Beritasatu, Jakarta – Akhmad Taufiq, a lecturer and the head of the Institute for Learning Development and Quality Assurance at Jember State University in East Java was dismissed from his post after disclosing the results of an internal inquiry into the extent of religious radicalization at his university.
The 2018 inquiry showed 22 percent of 15,500 students at the university had been exposed to radical religious ideas.
Ahmad revealed the results of the inquiry during an event on Nov. 21 to respond to another inquiry by the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (Infid), which came up with similar results.
The Infid research found students from 10 state universities in Indonesia had been involved in bomb-making, paramilitary training, sharia raids and participated in the banned hardline Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI).
Hizbut Tahrir is a global organization whose goal is to establish an international caliphate.
"He [Akhmad] had ignored orders not to reveal the results of the inquiry to the public. It was an internal inquiry conducted to help us formulate preventive measures [against radicalization]," rector Mohammad Hassan told reporters in Jember on Wednesday. Akhmad has been replaced by Bambang Sujanarko.
Hassan said the method and hence the results of the study still need to be validated.Akhmad said he had accepted the university's decision to dismiss him. "Radicalization is happening in state universities. The extent might vary, but the movement is structured, systematic and massive," Akhmad said.
Akhmad said the government and communities need to take at least three steps to stem the spread of radicalization: develop tolerance and inclusivity through multicultural education, involve all parts of society in the fight against radicalism and ensure that senior staff and lecturers at universities are committed to combating radical ideologies.