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Dutch counterterrorism team visits Sumatra ‘pesantren’
Dick Schoof (NCTV)A group of senior officials from the Dutch counterterrorism unit has visited Deli Serdang, in North Sumatra to get a first-hand look at the operation of a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) run by a former terror convict
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Dick Schoof (NCTV)
A group of senior officials from the Dutch counterterrorism unit has visited Deli Serdang, in North Sumatra to get a first-hand look at the operation of a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) run by a former terror convict.
The Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV), Dick Schoof, along with seven other officials, visited Al Hidayah Islamic school in the city where children of former terrorists get their
education.
During the visit, Schoof and members of his delegation got the chance to talk to the students and even enjoyed a soccer game together.
“Through this visit, we want to share the experience in handling terrorists that Indonesia has gained,” Schoof told reporters on the sidelines of the visit. Joining Schoof in the visit were officials from the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and the Dutch embassy.
Schoof added that learning from recent terrorist attacks in Europe, the Dutch government had decided to take action to stem the proliferation of radical ideologies that could motivate individuals to commit terror acts.
The NCTV could learn from the deradicalization program provided in the school, which is run by former terror convict Khairul Ghazali, Schoof said.
During the visit, the group also delivered an invitation to Khairul to speak more about his deradicalization project.
Khairul, meanwhile, said he was happy that his project caught the attention of the NCTV.
He said that the pesantren, which was built on a 30-hectare plot and opened in January last year, was meant to provide basic education for children of former terrorists who had to quit school because of financial hardship affecting their families.
“Now we have 20 former terrorists’ children studying here at the pesantren for free,” Khairul said during a dialog with members of the NCTV entourage.
He said the pesantren was specifically designed to prevent the spread of radicalism among terrorist inmates’ children, so that they did not have to follow in their parents’ footsteps.
“This ‘pesantren’ can break the chain of radicalism,” said Khairul, who was sentenced to four years in prison in 2010 for his role in the robbery of a CIMB Bank branch in Medan.
He said the students studying at the pesantren were the children of former terrorists involved in an attack on Hamparan Perak Police in Deli Serdang, the robbery of the CIMB Bank and in terrorist training in Jantho, Aceh.
Some parents of the children were still in prison, while others like Jumirin, who joined Khairul in the CIMB heist in Medan, had been released and now works as a fisherman in Tanjung Balai, a coastal town in the west of North Sumatra.
“They are all my friends. Most of them have repented. Only some 5 percent are still active as terrorists,” Khairul said.
He added that one of the primary objectives of the pesantren was to enlist all students in the fight against the stigma attached to those related to terror convicts, which could lead to discrimination.
“We are trying to eradicate the stigma through education in this pesantren,” Khairul said.
According to data from the National Police, out of 1,200 convicts linked to various terror attacks in the country since the 2002 Bali bombings, 300 are about to be released and will join a deradicalization program.
Critics have warned that the country’s deradicalization program has failed, as indicated by the involvement of former terror convicts who have been released from prison.
Yayat Cahdiyat, also known as Abu Salam, was sentenced to three years in prison for robbing a gas station in Cikampek, West Java, to fund a paramilitary training camp in Aceh in 2010. He was released from prison in 2014 but soon joined the Islamic State (IS) movement-linked Jemaah Ansarud Daulah (JAD) terrorist group, which is believed to be responsible for a number of terrorist attacks and plots in the country in recent years.
