It was an unusual class. Dozens of senior high school students from Kuta and Denpasar gathered in Jimbaran to hear a lecture from a former terrorist.

“Please develop your critical thinking. Don’t take everything for granted. Digest every statement and all information really carefully,” Nasir Abas, who is known as a former Jamaah Islamiah regional head, said in a gathering held to commemorate the second Bali bombing on Monday.

The second Bali bombing happened in Oct. 1, 2005, when terrorists blew up two cafes in Jimbaran and a restaurant in Kuta, claiming the lives of 23 people and severely injuring 196 others.

Nasir told the students that they had to question hateful statements even if they were delivered by their own teachers or any other respected elder.

Nasir said that submission could have dire consequences.

He then told the story of Muhammad Syarif, a suicide bomber who blew himself up at Friday prayers in Cirebon last year. Syarif had been brainwashed, Nasir said.

Muslim scholar Masdar Farid Mas’udi of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) who also delivered a lecture in the program said that the terrorists did not represent Islam and nobody should consider what they did as virtuous.

Masdar said that NU, which boasted around 40 million members, would continue to support any effort to eradicate religious radicalism.

He said that it would take a long battle to deal with radicalism.

“We need to have a lot of stamina so these radicals know that we mean business in fighting against their destructive ideology,” he said.

Masdar also laid the blame at the door of the government for the emergence of new terrorists.

He said that the law enforcement agencies had not done enough to punish terrorists.

The government had also not shown firm leadership in the war against terrorism.

He said that at the grassroots level officials continued making the same mistakes.

“What I mean by being firm is by handing down harsher punishments for those who preach about hatred and radicalism,” he said.

Both Nasir and Masdar were invited by the Lazuardi Biru foundation, a non-governmental organization carrying out deradicalization programs.

Syafiq Syeirozi of Lazuardi Biru said that the organization would go a long way in their campaign for
religious tolerance.

The group has also invited members of families of the Bali bombing victims.

Participants in the event, Johan of Muhammadiyah senior high school and Putri Aprilia from Kuta 1
senior high school said that they had learned a lot from the program.

Putri said she previously had no idea about why respect for pluralism mattered in the country until after she heard the lecture.

“I totally agree that our differences should not cause us to hate each other,” she said.

Since the second Bali bombing, police have arrested more than 500 suspects for their alleged links to terrorism.

Many other suspects have died in police shoot outs including notorious terrorists Noordin M Top, Dr. Azahari bin Husin and Dulmatin.

The police have also built up cases against firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Baasyir, who was convicted of providing funding to a terror camp in Aceh and playing an active part in setting it up.

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