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In tactical shift, Jemaah Islamiyah militants infiltrate mainstream Islamic groups, politics
The militant group is believed to focus more on dakwah (religious propagation) and politics, for now.
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Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, was released from prison in January after serving time on terror-related charges. (The Jakarta Post/R. Berto Wedhatama)
T
he nation’s counterterrorism agency has warned that Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants continue to sow the seeds of radicalism as the group infiltrates mainstream religious organizations, government institutions and national politics as a new tactic toward achieving its ideological goals.
Ahmad Nurwakhid, deputy for prevention at the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) said JI members were able to infiltrate government institutions and mainstream Islamic groups because of their remarkable ability to blend in.
“It’s possible they [have tried to infiltrate] other religious organizations, even NGOs and biking groups,” Nurwakhid told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. “This is part of their strategy change since Para Wijayanto took over the leadership. They used to focus on combatants, but now they have shifted to dakwah [religious propagation] and politics,” he said
JI was nearly dismantled by authorities after staging a bombing attack in 2002 that ripped through nightclubs on the holiday island of Bali, killing more than 200 people including scores of tourists in what remains the country’s deadliest terror attack.
But the organization — whose spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, was released from prison this year after serving time on terror-related charges — has been rebuilding and is believed to have changed its strategy.
Last week the police arrested three people suspected of involvement with the group, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda.
Among the three arrested last Tuesday was Ahmad Zain An-Naja, a top official at the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the nation’s powerful semi-official board of Muslim scholars. Ahmad Zaid sat on its fatwa commission.
