Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Not everyone connected to a movement to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia should be painted as a terrorist, a reformed radical said on Friday.
Nasir Abbas, a former member of the Al Qaeda-affiliated Jemaah Islamiyah, said it was baseless to accuse all those linked to the Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement of being terrorists unless their actions showed such an intent.
"Someone could be the son of an NII activist or even a member of the NII network, but we must see their true personality," he said at a discussion. "It's more important to criticize someone who, through their sermons, deems others infidels and condones their killing. This kind of person is much more dangerous."
Nasir was responding to claims made a day earlier by Imam Supriyanto, a former NII member, that Hilmi Aminuddin, a co-founder of the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was linked to the extremist movement because his father was part of the original group that espoused it in the 1950s and 1960s.
Imam also claimed Hilmi was influenced by the ultraconservative Muslim Brotherhood while in the Middle East, and upon returning set up the Tarbiyah movement, aimed at spreading and promoting the supremacy of an Islamic state. The PKS has denied Hilmi or the party were ever involved with the NII.
Speaking at Friday's discussion, terrorism expert Al Chaidar claimed some variants of the NII were created and used by government officials to counter the extremist threat.
"Such organizations are effective enough to detect any terror threat and serve as an effective method to counter radicalism in Indonesia," he said, citing the NII KW 9 cell as one such group.
He said the real NII movement pushing for an Islamic state only comprised 14 cells across the country.
"This real NII isn't protected, and its members live in fear," Chaidar said. "They can't [expand] but they remain in existence."
Budi Susilo Supandji, the governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas), agreed that the NII had done little in the way of radicalization, but he said the movement still remained a threat because it sought to change people's mind-set.
"We'll support the National Police's efforts to fight all forms of radicalization in society, including terrorism," he said. He also warned against taking the threat lightly, saying that Lemhannas would carry out research into whether the NII posed a short- or long-term threat in order to better devise policies to tackle the movement.
Budi said his institute would meet with government institutions and civil society groups to discuss the issue.
He added that Lemhannas would also recommend the National Education Ministry intensify the teaching of Pancasila, the state ideology, at schools to encourage tolerance. "In order to be a strong, unified society, we need to be tolerant of one another," he said.