Jakarta – The recent bombings in Jakarta should be a wake-up call for Islamic organizations and clerics to promote noble Islamic values in order to prevent the rapid spread of terrorism, analysts said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Riefqi Muna, an international security expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said the rapid spread of terrorist networks in the country was related to the use of mosques and mass religious gatherings to deliver provocative sermons for political purposes.
"I have noticed that many current religious leaders and clerics prefer to deliver provocative statements in their remarks and sermons in mosques and mass gathering instead of advocating noble Islamic values and teachings," he said.
The discussion, based on finding effective ways to prevent religious radicalism, was organized by the Muhammadiyah, the second-largest Islamic organization in the country after the Nadhlatul Ulama.
According to Riefqi, promoting Islamic values and religious teachings can change people's perspectives and encourage them to seek peace and reject religious extremism.
However, he also warned that such efforts should be conducted consistently and simultaneously by many institutions in order to counter infiltration by fundamentalist religious leaders.
The former head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Gen. (ret) A.M. Hendropriyono concurred, saying that it was the right time for religious leaders such as the Muhammadiyah and the Nadhlatul Ulama, the two largest Muslim organizations in the country, to formulate long-term programs that will cutout radicalism using the right "knife".
"We must use cultural, economic and theological perspectives simultaneously to sever the root of Islamic radicalism in our country.
"I am afraid that is the only way. To date that is also what I have done. I have been educating former terrorists and encouraging them to reject religious fundamentalism entirely," he said.
He said that in the future, clerics should be able to convince people that fundamentalist ideas, such as being quick to consider outsiders as enemies, was never in line with being a true Muslim.
"At the same time, we must also empower people economically as it has been proven that most of the field operatives in terrorist organizations are people from lower socioeconomic classes in our society," he said, adding that clerics should stop inciting hatred among Muslims.
He also applauded the de-radicalization program that has been launched by the National Police. So far, 192 out of 455 people who were involved in terrorist activities have been released from prison.
Many believe that if the government is unsuccessful at encouraging terrorists to reject religious extremism, then it is likely they will continue their hard-line activities.
Commenting on this, Piet Khaidir, a member of the central board of the Muhammadiyah's Youth Organization, blamed the rise of radicalism on the reform movement, which he said had promoted religious freedom to extreme proportions.
"The best and only way to prevent the rise of terrorism in Indonesia is to encourage people to stay away from radical ideologies," he said during the Muhammadiyah's discussion.