SURAKARTA – Indonesia’s counter-terrorism agency has proposed cutting the prison terms of former Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) members who have declared support for the group’s dissolution, in a bid to get more militants to surrender to the authorities.
National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Eddy Hartono said it plans to recommend sentence reductions for more than 180 individuals to the immigration and penitentiary ministry, though he did not specify a timeline.
“We appeal to all ex-JI members to become role models and live as citizens who respect religious tolerance,” said Commissioner-General Eddy on Dec 21.
He was speaking at an event in Surakarta, or Solo, where some 8,000 former JI members renounced their extremist beliefs. Formed in 1993, JI was the South-east Asian affiliate of Islamist militant organisation Al-Qaeda and was behind deadly attacks in Indonesia including the 2002 Bali bombings.
In his speech, Mr Eddy singled out two former senior JI leaders Abu Rusdan and Para Wijayanto, who played key roles in convincing other members to support the disbanding of the group.
He said the two men, who are currently serving time, will receive special attention when they file for parole.
According to Indonesian law, any eligible inmate may get parole if they have completed two-thirds of their sentence.
Para and Rusdan have been on a nationwide tour speaking via videoconferencing from their prison cells, with the help of Indonesia’s national police counter-terrorism squad Detachment 88.
At engagements held by Detachment 88, also known as Densus 88, the two ex-JI leaders have been urging their former comrades not to regroup or take up arms in any other extremist cell.
The Surakarta event was attended by more than 1,200 former JI members in person and 6,800 online, who pledged loyalty to Indonesia and committed to abandon their previously held beliefs.
“We, the former members of Jemaah Islamiyah and also former jihadis in Afghanistan and Moro (the Philippines) from Greater Surakarta, Kedu and Semarang, declare our support for the disbandment of JI,” a representative said on behalf of the group.
“We pledge allegiance to NKRI (the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia)… distance ourselves from radical views and extreme groups, and obey the laws and regulations of Indonesia.”
The event was organised by Densus 88, who said in a release on the same day that since JI’s dissolution, the group’s members have handed over various tools and weapons, including guns and bombs.
Densus 88 squad leader, Inspector-General Sentot Prasetyo, told reporters that this included six firearms, 40kg of explosives and 12 bomb detonators.
“Such surrendering (of weapons) is not a small act. It is a concrete token of their commitment,” he said, pointing out that these former JI members also reported to Densus 88 and had arranged meetings with fugitives from the group.
Ex-JI member Imtihan Syafi’i, who is principal of an Islamic boarding school or “pesantren”, told The Straits Times that former members of the group will continue to do religious outreach, teaching and counselling.
“We will no longer promote extremism… We will reduce all these to zero. But (it is) a process. This (behaviour) will not immediately be gone,” said Mr Imtihan. “In terms of school curriculum, we will not use textbooks that would lead students to think and act that way.”
On June 30, Rusdan said in a video that JI’s senior council and the leaders of its affiliated Islamic boarding schools “have agreed to declare the dissolution of the JI and return to Indonesia’s embrace”.
Densus 88 said on Dec 21 that JI has opened up 92 of its pesantren to be evaluated by the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Indonesia.
Senior JI figures have promised a change to the educational curriculum at its affiliated pesantrens. Besides ensuring that lessons would align with mainstream Islamic beliefs, they said that extremist content would be removed from teaching materials.
Besides being known for the Bali bombings, JI was responsible for Singapore’s closest shave with terrorism. The group, which aimed to establish a conservative Islamic state in South-east Asia, had a presence in Singapore since the late 1980s.
In late 2001, Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) uncovered plots by the group to bomb multiple targets in the city, including several embassies, Changi Airport, Yishun MRT station and water pipelines. The plans were foiled, however, when members were arrested during the ISD’s crackdown on the JI network in 2001 and 2002.
Since then, more than 50 JI members have been detained by the Singapore authorities, and the network has been neutralised. Many of the members have been rehabilitated, but a few remain in detention in Singapore under the Internal Security Act, including JI leaders Ibrahim Maidin and Mas Selamat Kastari.
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