Yuliasri Perdani and Ruslan Sangaji, Jakarta/Palu – In the wake of the arrest of alleged Chinese Turkestan jihadists in Central Sulawesi, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin has called on the caretakers of mosques across the country to keep an eye out on foreigners.
"Houses of worship, I believe, must be more selective in giving space to individuals, let alone to foreigners with dubious backgrounds. Don't easily give space for foreign nationals with unknown religious backgrounds," Lukman said.
Lukman issued the statement following the arrest of seven suspected terrorists, including four individuals allegedly from China's restive Xinjiang province, in conflict-prone Poso of Central Sulawesi over the weekend. It is alleged that the foreign nationals were planning to join a terrorist cell led by fugitive Santoso.
The fact that Santoso had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) movement had raised suspicions that their visit was linked to the international terrorist group's activities.
While acknowledging the threat from the IS movement, Slamet Effendi Yusuf, the executive council chairman of the country's largest Muslim group, Nahdlatul Ulama, underlined that there was no need for mosque caretakers to step up their vigilance on foreigners.
"We don't have to be xenophobic. It is unnecessary to implement concerted efforts only to monitor foreigners. We have security institutions tasked with pursuing terrorists, be they Indonesians or foreign nationals," he said on Monday.
Slamet also added that most members of hard-line groups were locals. "Many cases in the past suggest that local hard-line groups, not foreigners, play a dominant role in promoting the IS movement in the country," Slamet said.
A number of groups and individuals, including radical cleric and convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, are known to have voiced their support and raised funds for IS. The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) estimates that around 100 Indonesians are fighting under the IS banner in Syria and Iraq.
Meanwhile, the National Police were working to uncover the motives and backgrounds of the four foreigners, who are currently being held at the Mobile Brigade's (Brimob) detention center in Depok, West Java.
National Police chief Gen. Sutarman said on Monday that police investigators had trouble finding interpreters for them as none of the suspects, identified as Ahmed Bozoghlan, A. Basyit, A. Bayram and Azubaidan, spoke English.
"We have coordinated with the Turkish Embassy in regard to the suspects' fraudulent Turkish passports and we also asked [the embassy] to assign an interpreter. It turns out that they speak a different language. The suspects speak Uighur," Sutarman said, referring to a Turkic language spoken by China's Uighur ethnic group.
According to Sutarman, the four purchased fake Turkish passports, priced at US$1,000 each, in Thailand. They took flights from Thailand to Kuala Lumpur and then to Bandung, West Java. The four took another flight to Makassar, South Sulawesi, where three Indonesian militants picked them up for a ride to Poso.
Also on Monday, the police's Densus 88 counterterrorism squad searched the rented house of the foreigners on Jl. Tangkasi, South Birobuli, South Palu subdistrict.
"Upon their arrival, they claimed that they came from Tojo Una-Una regency and are studying at a university in Palu," the house owner, Willem, said during police questioning. Willem said that the foreigners were rarely seen at home during the night.
The police detained one of the house's tenants, whose identity was withheld. The police went on to search the house of one of the three Indonesian suspects, identified as Saipul Prianta, Yudi Chandra and Mohammad Irfan, in Lambara, Tawaili in North Palu, located about 25 kilometers from the foreigners' rented house.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/16/muslims-told-watch-mosques-is-presence.html