Indonesian madrasa an 'embryo for terrorism', says antiterror official
The teachings allegedly include mobilising funds in the name of distorted Islamic teachings.
JAKARTA: An Indonesian ma’ahad or traditional Islamic school could become a terror breeding ground due to its links to a group with allegedly radical teachings, the nation’s counterterrorism official reportedly said.
Ma'ahad Al Zaytun could become an “embryo of a terrorist group” because it has strong relations with Regional Command 9 (KW 9) of a group known as Negara Islam Indonesia (NII) or Daulah Islamiyah Indonesia, according to news reports.
The chief of counter-radicalism at the anti-terror police force Densus 88, Budi Novijanto, was quoted as saying that research and confessions from former NII KW 9 members showed a connection between Al Zaytun and NII KW 9.
He explained that the teachings propounded by NII KW 9 included mobilising funds in the name of distorted Islamic teachings.
Apart from that, distorted interpretations of Qur'anic verses as well as the notion of takfiri or deeming as infidels groups outside NII KW 9 were found in their teachings, he reportedly said.
Budi said NII was once led by Abdullah Sungkar in 1993 who later formed the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group linked to al-Qaeda.
Recently, JI has built international affiliations with militant organisations with global goals, it was reported further.
JI's move, according to Budi, is slightly different from NII, which is still firm in its national goals.
After Abdullah Sungkar died, his followers affiliated with foreign jihadist groups chose to carry out terror attacks against the United States and its allies.
Along the way, JI members who had joined international militant organisations recruited other NII activists who had similar thoughts, said a report.
"Here we see that the perpetrators of terror come from the same root, namely intolerance. Then also, the pragmatic NII or NII KW 9 did not use the method of terror which carried out its actions as mentioned earlier (unlike JI),” Budi reportedly said while giving a seminar on the topic "Behind the Polemics of Al Zaytun Indramayu Islamic Boarding School".