Amien blames schools as terror source<\/p>\n
Agencies, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government can do more to curb schools that served as
\ntraining grounds for the hardliners who carried out some of the
\ndeadliest attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001 strikes in the United
\nStates, the People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais
\nsaid on Monday.<\/p>\n
Amien also told the World Economic Forum in Singapore that
\nboosting intelligence services and cutting off the flow of
\nillicit funds to groups intent on terror attacks were essential
\nfor security and to prevent Islam from appearing in an
\nunfavorable light.<\/p>\n
He said it was time to take another look at education in
\nIndonesia and at the Islamic schools that have served as fertile
\nground for recruiting young men to terror networks.<\/p>\n
"The government seems a bit hesitant to pinpoint schools as
\ncells of spreading terrorism," Amien, the former head of the
\ncountry's second-largest Islamic organization, the 30-million-
\nstrong Muhammadiyah said, adding that the government of secular
\nIndonesia could be afraid that a crackdown will result in a
\nviolent backlash.<\/p>\n
Few analysts expect the government to place restrictions on
\nthe schools, especially before presidential elections next year
\nwhen no politician wants to risk being branded un-Islamic in a
\nnation which has the world's highest number of Muslims.<\/p>\n
In Lamongan, East Java, one school -- Al-Islam -- has come
\nunder the spotlight because of its links to the three brothers,
\nAli Gufron, Amrozi and Ali Imron, arrested for the Bali bomb
\nattacks on Oct. 12 last year.<\/p>\n
A Bali court has sentenced Ali Gufron and Amrozi to death and
\nAli Imron to life in jail for their role in the bombings, which
\nkilled 202 people.<\/p>\n
The government has blamed the Southeast Asian hardline group
\nJama'ah Islamiyah (JI) for the Bali blasts. Some security experts
\nsay the group is Osama bin Laden's Southeast Asian wing.<\/p>\n
Amien also mentioned Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the jailed cleric who
\nmany JI members around the region have recognized as their leader
\nbut who a court this year ruled as not being connected to the
\ngroup.<\/p>\n
"I don't know what to say...I don't have solid proof," said
\nAmien, who is also the National Mandate Party chairman, of the
\nverdict.<\/p>\n
"From my logic, for sure, networks of terrorist groups are
\nconnected collectively or individually to Jama'ah Islamiyah," he
\nwas quoted by Reuters as saying.<\/p>\n
The most famous Islamic school in Indonesia is Al-Mukmin, said
\nan August report by the Brussels-based International Crisis
\nGroup. It said the school was co-founded in the central Java city
\nof Solo by Ba'asyir.<\/p>\n
However, chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Hasyim Muzadi
\nsaid the politicization of religions and economic injustices
\nserved as the main causes of radicalism in Islam.<\/p>\n
"The politicization of religions, economic injustices and the
\nnarrow interpretation of Islamic teachings should be solved to
\nprevent radicalism," said Hasyim.<\/p>\n
NU is the country's largest Muslim organization with around 40
\nmillion members across the country.<\/p>\n
He explained that Islam has a history of radicalism, since the
\ndeath of Prophet Muhammad, especially when the religion was
\npoliticized.<\/p>\n
"The killing of Imam Ali (the son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad)
\nwas committed by people who tightly held the religion. That
\nhappened because the religion was politicized and politics became
\nreligion," he told an international conference on Propagation
\nStrategy of Moderate Islam to Face Radicalism.<\/p>\n
Hasyim said radicalism started to emerge in Indonesia after
\nthe downfall of former dictator Soeharto in May 1998 and the
\nbeginning of the so-called Reform Era.<\/p>\n
At that time, he said, radical individuals and groups who were
\nsuppressed by the Soeharto regime and fled to neighboring
\ncountries, especially Malaysia, returned to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
He said, many students, some who had learned puritanism in
\nMiddle Eastern countries, also came back to the country.<\/p>\n
"They thought Indonesia was like Saudi Arabia. They campaigned
\nfor the adoption of sharia here," he said.<\/p>\n
He said NU and Muhammadiyah have decided to reject the
\ninclusion of sharia in Indonesia due to a consideration of other
\nfaiths and the differences among Muslims here.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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