Theological and policing approaches to combating terrorism.
Indonesia is currently seeking cooperation with a number of Islamic countries to reduce the threat of terrorism, said Ansyaad Mbai, the head of the anti-terrorism desk of the office of the coordinating minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.
We are considering cooperation with countries like Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in implementing a “de-radicalization” program.
Although the English version of the Antara report quotes him as saying “re-radicalization”, which can’t be right. antara
Speaking after a meeting between the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Widodo AS, and the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Indonesia, Fadel Khalaf, Ansyaad Mbai said the program was already being carried out in a number of other countries, including Europe and the US.
It was designed to improve people’s understanding of true Islam, he said, adding that so far the terrorists had often misunderstood Islamic tenets such as the matter of jihad. Jihad was not about fighting western countries, he said, such as those supporting the US, Israel and the Jews, by the use of extreme methods.
The use of “hard power” against the terrorism problem, such as attacks on countries thought to be harbouring terrorists, would only make things worse, he said, a more civilized and soft approach was needed, such as a program of de-radicalisation based on the conveying of correct religious teachings to the people.
Such a program had already been embarked upon in Indonesia, but with limited success, he admitted, and help was needed from abroad.
We need to cooperate with several moderate Islamic countries to spread the true teachings of Islam.
Some things being considered include the distribution of books on Islam, training in preaching, and exchanges of information and experience between countries. Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt would donate books and send preachers, he said. jawapos
Ansyad Mbai also said that the State Intelligence Service (BIN) was in the process of compiling a data bank of all Indonesian citizens who had fought in Afghanistan, the southern Philippines, and southern Thailand. The government was no longer in any doubt that veterans of Afghanistan were the prime movers in Indonesian terrorism.
However Ansyad said that the fact that men had served in foreign wars was no legal justification for arresting them, unlike in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore. Their movements could be watched, but nothing else, unless they crossed a line. He said his department received reports of the activities of former mujahidin every day, and that such reports were full of stories of para-military training and recruitment drives. A civilian who undertook para-military training committed no crime, he said, and urged the parliament to consider revising the law.
One weakness in Indonesia’s combating of terrorism was the poor system of personal identification in the country. Getting a new identity card cost only 150,000 rupiah, he said, and men such as Bali bomber Imam Samudra managed to obtain eight identities.
In response to the plan to collect information on war veterans Irfan S. Awwas of the Mujahidin Council (Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI)) said the department of Political, Legal and Security Affairs was merely doing the bidding of foreign powers. The sending of books from Arab countries was not welcome either, he said, because such books were a subject of heated debate in their countries of origin, and such debate wasn’t needed in Indonesia.
They should look at what the King of Morocco is doing.
and what is that?
Islam doesn’t teach terrorism, but Islam absolutely teaches jihad. Many people are not able to distinguish jihad and terrorism. Bomb Bali is terror, but war against Israel (as an agressor) is jihad.
Yeah, Israel is the evil and Palestine is well, hmm another form of evil. 🙂
Exactly, it’s like the pot calling the kettle black.
Except for the fact that the kettle stole the pot’s land, and retaliated rockthrowers with tank shells and gunships’ rockets, and then call them terrorists to justify their actions 😀
Yes I agree and the kettle is those two devils and the pot is the innocent peeps.
Why do moslems bother about understanding other beliefs about Jihad in the Islamic tenets. Thaghut will never stop barking on Moslems until Moslems follow the thaghut way.
Because according to thaghut “True moslems” only exist, when they were death or blind as Mr. Gus Dur.
Provokator no.1.
Eggy: A good one, with the kettle and pot analogy.
jihad is the root of terorrism, kill other people and heaven waiting for him. We can’t deny that Quran teach us like this. Do not deny the quran very clear in Quran to fight un muslim to ambush them wherever they are, Spesifically Quran did nt teach terorism but teach to kill and ambush non muslim until they become muslim.
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This is good to hear. Muslims need to help themselves and fix their own problems – with help of course, but Western countries will not be effective when acting alone and using bombs to battle an ideology. They should look at what the King of Morocco is doing.