LAKSAMANA.Net, December 3, 2003 02:24 PM
Suharto and Pesantren al Zaytun
Laksamana.Net - Critics of the Maahad al Zaytun Islamic boarding school (pesantren)
filed a complaint with the police last week against National Intelligence Agency (BIN)
chief Hendropriyono in a move that possesses the momentum for uncovering possible
cooperation in the past between the Suharto and Habibie regimes and those allegedly
linked to radical Muslim activists.
As far as Hendropriyono is concerned, the complaint filed on November 28 by the
authors of material critical of the Al Zaytun Islamic boarding school in the West Java
town of Indramayu is merely related to his alleged intimidation of them.
According to Al Chaidar, one of the authors, during a visit to al Zaytun in May 2003,
Hendropriyono delivered a speech in which he alleged that books criticizing the
boarding school were "satanic books written by envious people" and that he would
use "all the power and authority" that he had to "crack down on those people".
The boarding school has been accused by several Muslim organizations, including the
Muslim Ulamas Council (MUI), as teaching deviationist Islam.
In May 2002, al Zaytun came into public focus when the National Police, quoting a
report filed by parents, accused it of "brainwashing" students in an apparent attempt
to strive for an Islamic state.
Parents and others have alleged that al Zaytun serves as the ninth regional military
command (KW9) overseeing Banten, West Java and Jakarta of Darul Islam, the
militant Islamic movement led by Sekarmaji Marijan Kartosuwiryo which struggled for
an Islamic state during the early post-colonial 1949-1962 period.
Al Zaytun Islamic was inaugurated in 1996 by then Minister of Research and
Technology B.J. Habibie, and is currently headed by Panji Gumilang.
Political attacks against it came when al Zaytun was accused of accepting funding
from former presidents Suharto and Habibie, their families and former allies, as well as
financial sources at home and overseas linked to radical Muslim groups.
Built in 1996, the modern and rich boarding school boasts a 1,200 hectare campus
including three hostel blocks, lecture theaters, a dining hall and a mosque which can
accommodate 6,000 people.
Mystery continues to shroud the source of funding and political support for al Zaytun.
Several sources have speculated that Taufik Kiemas, the husband of President
Megawati Sukarnoputri, together with Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Munawar,
are among those support the school.
Panji Gumilang's own political connection with Suharto and his group is relatively
easy to trace.
According to unpublished research conducted by the Center for Democracy and
Social Justice Studies (CeDSos) entitled The Conspiracy of the Radical Muslim
Movement and the Military in Indonesia, al Zaytun was basically established as part of
Suharto's political scheme to placate radical Muslim groups in the period between
1994-1996.
Suharto and his younger brother Probosutejo allocated donations to help the Muslim
people in Bosnia through humanitarian programs, building a mosque and even to
supply weapons and ammunitions.
The honeymoon between the Suharto regime and former radical Muslim groups was
used by Suharto's military intelligence to tame the political activists of the militant
Islamic movement and bring them into Suharto's version of nationalism.
In the process, the military was also influenced by the radical Muslim movement. On
the one hand, Suharto and his military inner circle intended to cripple the influence of
Islamic forces as political opposition to their regime.
On the other hand, radical Muslim political activists linked to the Indonesian Islamic
State (NII) and other radical Muslim movements in general, used the moderate policy
of the Suharto regime to recruit or at least to influence government officials, including
generals within Suharto's inner circle, to take sides with their political agenda.
The establishment of al Zaytun was a by-product of the cooperative political attitude of
the offspring of the Darul Islam movement and Suharto's honeymoon with Islam.
When al Zaytun was officially established, suspicion spread among certain Muslim
groups that though this Islamic boarding school was aimed at taming and undermining
the radical character of forces which struggled for Islamic state, in practice it was still
the basis of the movement.
The link between Suharto and his group and Panji Gumilang alias Abu Toto or Abu
Ma'ariq was through Police Commissioner Anton Tabah.
Panji Gumilang was a regular visitor to Suharto's residence at Jl. Cendana, and was
seen as close to Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana (Tutut).
Tutut visited Indramayu at the invitation of Panji Gumilang for the laying of the first
stone for the building of the pesantren in 1997.
The CeDSos research also found that, according to testimony from several former
Darul Islam-connected figures who severed their relationship with al Zaytun, the total
amount given to the school by Suharto was Rp1.3 trillion, given through former Justice
Minister Ismail Saleh.
In June 2002, Tutut, accompanied by former Army Chief of Staff Gen. (ret.) R.
Hartono, was pictured with Panji Gumilang at al Zaytun. Intelligence chief
Hendropriyono, a former military adjutant to Suharto, also showed his support by
signing the inscription marking the building of the learning center of Maahad al Zaytun,
called the General Suharto al Zaytun building.
The al Zaytun case incidentally brings to mind the role played by Hendropriyono as
the officer in charge of the bloody incident at Talangsari in Lampung in 1989, in which
around 100 supporters of an Islamic state were killed by a military drive.
Hendropriyono is believed to have recruited a number of persons involved in the
Muslim movement in the district to act as his intelligence agents serving his own
political agenda, through the Bunnaya Foundation.
Two former intelligence chiefs, Z.A. Maulani and the late Arie J. Kumaat, are among
other generals who have maintained contact with radical Muslim activists.
According to CeDSos, even former Armed Forces Territorial Chief of Staff Lt. Gen
(ret.) Agus Wijoyo crafted an intelligence network through the Darul Jalal foundation,
together with former Territorial Assistant to Army Chief Of Staff Col. Saurip Kadi and
former Army Chief of Staff Tyasno Sudarto.
Media baron Surya Paloh, who also has close connections with the Cendana Family,
especially with Suharto's second son Bambang Trihatmojo, speaking when he visited
al Zaytun in February 2002, said he would be the first person to crush those who
opposed the existence of the school.
From al Zaytun's perspective, the accusations that the wealthy school Al-Zaytun has
political and business connection with Suharto and his family are totally baseless.
The Jakarta Post on 11 May 2002 quoted a statement made by Panji Gumilang
denying the accusations. "It is all rubbish. If we answer them, it means we are rubbish
too."
Gumilang is known as an admirer of both Suharto and founding President Sukarno.
He graduated from Gontor, a highly respected Islamic boarding school in Ponorogo,
East Java, and the Jakarta's State Academy of Islamic Studies (IAIN).
The CeDSos research also sees close coordination between the Darul Islam-linked al
Zaytun movement and the government apparatus at the center down to the regions as
well the military and police apparatus.
There is also evidence that al Zaytun is fully supported by the Religious Affairs
Ministry at the provincial and district level in promotion and accumulation of funds.
Rumors also spread that 12 companies owned by Suharto's family were given to
Gumilang.
The complaint filed by Al Chaidar and his associates alleging defamation by
Hendropriyono also sheds light on the internal struggle among the political elites
within Megawati's inner circle.
In February last year, Megawati was under pressure to take a clear stand on al
Zaytun given the growing protests and allegations of deviant teachings.
Umar Abduh, a former activist in the Indonesian Islamic State (Negara Islam Indonesia
- NII) movement linked to Darul Islam sayss "al Zaytun remains strong because the
president still lets it exist," in his book The Al-Zaytun Islamic Boarding School:
Deviationist?
In addition to the clear support of Megawati's husband Taufik Kiemas and Religious
Affairs Minister Said Agil Munawar, widely known as Kiemas' protégé, the provocative
statements of Hendropriyono attacking the opponents of al Zaytun in his capacity as
intelligence chief as well as media baron Surya Paloh, indicate that there are those
within Megawati's inner circle, and those outside the government linked to Cendana
connections, who are playing the game of destabilization against Megawati's
presidency.
The situation was aggravated when former President and head of Nahdlatul Ulama
Abdurrahman Wahid, retired intelligence officer Djuanda and NGO activist Munir
supported the move for a formal complaint against Hendropriyono.
Given the fact that Hendropriyono and other ultra-nationalist generals implicated in
crafting intelligence networks with radical Muslim activists were behind Megawati in
plotting the downfall of Abdurrahman Wahid from the presidency in July 2001, the
maneuver to attack Hendropriyono at this time can be read as part of a destabilization
movement to deny Megawati a second term by blackening her name among Muslims.
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