NII allegedly recruiting students in Yogya: Police

The Indonesia Islamic State movement (NII) has been recruiting sympathizers in the student city of Yogyakarta, a high-ranking police official says.

He said the police had arresting one of the recruiters recently.

“This movement [NII] has been targeting to recruit more people on four different campuses. However, I can’t reveal the names of those universities as it might disrupt the ongoing investigation,” Yogyakarta Police Chief Brig. Gen. Ondang Sutarsa said as quoted by kompas.com on Saturday.

Sutarsa said he expected the public to be wary of anyone trying to advocate violence in the name of Islam.

“Please report to the nearest police station if anyone encounters this kind of problem,” he said.

The police recently arrested a student for attempting to recruit a fellow student to the NII. During police questioning, the arrested student said the NII considered Yogyakarta an important recruiting ground.

The NII was founded several decades ago by Sekar Maji Kartosuwiryo, a former nationalist who turned to radical Islam after falling out with then president Soekarno. He founded NII as a vessel to transform Indonesia into a caliphate.

NII still exists today despite being eclipsed of late by other more extreme Islamic mass organizations that share the same wish of turning Indonesia into an Islamic state.