Probe under way into Al-Zaytun Islamic boarding school
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Rocked by issues of the spreading of heretical teachings and promotion of a secessionist movement, the Al-Zaytun Islamic Boarding School in Indramayu, West Java, is still under the close scrutiny of local security authorities.
The inquiry has been ongoing for a few weeks following increasing reports from locals of the propagation of heresy and the crackdown on supporters of the secessionist Indonesian Islamic State (NII) which allegedly has won full support from the controversial Islamic boarding school.
Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Hadi Sutejo, chief of the Indramayu Police precinct, said the local police would summon several members of the boarding school's management in line with the increasing reports on their activities that have caused serious unrest among the local people.
"We are following up all reports from local people. The police will investigate those, including the school's management. Should we find something which is against the law, we will enforce the law against all those disturbing security and order, regardless of their status and background," Antara quoted him as saying here on Friday.
He said the local police in cooperation with the local military had stepped up security in anticipation of any possible violent actions against vital assets and property in the regency.
He added the police have also strengthened coordination with the local administration in supervising the situation in the regency.
In Bandung, the provincial capital, police arrested 16 more supporters of NII for committing unlawful activities.
The 15 were arrested in a police crackdown on a house in Sukahati, South Bandung early on Thursday for holding NII documents while another suspect, identified as Pangestu, 29, was arrested while teaching NII doctrine among local people.
The 15 were released on Friday for having no legal grounds to prosecute them.
"Pangestu will charged with deception because posing as a doctor, he was disseminating misleading teachings on the establishment of an Islamic state," said a police detective.
Last week, local police also detained 17 NII supporters but, later released them due to lack of legal grounds to arrest them.
Law enforcers can no longer prosecute supporters of secessionist movements after the government lifted the subversion law.
Budiono, a former member of NII, said he quit the organization after learning it hired thousands of uneducated men and women to steal to finance NII.
"In their operation, NII supporters whose numbers had reached some 168,000 were assigned to seek work as domestic helpers. During their employment, they are instructed to steal their employee's assets and hand over a part of them to their coordinator who are called as lurah," he said in kupas tuntas program on Trans TV station on Thursday evening.
Minister of Religious Affairs Said Aqil Husin Almunawar reiterated that the government would close the boarding school if it was found guilty of disseminating heretical teachings.
"If the boarding school is found disseminating heretical teachings, I will certainly close it," he said here on Friday.
The religious affairs ministry and the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) have set up a 14-member team to investigate the boarding school's activities.
Despite the heresy issue, more and more Muslim parents have registered their children to study in the boarding school.
A. S. Panji Gumilang, rector of the boarding school, said so far, 1,664 school-age children, including 58 from Malaysia and Singapore, have registered to study in the boarding school.
The boarding school accommodates 5,285 students.
According to Gumilang, the curriculum implemented in the school is adopted from the one set by the government with additional materials taken from a number of foreign countries.
"So far, we use three languages --Arabic, English and Persian. In the next five years, we will use eight languages in our academic curriculum with the goal of admitting more foreign students," he said.
Al Zaytun will also build a new campus in Bengkalis, Riau.
Bengkalis Regent Syamsurizal said in Bengkalis on Friday that his administration had provided 500 hectares of land for the new campus in the regency.
"We have even offered 1,200 hectares of land to make it as large as the Indaramayu campus," he said, the offer was given after making a tour of the boarding school and observing its academic program in Indramayu.
Syamsurizal denied reports that the boarding school taught heretical teachings that deviated from Islam, saying many people from the regency had graduated from the boarding school and they and their parents had no complaints about its educational mission.