To hunt terrorists, police required to recite Koran

The hunt for terrorists is not the sole responsibility of only the intelligence agency, plainclothes policemen and members of the Antiterror Special Detachment, more popularly known as Den- 88.

The potential of all members of the police must be tapped to the optimum, especially given the fact that nearly all the perpetrators of the bombings in Bali, at the JW Marriot Hotel, in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and recently in Jimbaran, also in Bali, and the other members of this terrorist network are generally known to have a sufficient knowledge of Islam thanks to their Islamic boarding school backgrounds.

Assuming that the members of the Jamaah Islamiyah network now still at large often hide among students of Islamic boarding schools, Surakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Abdul Madjid has made it mandatory for all Muslims within the Surakarta Police, be they police officers or civilian members of staff, to start learning how to recite the Koran. Following this instruction, on the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 11, the 60-square-meter mosque located in Surakarta Police Headquarters was crowded with people reciting the Holy Koran.

Ramadhan is seen as a favorable time in which to pursue a deeper understanding of Islam.

Aside from inviting an external instructor, police officers who are skilled recitalists of the Koran have been assigned to mentor officers who cannot read Arabic. In this way, participants in this crash course in Islamic studies learn how to read and write Arabic, as well as to recite the Koran.

"I hope their newfound language skills are of use when officers liaise with all community members. In this way, the movements of members of a terrorist network will be more limited and can be easily detected," Abdul said after briefing police chiefs from across Surakarta on Tuesday morning in the Bhayangkara Building, Surakarta.

Classes will be held at Surakarta Police Headquarters from Monday through Thursday morning during the fasting month. The Surakarta Police chief is also considering making it mandatory for all Muslim officers under his command to be competent recitalists of the Koran. It is hoped this will help them infiltrate the terrorist network, gathering as much "insider" information as possible.

In terms of the mental and spiritual development of Surakarta Police officers, the aforementioned proposal is an interesting one indeed.

Unfortunately, Abdul seems to have forgotten one thing: The Islamic boarding schools or Koranic recital groups that foster extremism have particular characteristics. Generally, they are highly suspicious of newcomers, other than when these newcomers are recommended by the groups' old members.

This means that a police officers' fluency in reciting the Koran would be no guarantee of acceptance by the group. Aside from their style of dress, Muslim hard-liners also have their own way of communication. It is common for them to speak Arabic among themselves.

Obviously, a mastery of Arabic would be of help to an officer assigned to pose as a would-be member of a hard-line group. Arabic is a a complex language in terms of both spelling and grammar. Nevertheless, Abdul is deserving of praise for his initiative. He has achieved much in making it mandatory for all his Muslim subordinates to join the crash course in Arabic -- he really deserves a big reward from God for this -- but he has also improved the intelligence capability of his subordinates. -- Blontank Poer