Five members of banned group arrested

JAKARTA (JP): Bekasi Police have arrested five men who claim to be members of the banned Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement in Pondok Gede.

City police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said yesterday that the men were detained for their alleged involvement in the prohibited organization.

"The organization was banned because it aims to undermine the country and the government by planning to build an Islamic state," he said.

Police identified the five suspects as Ahmad Sani, Arif Rahman, Abdullah, M. Uzen Aftarus and Achmad Chaffa. Their ages were not known.

"Their involvements was proved by some evidence, including a kind of biography of Kartosuwirjo (the founder of NII) and some books and documents which contained the movement's doctrines."

Hamami said the evidence was seized during a raid early yesterday at a house rented by the suspects.

Bekasi Police precinct chief Lt. Col. Adjie Rustam said that officers had also confiscated Rp 10.6 million (US$3,100) from the premises.

He said it was believed that the money had been collected from movement members and sympathizers.

"The money was kept and managed by one of the suspects, Sani, who was the alleged caretaker of the group."

Adjie said the men often held discussions and gave tutorials on Islamic teachings to their neighbors.

He said the raid yesterday was based on reports from locals, who were suspicious of unusual activities at the house.

Adjie said police were still investigating whether the five men had any special connection with a group of 21 men arrested in September.

"We're still working on it," he said.

During the September raid at a house in Pondok Gede, police confiscated several religious books and movement leaflets.

Some of the leaflets contained text from the 1949 proclamation of the movement with the initials SMK printed on them. SMK is probably an abbreviation for Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosuwirjo, the founder's complete name.

According to the government-sponsored book 30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka (30 years of Indonesian Independence), Kartosuwirjo proclaimed the birth of NII in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in 1949.

The book says that he led his group of extremists, mostly from West Java, to some provinces across the country in an attempt to persuade Indonesian Army members to destroy the republic and set up an Islamic state. (cst)