Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM)

The Rajah Solaiman Movement is dedicated to creating an Islamic state in the Philippines, and does not hesitate to use violence and terrorism to achieve its goals.

Estimated at more than 70 members.

RSM has received financial support from suspect Islamic charities based in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, especially Saudi Arabia. The group has been affiliated with a regional Islamic insurgency group, Jemaah Islamiya (JI), as well as Philippines-based Islamic groups such as the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Members of RSM have conducted random bombings against the civilian population of the Philippines and have obtained bomb-making equipment and material. The group has also been involved in kidnappings and criminal extortion activities.

The Rajah Solaiman Movement is associated with “Balik Islam.” These "returnees to Islam" share the belief that Filipinos were originally Muslims before having Catholicism imposed by Spanish colonizers. Ahmed Santos, the founder and first leader of RSM, not only converted to Islam, but also married into the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group. RSM was formed in an effort to thwart joint counterterrorism activities conducted by the Philippine and U.S. governments. The group takes its name from Rajah Solaiman, a Muslim, who was the last native king of Manila before Spain began its rule of the Philippines in the late 1500s. RSM-affiliated converts can be readily used for attacks in the Philippines because they blend in with the Christian population.

The RSM is considered a radical militant group within the Balik-Islam movement. Adherents of Balik Islam contend that all humans are born free of sin into Islam, but that parents have misled them into affiliating with other religious traditions. Balik Islam members refer to themselves as “reverts” to denote they have reverted to Islam. Filipinos who work in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf region and who then return to the Philippines have become a major component of the Balik-Islam movement.

In return for financial support from the Abu Sayyaf Group and Jemaah Islamiya, RSM has provided field operatives and a pool of potential recruits enabling ASG and JI to expand their reach into the urban areas of the Philippines. RSM’s significance stems from its ability to serve a regenerated ASG in the heavily Christian Luzon region, the political and cultural center of the Philippines.

1993

Ahmed Santos, who emerged as the founder and leader of RSM, converted to Islam.

2001

December: Santos received military and explosives training at a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) facility, Camp Buchra, in Lanao del Sur.

2002

January: RSM was formally established in the Philippines.

May-June: Philippine security units disrupted an attempt to assassinate President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by RSM and ASG. The attempt involved the use of a truck bomb.

2004

Feb. 27: RSM and ASG jointly bombed a large ferry in Manila Bay, resulting in 116 civilian deaths.

2005

Feb. 14: RSM members were involved in a bus bombing in Makati, one of three Valentine’s Day terrorist attacks that resulted in four deaths and numerous injuries.

Oct. 26: Security forces arrested eight suspected militants, including RSM leader Santos. The suspects were captured in Zamboanga, where they were planning additional attacks. More than 1,300 pounds of explosives and maps were recovered by police in a raid on the hideout. Police said RSM planned to use the explosives against the U.S. Embassy.

2008

June 4: The U.N. Security Council added the Rajah Solaiman Movement and eight of its members to the U.N.’s Consolidated List of individuals and entities affiliated with Al-Qaida, the Taliban or Osama Bin Ladin. As of June 2008, six of the eight had been detained by the Philippine government, while two others were still at large.

June 16: The U.S. Dept. of State formally cited RSM and its leaders as "specially designated global terrorists." Seven of the RSM operatives were also designated terrorists by the U.S. Treasury.

July: The anti-terrorism branch of the Philippine National Police reported that a new funding network had been established for ASG and RSM. The network, reportedly run by Saudi national Abdulrahman Qaussamulah, replaced an earlier network run by Osama Bin Laden’s brother-in-law Muhammad Jamal Khalifa, which was disrupted by a raid on the Islamic Information Center in Manila in 2005.