by his predecessor, General Ali Moertopo with the aim of discrediting Islamic political groups perceived as a threat to the Suharto regime. Through the intelligence agency, BAKIN, Moertopo had recruited radicals from jails to work with the army, these extremists then forging the very network of militant Muslims that challenged the government of the day. The unintentional consequences of Ali Moertopo’s Komando Jihad operation resulted in renewed and forged bonds amongst Islamic radicals across the archipelago.

      Alarmed that the armed forces had lost control with the Komando Jihad metamorphosing into a number of even more dangerous organizations, General Moerdani was charged with the responsibility of destroying this product of the Indonesian armed forces’ own creation. Government agents penetrated the pesantren, boarding school, Pondok Ngruki in Central Java. The founder, Abu Bakar Bashir was arrested – his incarceration a precursor to a much wider operation to curtail the rise of anti-government sentiment.

      The seeds had been sown – the dangerous stratagem of establishing unauthorized armed covert organizations to protect the Indonesian military’s vested interests from the very people they were charged to protect, the genesis of the terror group, the Jemaah Islamiyah and what would become, the Laskar Jihad.

      Satisfied that public outcry over the Garuda hijacking would provide a groundswell of local middle-class and international support for the government’s imminent crackdown against outspoken clerics, General Benny Moerdani retired for the night – unaware that the American president, Ronald Reagan had just been shot, the assassination attempt displacing the Garuda ‘hijack’ from front pages, worldwide.

      * * * *

      Book One

      Chapter One

      January