NII has become cooperative, former member says

Indonesia Islamic Nation (NII) Crisis Center founder Ken Setiawan said the NII had transformed into a mass organization.

“It goes by the name of Developing Indonesian People and undertakes economic activities,” Ken said Thursday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He was talking at a seminar titled “Campus vigilance toward the effect of the NII movement” at Sebelas Maret University in Surakarta, Central Java.

He said the Developing Indonesian People had established cooperatives or People Credit Banks (BPRs) in some regions. Every BPR allegedly received Rp 2 billion in capital from Al-Zaytun Islamic boarding school in Indramayu, West Java, led by Panji Gumilang.

He said members of BPRs approached students and offered them interest-free loans. After winning over the students, they allegedly start teaching them outlawed NII doctrine. “They usually spread their doctrine through seminars and training held under the guise of economy training,” said Ken.