Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Some point their finger to poverty, others the hostility of US troops in several Muslim countries, but for security analyst and former journalist Noor Huda Ismail, terrorism is mainly caused by the people's failure to think critically.

"The culture that has been ingrained within the Jamaah Islamiyah [JI] environment is that members should be subservient to clerics. As a result, members cannot think critically about clerics' advice and teachings," said Noor Huda during the launching of his first book last week.

Titled My Friend the Terrorist, the book provides first hand information on how a close friend of Noor Huda, who graduated from the Al-Mukmin Islamic traditional boarding school in Ngruki, Surakarta, in 1991, became a radical and joined militant groups such as JI.

Al-Mukmin, led by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, has been under the public spotlight after some of its alumni, both teachers and students, were found to be involved in a number of terrorist activities throughout the country.

The book follows the journey of Noor Huda and Utomo Pamungkas, widely known as Mubarok, a terrorist convict now serving a life sentence in prison for his involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings.

Huda and Mubarok were roommates when they were in Al-Mukmin. "After graduating from Al-Mukmin, I was heading to the West, meeting people from other religions and cultures, who used to be labeled as infidels by our clerics back then and I found that they didn't fit this picture," he said.

Meanwhile, Mubarok was led by his passion to study Islam from its original countries in the Middle East.

Noor Huda said his friend was then stranded in the middle of war-spirited groups of Asian youngsters grouped under the JI in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which were widely recognized as war zones at the time.

"My friend kept learning that his Muslim brothers and sisters were being attacked by infidels. Then, he pledged war on the entities outside Islam," he said.

Noor Huda argued that strong law enforcement was needed to show terrorists the state would not bow down to their will, but changing their views to the fact that Indonesia was not a battlezone was also equally important.

A.M. Hendropriyono, former State Intelligence Agency chief, who attended the book launch, said Huda's way of countering radicalism was promising as it focused on dialogue, not coercion.

"The terrorists are immune to death threats. It would be more promising to ask them to gain a new perspective through constructive dialogue," he said.

Hendro also asked the government to pay serious attention to this particular issue as he had witnessed terrorists transform themselves in many ways.