Police deny plans to shut down Ba'asyir-led school

Police deny plans to shut down Ba'asyir-led school

The Jakarta Post, Semarang/Jakarta

Central Java Police denied on Thursday they had threatened to
shut down an Islamic boarding school, founded by detained
militant cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, over its alleged links with
Jamaah Islamiyah. Opposition has grown against the possible move.

Head of the center for command and operational control at
Central Java Police Sr. Comr. Hari Suprapto refuted his boss'
statement threatening to close down the boarding school.

"The statement that the police will shut down the Ngruki
boarding school is nonsense. Should Ba'asyir be proven (to have
links with JI), legal sanctions will only be imposed on him
without involving his institution," Suprapto said.

He said the authorities would certainly take measures against
the boarding school but would not hastily use repressive action
against it.

Earlier on Wednesday, Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen.
Didi Widayadi asked the local administration to take measures
against the Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school at Ngruki village,
Sukohardjo regency.

"There is an indication of links between Ba'asyir and Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI)," he told journalists in the provincial capital,
Semarang.

"I have talked with and asked the Central Java government, the
Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), the religious affairs office
and other relevant local authorities to put the boarding school
in order," he added.

Didi said the school prohibited its students from saluting the
national red-and-white flag and that it embraced "exclusivity"
among the general public. Aside from that, Ba'asyir's Indonesian
citizenship was in doubt, he added.

The provincial police chief said should Al-Mukmin refuse to
cooperate with the local authorities, the boarding school could
face closure.

"In principle, there should not be a state within a state.
That's why the police are continuing to investigate relations
between Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the Al-Mukmin and Jamaah Islamiyah,"
Didi said.

Apparently contradicting Didi's statement, Suprapto said the
police had no legally admissible evidence on relations between
the boarding school and JI.

Similar denials were also made by National Police chief Gen.
Da'i Bachtiar and Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Hussein
Al-Munawwar in Jakarta on Thursday.

Police accused JI, widely believed to be the main ally of the
al-Qaeda terrorist network in the region, of being behind the
deadly Oct. 12 bombings on the resort island of Bali.

Ba'asyir, 64, has strongly denied any knowledge of JI,
accusing Western intelligence agencies of creating a fictional
terror group with the aim of discrediting Islam. He has also
denied claims that JI operates in Singapore and Malaysia.

In another development, Didi Widayadi made a surprise visit to
Sahal Mahfudz, a senior Nahdlatul Ulama leader who is also a co-
chairman of MUI, on Thursday, at the latter's residence in Pati
regency, Central Java.

The visit was likely aimed at seeking support from Muslim
leaders for the possible move to close down the Al-Mukmin
boarding school.

Didi is also scheduled to meet another NU figure, Habib
Luthfi, in the Central Java city of Pekalongan on Friday.

The plan to possibly close down the schools met opposition
from Muslim leaders and government officials, who warned the
police against doing anything rash as it could spark religious
resentment.

"There is no need to close down the Ngruki boarding school
because its impacts could be worse," said respected NU figure M.
Cholil Bisri, a deputy chairman of the People's Consultative
Assembly.

"The government should use persuasive measures to settle the
problem," he advised.

Deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) Solahuddin Wahid said the police had to involve
Muslim leaders to talk about the possibility of revising the
curriculum in Ngruki.

"If deemed problematic, the curriculum should be revised
first. Should it (the school) directly be closed down, it could
worsen the situation," he said.

Head of the Central Java religious office Habib Toha also
lodged a similar protest, saying, "A school cannot be dissolved.
If its leader is proven to have been involved in a crime, he must
be punished as an individual".

The boarding school was established by Ba'asyir 30 years ago,
along with its co-founder, the late Abdullah Sungkar, another
Muslim hard-liner.

Ba'asyir, reportedly a spiritual leader of JI, is currently
being held for alleged involvement in church bombings on
Christmas Eve in 2000. He is also accused of involvement in a
plot to assassinate President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Investigators have so far failed to link Ba'asyir with the
Bali bombings, which left more than 190 people dead, mostly
foreigners.