The Jakarta Post, March 21, 2007
Former members warn against NII
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Former members of a religious congregation allegedly affiliated with the Indonesian
Islamic State (NII) movement urged the Bandung chapter of the Indonesian Ulema
Council (MUI) Tuesday to issue a warning about the congregation.
The former members went to the MUI Bandung chapter on Jl. Martadinata in Bandung,
West Java, asking it to alert the public to aggressive tactics allegedly used by the
movement.
Dede Ahmad, 34, a former NII member, said he was worried over increasingly strident
efforts to collect donations, supposedly to establish an Islamic state.
"Now they are aggressively campa! igning in Depok (West Java) and Jakarta. We
don't want to see them thrive again in Bandung like seven years ago," said Dede, who
led an NII village in Pulogadung, Jakarta from 2000 to 2003.
Dede said it was difficult to track what the money was actually being used for.
"Such methods used to be applied by my colleagues to gather funds to be transferred
to the organization," Dede said, adding that as an NII leader he had to pay Rp 16
million (US$1,684) per month collected from members.
The NII movement was well known in the early years of this decade when it recruited
new members through prayer groups at public and university mosques. Each member
was obliged to pay a monthly contribution. ! Those who did not were punished by
being isolated in rooms.
Fearing punishment, many members ended up resorting to theft, deceit and blackmail
to get the money.
Egi Rahmadi, 25, whose younger brother had been an NII member, said supervision of
prayers on campuses should be tightened because the NII netted new members
through religious mentoring.
"My brother entered NII through an introduction at a campus prayer activity," Egi said.
Responding to the complaints, Rafani Achyar, general secretary of MUI's West Java
chapter, said both security officers and gover! nment agents had been unable to
determine who was behind the NII movement. Thus it was difficult for MUI to attempt
to get rid of the movement, he said.
Rafani said MUI had not remained silent, however. He said the organization had held
activities within the last year in both East and West Java to explain its views against
the establishment of a state within the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia.
"We are encountering difficulties following up on this case due to the absence of
evidence," Rafani said.
Hedi Muhammad of the Deviation Movement Investigation Team of the Indonesian
Muslim Followers and Ulema Forum said that as of 2000, at least 260 former NII me!
mbers had repented and were ready to testify in court.
"The problem is that there should have been a case report from the police at the court.
No investigation of the case has been conducted by the West Java police thus far.
We also question this," Hedi said.
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