The murder last week of a prosecutor in the case of three suspected Bali bombers has been blamed in some quarters on the regional militant network, Jemaah Islamiyah. JI's alleged spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir continues to be held without charge by Indonesian police, while the religious school Pondok Ngruki he founded remains under suspicion as a breeding ground for militants..

Presenter/Interviewer: Karon Snowdon

Speakers: Ustadz Wahyuddin, director, Pondok Ngruki (through a translator)

Snowdon: Ngruki was established in 1972 by Abu Bakar Bashir and three other religious leaders who support the idea of Indonesia as an Islamic state. It's been accused notably by the International Crisis Group of having links to known terrorists and providing military training to its students.

The head of the Indonesian chapter of the group Sidney Jones is currently fighting the government's refusal to extend her work permit. The current director of Ngruki, who is known by just one name, Wahyuddin, says the school does none of the things it's accused of.

Wahyuddin: "How can we provide military training because we are a non-state educational institution. So it is wrong what Sidney Jones said, what's we provided here is as I have mentioned the eight principles in our teaching including the building of a sound body. For that purpose we teach them, we give them opportunities to for instance do hiking, climbing, mountaineering, so that they have survival training, so that they have the strength to carry out duties as well as to rise up to challenges."

Snowdon: My visit to Ngruki last week coincided with the controversy over the assassination of a prominent prosecutor in the Bali bombing trials, and the government's hard line approach to Sidney Jones and other NGOs.

I was with a group of Australian and Indonesian journalists given access to the school and a meeting with the director. We had lunch in the home of Abu Bakar Bashir's adopted daughter. It was the first time journalists had visited since the doors were firmly closed against the media whose reports violated the school's trust and distorted the truth, according to Wahyuddin. He singles out for particular criticism the government and media of the United States and what he considers its lackeys, Australia, the UK and Singapore.

Wahyuddin: "So I'm actually referring to four countries, the United States, Britain, Australia and Singapore. It's because the three other countries outside of the United States are the assistance of the United States. For instance there was a journalist from Singapore and then we met with them and then they came out with the headline: the head of the Jemaah Islamiah school, with my picture plastered on the newspaper. Because this journalist came here with sponsors they're not here to seek the truth, to know the truth, but they came here to seek justification."

"What we don't like is the policies of these countries' governments and administrations. Yes because those four countries have created the most negative portrayal of Islam in Indonesia."

Snowdon: Whatever the truth here in Ngruki and the surrounding community the Bali bombing, even the 11th of September attacks on the US are an American conspiracy, and the absent Abu Bakar Bashir remains a revered religious leader. Banners are strung across the streets to welcome him home, and include the words "we love you Abu Bakar Bashir". His friend, Wahyuddin explains:

Wahyuddin: "The reason why we welcome him is because we know, because we in fact with him we know how he is, who he is, he is an educator and people knows him and his datwah and his activities."