he departed for Riyadh, already markedly resentful towards the British establishment and its not-so-disguised colonial distaste for those who dared to challenge the social divides. Derashid remained in Saudi Arabia for a year consolidating his relationships with his former fellow students and their families. He journeyed to Mecca on Haj – his outlook on life for a man still in his early years maturing immensely during this extended sojourn away from home.
Upon his return to Malaysia, Derashid announced that he was not ready to launch himself into the family’s commercial activities; instead, he went in relentless pursuit of others who shared his opposition to the American presence in Saudi Arabia and the West’s growing influence in Asia.
One evening he was invited to attend an usrah, a religious discussion held in secret at the Kampung Sungai Manggis village in Banting, Selangor. It was there that Derashid first sighted the Indonesian speaker, Riduan Isamuddin. The meeting had been arranged for members of the Kumpulan Militan Malaysia, the Malaysian Militant Association grass roots’ supporters of the Indonesian-founded militant group, Islamic Community, Jemaah Islamiyah. He had been moved by Riduan when the cleric addressed the meeting chronicling his exploits in Afghanistan, Derashid observing closely as others in attendance were seduced by Riduan’s charismatic spell. The following month and much to the consternation of his parents Mohamed Aziz Derashid assumed another identity and disappeared from his homeland. When he returned the following year he was visibly changed, hardened by the time he had spent in Afghanistan, his sentiments now placing him on a road blighted by fanaticism which blurred the true Islamic way.
At the age of thirty and at the request of his ailing father, Mohamed Aziz Derashid assumed the role of CEO of the family company, managing assets in excess of two hundred million Ringgit, further enhancing his attraction to the man identified by a select few as ‘ the Sheikh’, aka Osama bin Laden.
As of that time, only bin Laden and his inner circle were privy to Derashid’s double identity, the relationship forged during his odyssey in Afghanistan and later nurtured by Atef through frequent communication.
Derashid remained in contemplative mood and considered how he might do even more to limit his exposure; his association with the terrorist group delicately concealed by a series of firewalls through his myriad of corporate entities held under his Malaysian flagship company, Bulan Sabit Holdings Sdn Bhd. The Malaysian was in no way involved in any operational aspect connected to al-Qaeda or its many loosely-knit offshoots, although Atef had sought Derashid’s advice in establishing the front organizations through which funding for field operations would flow. Amongst these was Konsojaya Sdn Bhd, a corporate entity for which the Kuala Lumpur companies’ registry would list Hambali and Wali Khan Amin Shah as co-directors and shareholders.
Initially, Derashid had suggested that Atef veto Shah’s involvement, citing the United States claim that he had been a principal instigator of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York. However when Atef reported that Mohammed Jamal Khalifa had insisted the company composition remain as originally contrived, Derashid refrained from further comment, pleased that he was in no way connected to the slow burning fuse.
Malaysia – Petaling Jaya
Riduan Isamuddin, better known by his nom de guerre, Hambali, sat silently also considering his relationship with Wali Khan Amin Shah and Ramzi Yousef, accepting that they were tied at the hip and would remain so, until death did them so part.
Hambali’s given name at birth was Encep Nurjaman, and he was second in a peasant farming family of eleven children that had seen little of the world outside their mountainous West Java village. A serious student from the outset, Hambali attended the Al-I’annah Islamic high school. It was at this time he became drawn to Abu Bakar Bashir, an Indonesian of Yemeni descent whom President Suharto had jailed for attempting to form an Islamic militia called Komando Jihad. Upon Bashir’s release from prison in 1982 and facing further arrest for subversive activities, Bashir fled to Malaysia and Hambali followed. The pair became inseparable, Abu Bakar Bashir treating the younger man as if he were his own son.
It was during their self-imposed exile that the vision for a Pan-Islamic state was conceived; their dream to incorporate the ASEAN countries into one Islamic community group: a concept that would predicate the re-birth of the Jemaah Islamiyah.
In 1987 Hambali traveled to Pakistan where he underwent arms training at the Sadar Camp. He was twenty-three years old. After entering Afghanistan as a volunteer Mujahideen he joined in the fight against the Soviet Union. There he met Ali Ghufron, a fellow Indonesian. Together, they fell under the influence of Osama bin Laden and, by 1990 when the billionaire Saudi considered Hambali ready for the mission, Hambali was charged with extending the al-Qaeda network into S.E. Asia and Australia, while Ghufron, who had adopted the name Mukhlas, concentrated on developing Indonesian cells.
Upon Hambali’s return to Malaysia he secured residency and met a Sabah Chinese national, Noralwizah Lee Abdullah who was attending religious studies at the Luqmanul Hakiem School in Johor. By then Hambali had developed an affinity for wearing a kopiah – the white skull cap, bearded face and accompanying glasses providing Osama bin Laden’s nominee with the image of a religious figure – essential to his self-appointed position as a teacher. Assisted by his wife, Hambali ran religious classes that encouraged discussion relating to rebellion and holy war. With the growth in membership in the resurrected Jemaah Islamiyah, Hambali’s reach across ASEAN then stretched through Malaysia, into Indonesia and the southern areas of Thailand and the Philippines. Next, he planned to forge alliances in Australia.
His Malaysian company, Konsojaya Sdn Bhd, was a front import-export operation that provided financial and material support from Osama bin Laden, to many of the terrorist cells deeply ensconced throughout S. E. Asia. The company also provided funding and operational support to the Abu Sayyaf (Father of the Sword) Islamic separatist group through its Manila cell, The Benevolence International Corporation, an entity utilized to disguise their Philippines’ operations.
Recently, Hambali had become increasingly dependent on Dr Azahari Husin. The Malaysian university lecturer had joined the Jemaah Islamiyah whilst engaged at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and had trained with Hambali in Afghanistan. He had been instrumental in establishing the first direct links with the Abu Sayyaf the year before, preparing the groundwork for al-Qaeda. Azahari, who held a doctor-ate in engineering from Reading University in the UK, had the necessary credentials to support his expertise as Hambali’s chief explosives expert. As for Indonesia, Hambali had agreed to leave most of the network building to his close associate, Ali Ghufron who continued to enjoy the freedom of travel without raising suspicion.
A knock at the door interrupted his deliberations.
‘Our guest has just cleared immigration,’ his wife Noralwizah reminded from the other side of the door. She would not enter without being invited to do so.
‘Have you checked the hall to ensure everything is in order?’
‘Yes,’ she confirmed, ‘and security is already in place.’
‘Good. I shall join you in a few minutes,’ he said pompously then checked his appearance in the full length mirror attached to his side of the door. Satisfied, Hambali smiled, confident that the evening fund-raising event would be a success.
Indonesia – Jakarta
The Javanese twins ignored the fleeting, quizzical looks as they stood talking in the Sukarno-Hatta International airport con-course, the two Indonesian pilots identical in every way but for their uniforms. The Garuda officer smiled at his mirror image, Imam, and indicated the bars on his sibling’s shoulder. ‘So, now we are of equal rank?’
Imam
