Candra Malik – University officials in Yogyakarta said on Monday that there were signs their campuses were quietly being "infiltrated" by Muslim extremists seeking to expand their youth base.
Haryanto, the director of student affairs at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), said recruiters from the radical Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement had been targeting their students for the past decade.
"They target smart and rich students from renowned universities," he said. "The NII works to attract the attention of new students experiencing post-high school jitters. They pretend to offer these students a new paradigm on freedom."
Haryanto said he believed dozens of students had already joined the NII, which began as a nationalist organization before its founder, Sekar Maji Kartosuwiryo, turned to radical Islam after a falling out with then-President Sukarno.
The outlawed group aims to establish an Islamic caliphate by enlisting the support of educated young Indonesians and sympathizers, according to a terrorism expert.
"It's quite difficult for us to block the covert movements of such an organization," Haryanto said. "We cannot forbid students to hang out with them or develop their minds."
Edy Suandi, the rector of the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII), said the school had a system in place to prevent the "spread of heresy and the activities of banned organizations."
"Periodically, our lecturers provide students with a fresh orientation on the basic values of Islam," he said. "We particularly monitor suspicious parties inside and outside the campus. We are aware that the NII must be targeting the UII."
Haryanto said the issue of Muslim extremists moving onto college campuses also concerned schools in other provinces. "This matter has been discussed among academics," he said. "We feel the same anxiety and each of us has taken a stand to counteract this movement."
Terrorism expert Noor Huda Ismail, executive director of the Institute for International Peace Building, on Sunday noted a shift in the NII's recruitment tactics, saying it was increasingly targeting educated youths.
Haryanto said NII recruiters used to be easy to spot based on their attire, but became more difficult to identify when the organization was forced to go underground.
"The female recruiters, for instance, do not always wear the hijab. And the female targets are not always veiled," he said. "[Generally, for men,] their trousers are worn above the ankle. They sport beards and skull caps. They do not get along with most college students. They do not talk much publicly."
The UGM official added that in the past, recruiters would look for recruits exclusively at mosques and prayer halls.
He said the NII had also tweaked its rhetoric to make the organization more palatable to younger recruits. While they once used religious provisions in the Constitution to justify the formation of an Islamic state, Haryanto said NII followers were now less aggressive about pressing this idea.
"Now, the theme of their preaching is not always about the state," he said. "They elaborate on and show concern toward the implementation of Shariah law in an increasingly pagan society."
Edy said he was alarmed that the NII had "successfully infiltrated the UII" and managed to enlist a number of students, and stressed that weeding out radical groups required a concerted effort by all Indonesians.
"Communities where students live in dormitories, local governments, police and the families of students are expected to be involved in warding off the NII," he said "Their presence is a latent danger to the country."