“Faster than a speeding RPG round! More powerful than a car bomb! Able to knock over tall buildings with a single airplane!”
JAKARTA, Indonesia (The Blaze/AP) — These days it seems everyone’s being written into the comics. Recently, Captain Israel, Foreskin Man and Methadone Man arrived on the scene and there’s surely more to come. The list of characters keeps on growing. But standing out from the pack is a new daredevil — “Captain Jihad.” This newbie isn’t simply a heroic figment of the imagination, though; he’s a real life former terrorist villain named Nasir Abas.
The adventures of former al-Qaida-linked terrorist Abas have, indeed, become a new comic book in Indonesia, chronicling his transformation from militant to invaluable ally in the fight against terrorism.
The story of the soft-spoken, seemingly mild-mannered 42-year-old — recognized by strangers on the streets and even asked for the occasional autograph — is well-known in the world’s most populous Muslim country.
He went from helping train Muslim militants who carried out some of Southeast Asia’s deadliest attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings, to informing police about the inner-workings of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network.
Abas, a Malaysian national who now lives in Jakarta with his family, has been one of its biggest success stories.
Kids at an elementary school squealed when shown a copy of the book by nonprofit publisher Lasuardi Birru and called out to their friends, who eagerly huddled around and flipped through the lively, glossy pages.