A former leader of Indonesian Islamic State (NII) claims that the extremist group has infiltrated political parties in Indonesia, including the Golkar Party and the ruling Democratic Party.

The statement was made by a former NII leader Iman Supriyanto duirng a meeting with the House of Representative's deputy speaker in Jakarta on Monday. "NII has put their people in political parties like Golkar, Democrats and other parties," Iman said.

"The son of Panji Gumilang [allegedly the current leader of NII and the director of Al Zaitun Islamic Boarding School] is a legislative member in Indramayu, he's from Golkar," Iman said. "In the 2004 election, Panji Gumilang fully supported Wiranto, who became Golkar's presidential candidate," Iman said.

As for the Democratic Party, Iman said that the party's chairman Anas Urbaningrum came to Al Zaitun Islamic Boarding School. "Anas Urbaningrum came to Al Zaitun with the party's secretary general Edhie Baskoro and other party officials," Iman said.

NII has infiltrated political parties, he said, because they are interested in three things – politics, education and the economy.