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Police to probe alleged IS recruitment at Jakarta mosques
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In solidarity: City residents lay flowers at the location of bomb explosions on Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta on Jan. 14. (thejakartapost.com/Wienda Parwitasari)
P
olice are looking into reports that figures associated with the Islamic State (IS) movement have been attempting to recruit new members for the group through preaching at five mosques in Jakarta.
The police will first ascertain the veracity of the report, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan said on Tuesday.
Terrorist groups, Anton said, tended to target the weak and those with shaken faith, such as university students, while centers of faith like mosques and Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) were rarely targeted, except pesantren that preach radicalism.
Earlier, reporters form Australia-based TV station ABC attended a sermon at a mosque in a secluded part of Jakarta; they were given permission to attend but asked not to record, a request they ignored.
In the video, which has been uploaded to Youtube, a number of preachers are heard encouraging the congregation to travel to Syria for "a better life", while a black IS flag hangs visibly inside the mosque.
One of the preachers, who had formerly been arrested for disseminating IS propaganda, said that every Muslim who stayed in Syria would get food, monthly payments and free health insurance, adding that interracial marriage would also be allowed.
"The infidels don't recognize the Islamic State, the UN doesn't recognize it, but we Muslims don't need their recognition," the preacher stated.
When the ABC team reported the radical preaching to the mosque management, the management professed ignorance.
ABC reported it had also received information that at least five mosques in Jakarta were similarly attempting to recruit IS members.
One is located in Menteng, Central Jakarta, an area where most of the capital's foreign diplomats reside. (afr/bbn)
