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Religious Affairs Ministry welcomes Jemaah Islamiyah disbandment

The Religious Affairs Ministry's expert staffer on radicalism and intolerance, Nurzzaman, has applauded the police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism unit's deradicalization program for leading to JI's disbandment.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, July 9, 2024

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Religious Affairs Ministry welcomes Jemaah Islamiyah disbandment Police officers escort Zulkarnaen, a senior leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who had been on the run for his alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings, on Dec. 16, 2020, upon his arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten. (AFP/Fajrin Raharjo)

T

he Religious Affairs Ministry warmly welcomed the recent disbandment of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an Al-Qaeda-linked extremist group that was responsible for a string of deadly terrorist attacks in the county.

Sixteen JI leaders made a declaration on June 30 in Bogor, West Java, that the organization had been officially disbanded and its members would return to the fold of the Indonesian state.

The Religious Affairs Ministry's expert staffer on radicalism and intolerance, Nurzzaman, has applauded the police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism unit's deradicalization program for leading to JI's disbandment.

"We appreciate the Densus 88 counterterrorism unit for its successful soft approach and deradicalization so that JI members agreed to disband their organization, " he said in a statement on Sunday, as reported by Kompas.

Nurzzaman advised the police to continue monitoring the group’s activities to ensure that all members, including those at the grassroots level, were committed to leaving their extremist views behind.

Read also: Jemaah Islamiyah to be disbanded, say its senior leaders

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He also said that the Religious Affairs Ministry would provide guidance for the JI-affiliated Islamic schools across the country.

"Educational institutions and Islamic boarding schools that are affiliated with the JI have declared their readiness to use the curriculum that was designed by the government. Officials at the Religious Affairs Ministry need to monitor its implementation,” Nurzzaman went on.

JI carried out some of Indonesia’s most deadly terrorist attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

In subsequent years, JI conducted a string of fatal attacks, such as a 2003 car bombing at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed a dozen people and a suicide car bomb in 2004 outside the Australian embassy.

The police have arrested scores of JI members over the past two decades, including its spiritual leader Abu Bakar Ba’asyir.

Read also: Cirebon murder suspect released after court grants pretrial motion

The group was officially banned in 2008, but it continued to operate underground by recruiting members, raising funds and conducting military training, officials and analysts have said.

During its disbandment declarations, JI leaders stated that they are “ready to actively contribute to Indonesia's progress and dignity” and "to follow Indonesia's rules and laws".

They also affirmed their commitment to overhauling the syllabus of the group’s schools to align with mainstream Islamic teachings.

Some experts, however, have expressed concerns that some JI members might disagree with the disbandment and create a new and possibly more radical splinter group. (nal)

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