| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, May 16 (ANTARA) - The alleged links between the Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement and the Al-Zaytun Islamic boarding school in Indramayu, West Java, has sparked controversies following terror acts that often threaten security in the country of late. In the past several weeks, the public and media have cast spotlight over radicalism and extremism amid terrors such as the bombing of a mosque in Cirebon and threats of package or parcel bombs sent to certain targets or planted in different locations in Jakarta and its surroundings. With the ensuing developments, fingers were pointed to the NII, an outlawed organization founded by Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosoewirjo which, in the 1950s, was fighting for the establishment of Islamic caliphate in Indonesia. S.M. Kartosoewirjo himself was executed by the government in September 1962. Amid the discourse over the danger being posed by NII cadres, the public attention was ultimately shifted to Al-Zaytun, a modern Islamic boarding school which has frequently been visited by government officials but is later believed to be a center for fostering NII cadres. This sparked controversies. Even, within the complex, there is the Al-Zaytun University inaugurated by former president Soeharto in 2005. No wonder, if the Al-Zaytun is often visited by government officials. But former chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Hendropriyono denied if Al-Zaytun was built by the government. Hendropriyono acknowledged that Al-Zaytun did use NII symbols but it used them only as a medium to attract students. "If there is opinion that Al-Zaytun has been designed by government officials, designed by Soeharto, and now is backed up by the government, this opinion is not true. What is true is that Al-Zaytun has used NII symbols to attract people and to win money for its development. It even benefits Muslims," said Hendropriyono. However, many quarters believed that Al-Zaytun is linked with the NII. Thus, the statement of Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali in his recent visit to the Islamic boarding school that it had no links with NII has been responded to with criticism. Suryadharman Ali said that the Al-Zaytun Islamic boarding school was not linked with the NII movement because the school teaches tolerance. "It is very difficult to link the Al Zaytun Islamic boarding school with the NII organization which is radical," he said at a press conference at the Al Zaytun last week. He said generally radical Islamic ideologies are not tolerant very much and hate anything modern. The educational pattern used in Al Zaytun is modern and adopts modern arts for teaching materials for its students. Radical ideologies also have a special characteristic which is they always call those having ideologies different from theirs infidels. "When we conducted afternoon prayers Syekh AS Panji Gumilang, the chief of the school even asked me to lead it, proving that there was no radicalism being developed in this school," he said. On the occasion, Syekh AS Panji Gumilang said that he had never entered into the NII organization like what several parties had accused him of. "I am not connected with the NII history," he said. Based on history the NII thrived in Indonesia in 1949 and dissolved in 1962. "After that there is no more organization called NII," he said. However, the minister's visit to the NII complex was described by others as a ridiculous visit. "What for, the minister could not have found anything there," NII Crisis Center founder Ken Setiawan told a seminar on the prevention of NII ideology. He said that Al-Zaytun had been conditioned in such a way to cover up its relations with NII because the NII teachings were not taught in the boarding school while its students were not members of the NII movement. "The minister in his visit will at the most only find buildings, constructions and students. He would not find any NII activities there because the movement of NII is underground in nature, so that to reveal it, an intelligence technique is needed," he said. He said that it could therefore be understood if the religious affairs minister concluded in his brief visit that Al-Zaytun had no relations with NII. The minister's conclusion was different from the results of a religious affairs ministry's research in 2002. The religious affairs ministry and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) carried out research on the matter in 2002 and concluded that Al-Zaytun and NII had links but the results of their research were not made public. "If one is willing to find the relations between Al-Zaytun and NII, he or she should trace information from former victims of NII, people in its surroundings and parents whose children have become victims," Setiawan said. Yet, Minister Suryadharma Ali challenged the public to prove it if Al-Zaytun had links with the NII. "Those who said that Al-Zaytun is linked with NII had better prove it. We fear that allegations without proof would only turn into slander," Suryadharma Ali said in Bandung on Sunday evening. The minister said that if there was proof of its link with NII, why police did not take legal steps to process it. "If there is proof why law enforcers did not take action and process it," he said. "I come there to observe directly what they were doing. I did not merely make a conclusion. I did not see any links with NII," he said. He even denied having difference of opinion with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) regarding the NII, Al-Zaytun link issues. "We have no difference of opinion. We differ only in research matters," the minister. The ministry of religious affairs focused its studies on the education aspect while MUI focused its studies on education and leadership. The religious affairs minister said that his ministry and the MUI had the same opinion on the educational aspects in the Al Zaytun boarding school. "Namely, Al Zaytun has no connection with the NII in terms of education system," he said.***3*** |
Minggu, 15 Mei 2011
AL-ZAYTUN, NII ALLEGED LINKS SPARK CONTROVERSIES
Rabu, 27 April 2011
CALLS FOR DISSOLUTION OF NII INCREASING
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, April 27 (ANTARA) - Amid fears of increasing extremism, radicalism and bomb terrors, calls for dissolution of NII, a movement organization which has fought since the 1950s for the establishment of an Islamic State of Indonesia under a caliphate government, are now being aired by various quarters. The calls for elimination of this organization among others came from former vice president Jusuf Kalla, Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah (the Indonesian second largest Muslim organization), legislators and other noted Muslim clerics. The NII movement was founded in Java by Kartosuwiryo who had fought for an Islamic state since the 1950s. Since its movement ran counter to the Pancasila state ideology, NII was opposed by the government but its founder Kartosuwiryo waged a guerrilla warfare until he was captured and executed by the government in 1962. Being considered a dangerous movement, NII was suppressed and eradicated by the government during the era of Soeharto. Now, the NII ideology is allegedly being disseminated again, leading to the emergence of radicalism in the country. According to Haysim Muzadi, former chief of one of Indonesia's largest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), radicalism had now reached a dangerous level requiring serious handling by the government. "It is not only threatening public security but also Islam and the state," Hasyim Muzadi said. It is more dangerous because they are driven by transnational political movements in other countries through hardline ideological channels. Muzadi said the movement had recruited a lot of people from the innocent who were then made into militants to young intellectuals whose religious views had been distorted. The religious views of young intellectuals were distorted after they received brainwashing, among others by the NII. Therefore, according to former vice president Jusuf Kalla, the government must immediately tackle the cases of brainwashing by the Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement because the activity was dangerous. "The government must act firmly against the activity. Anyone involved must be arrested so that it will not cause further unrest among the community," he said after a seminar here on Wednesday. He said under the context of Unitary State of Indonesia radical movement like that was very dangerous for the continuity of statehood and nationhood. Besides arresting the perpetrators other concrete actions the government could take are seeking ways on how the government and the community fight ideas of those conducting brainwashing. The same voice was also aired by Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the Muhammadiyah Muslim organization. He said that the government should be able to completely solve the problem of the NII movement so that it would not thrive and harm the state interest. "Virtually, the NII Movement is an old movement but the government since its birth did not settle it completely," he said. He said that the NII movement had affected younger generations and that the fact should awaken the government to eliminate it or even liquidate it. "Muhammadiyah firmly supports the Unitary State of Indonesia (NKRI) based on the Pancasila ideology. Therefore, Muslim generations should not be influenced with thoughts that would form a country with an other ideology," he said A House Commission III member from the Islamic-based United Development Party (PPP), Ahmad Yani, meanwhile said one of the effective ways to combat brainwashing activity was through Islamic-based political parties. He believed the extreme movement had happened because certain groups had been dissatisfied by the implementation of Islamic shariah in the country. "Islam-based political parties through discussion forums could straighten their views about Islamic teachings," he said. Calls for elimination of the NII movement also came from H Syarif Hidayat and Miftah Faridi of the Salman Mosque Foundation of the Bandung-based Institute of Technology (ITB). After all, some have accused that the Salman mosque of ITB had been used as a base for NII cadre recruitment. In their written statement on Wednesday, Syarif Hidayat and Miftah Faridi said Salman Mosque was not a base for NII cadre recruitment. The Salman Mosque foundation, they said, always kept guard, popularized and disseminated information on the danger of NII to various media organizations and propagation media. For this, the Salam Mosque Foundation urged the government to dissolve NII and declare it as illegal organization in Indonesia. It also called on the government to take legal actions against any side who were involved in the NII activities. The foundation always cooperated with the relevant sides like ITB, Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) and police to prevent, deter and handle criminal actions with regard to the NII actions. Currently, police are monitoring several places in Jakarta where clandestine NII movement members usually gather. "We have already located concentrations of NII members and their number is only less than one hundred," Jakarta Metropolitan Police operations chief Senior Commissioner Sujarno said.***3*** |