NU attacks police's new antiterror tactic<\/p>\n
ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya<\/p>\n
A National Police plan to fingerprint all students of Islamic
\nboarding schools (pesantren) across the country as well as their
\nalumni has irritated the head of a major Muslim organization.<\/p>\n
Nadhlatul Ulama (NU)'s East Java chapter head Ali Maschan
\nMoesa said that he was annoyed with the plan as it put Islamic
\nstudents under suspicion, and presumed they posed a danger to
\nstate security.<\/p>\n
\"To tell you the truth, I feel very insulted since all NU
\nmembers fully support the country's sovereignty,\" Ali told The
\nJakarta Post on Monday.<\/p>\n
The plan to collect fingerprints from Islamic students was one
\na police strategy to anticipate terrorist acts in the nation,
\nwhich has seen a series of deadly bomb attacks over the past
\nseveral years committed by militants, some of whom studied in
\nIslamic boarding schools.<\/p>\n
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has approved the plan saying that
\nthe police would merely be collecting data for future use,
\nalthough there has been speculation that the country's most
\nwanted man, Noordin M. Top, might be hiding in one of the
\nboarding schools.<\/p>\n
Noordin and his Malaysian compatriot Azahari bin Husin have
\nbeen accused of masterminding several bomb attacks across the
\ncountry. Azahari was killed during a Nov. 9 police raid, while
\nNoordin managed to escape.<\/p>\n
But many have criticized the fingerprinting plan, saying it
\nwas tantamount to stigmatizing Islamic boarding schools as a
\nsource of terrorism in the country.<\/p>\n
NU feels insulted in this case since it is the country's
\nbiggest Muslim organization, and its members operate the majority
\nof the boarding schools.<\/p>\n
Ali argued that the police should explain where they would be
\ncarrying out their plans and what their motives would be in
\ntaking fingerprints, since there are many boarding schools with
\ndifferent congregations.<\/p>\n
\"Some boarding schools, which have NU ideology and use the
\norganization's yellow book, are against terrorism. Therefore, it
\nis not fair if all boarding schools are viewed as one because
\nNU's schools are against terrorism,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Ali said that the police should scrutinize each boarding
\nschool's ideology to find out whether they were hard-liners or
\nnot.<\/p>\n
\"The police should only watch over those (schools) who teach
\nviolence to their students,\" Ali said.<\/p>\n
Separately, National Police chief Gen. Sutanto said that the
\nfingerprint collections were only one part of police efforts to
\npreempt people who try to influence students with terrorist
\nideology.<\/p>\n
\"The basic idea is to preempt people, including Muslim
\nstudents and other communities, so as not to be influenced by
\nterrorist groups,\" Sutanto said on the sidelines of the
\nIndonesian Navy anniversary ceremony in Surabaya, East Java.<\/p>\n
He regretted that the plan had been misinterpreted as a form
\nof police suspicion of Islamic boarding schools.<\/p>\n
\"That's not true,\" Sutanto said.<\/p>\n
Sutanto also urged the community, including Muslim students as
\nwell as other groups, to work together with the police in
\npreempting the spread of militant ideas by terrorists.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nu-attacks-polices-new-antiterror-tactic-1447893297",
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