Ngruki: A school of terrorism?<\/p>\n
Part 1 of 2<\/p>\n
Noor Huda Ismail
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post on Feb. 28, 2005 released a report on a
\nNgruki alumni involved in terrorism activity. As a graduate of
\nthat school, I understand how such people think. In this brief
\nreport, I would like to share my experiences studying there and
\ninvestigate why a fringe of Ngruki alumni are involved in
\nterrorism activities but the majority are not.<\/p>\n
From age 12 to 17 I attended the now-famous Islamic boarding
\nschool. A simple plastic mattress served as my bed in a dingy
\nstudent dormitory together with about 20 other students and a
\nvolunteer resident assistant named Fadlullah Hasan, who was three
\nyears older than me. Hasan had a perpetual blue bruise on his
\nforehead from bowing his head to the floor as the result of his
\nfive prayers per day.<\/p>\n
Despite his zealous attitude and my more moderate beliefs,
\nHasan and I developed a tight bond, mostly rooted in the fact
\nthat we both hailed from the outskirts of Yogyakarta, a two-hour
\nbus ride from Ngruki.<\/p>\n
At 4.am. Hasan habitually rose without an alarm clock and
\npromptly woke us up by gently tapping our backs. After morning
\nprayers in the adjacent mosque, we read the Koran and consumed
\nHasan's encouraging words that reminded us to study and to
\nproselytize Islam.<\/p>\n
After two months at Ngruki I realized Hasan used an alias.
\nLike many Ngruki students, Hasan rejected his given name, Utomo
\nPamungkas, because it sounded too Javanese, and not Islamic
\nenough. Hasan, as I always called him, vanished from Ngruki the
\nfollowing year, and I wouldn't learn his whereabouts until we had
\na rather ironic encounter 15 years later.<\/p>\n
Ngruki wasn't always famous. It is merely one of thousands of
\nIslamic boarding schools across Indonesia. But it has emerged as
\nthe most notorious of such schools because dozens of convicted
\nBali bombers are Ngruki alumni and its co-founder is Abu Bakar
\nBa'asyir. Security analysts and police investigators insist
\nNgruki's activities are linked with the three major bombings in
\nIndonesia, and at least two dozen smaller explosions, mostly
\ntargeting churches.<\/p>\n
Sidney Jones, the director of the Indonesian branch of the
\nInternational Crisis Group, has dubbed Ngruki the \"Ivy League\" of
\nJI members who are recruited clandestinely.<\/p>\n
Jones has a point. Days before my graduation, Ngruki's faith
\nteacher, Abdurrohim alias Abu Husna, called me and five other
\nstudents -- all of whom had high academic achievements or zealous
\nattitudes -- into his poorly-lit home. He said, \"A Muslim should
\njoin the Islamic group called Jamaah Islamiyah,\" he said. He
\nexplained how this movement aimed to establish an Islamic state.<\/p>\n
I was a 17-year-old, and wise enough to refuse his proposal.
\nIn fact, my days at Ngruki were a misfit from the beginning. My
\nsecular father worked as a parole officer who was mainly
\nresponsible for handling Islamic militants that opposed former
\npresident and dictator Soeharto. As a means for him to find out
\nmore about the group, he enrolled me in Ngruki.<\/p>\n
\"You make it easy for me to enter and observe the school,\" my
\nfather told me.<\/p>\n
One of his targets of observation was Ngruki's co-founder, Abu
\nBakar Ba'asyir, an alleged terrorist leader who I interviewed for
\nmy current job as a reporter for The Washington Post, just a few
\ndays before an Indonesian prosecutor reopened the case against
\nhim. In a 65-page indictment, the prosecutor charged him for
\nbeing the amir, or leader, of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and declared
\nhim responsible for the Marriott Hotel and Bali bombings.<\/p>\n
Abu Bakar Basyir, 65, approached me in the crowded and poorly
\nmaintained jail hall wearing a white shirt, a white, boxed
\nIslamic cap, and faded white-framed eyeglasses. The stocky
\nprisoner by his side was convicted of blowing up the residence of
\nthe Philippines ambassador in 2000. His unofficial job was to
\ncoordinate six prisoners who provide Baasyir daily assistance
\nwith food and laundry.<\/p>\n
Baasyir, a self-proclaimed admirer of Osama bin Laden, spewed
\nout his usual rhetoric, portraying himself as a victim of the
\ninfidel Bush's America. Then he quoted the Koran \"The infidels
\nwill never stop fighting us until we follow their way.\"<\/p>\n
I know this verse all too well because various teachers
\ndrilled it into my brain by day and night some 14 years ago, when
\nI studied in the sweltering classrooms that taught nothing but
\nIslam. The only music blasting from Ngruki's speakers was Nasyid,
\nan Arabic song about Jihad. Painted Arabic calligraphy covered
\nthe dormitory walls. One of them read \"Die as a noble man or die
\nas a martyr.\"<\/p>\n
Inside Ngruki's brick walls, anti-Semitism was rampant. On
\nThursday night public speaking classes, the most popular topic
\nwas the threats facing Islam. Global Jewish power and Indonesia's
\nChristian-controlled economy fueled our fears. We, the students,
\ndelivered impassioned speeches quoting the verse of the Koran
\nthat reads \"the infidels and Jews will never stop fighting us
\nuntil we follow their religion.\" I was no different, and my words
\nreceived warm praise and injected me with pride and genuine
\nsatisfaction.<\/p>\n
The writer is a journalsit and can be reached at
\nnoorhudaismail@yahoo.com.<\/p>",
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