Indonesian authorities eye radical students | Asia News Network
The Jakarta Post, June 26, 2012
The Indonesian government is upping the
ante in its efforts to protect its citizens studying in the Middle East
and Pakistan from falling prey to radical teachings.
The Religious Affairs Ministry and the
National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) have said that students exposed
to extremist teachings might exacerbate the increasing number of
incidents involving radicalism and intolerance at home.
For the last three years, the ministry,
for example, has vetted students wishing to study religion abroad by
requiring an endorsement from the ministry.
The endorsement was represented as one of
several documents that students were required to submit when applying
for a visa from a host nation.
In reality, nations hosting Indonesian
students have no mandatory requirements for endorsements from the
ministry, and the Indonesian government has no statutory authority over
the issuance of foreign visas.
"Such recommendations are not mandatory
for host countries. However, there’s been an understanding between
Indonesia and the countries to have such a requirement in order for the
visa to be processed smoothly and for us to gather student data,"
Mastuki HS, the Religious Affairs Ministry’s institutional division
chief at the directorate general of Islamic higher education, said
yesterday.
Mastuki claimed that the recommendation
requirement did not ban study in specific countries, saying that the
ministry was on the lookout for radical activities in Yemen, Pakistan
and Libya.
"We want to cut the links between
Indonesia and radical groups abroad. If universities are known to have
links to radical groups or the countries are experiencing a period of
political upheaval, we will deny the recommendation requests and advise
the students to go elsewhere," Mastuki said.
Based on information from the education
attaches at Indonesian embassies and consulates, more than 8,000
Indonesians studied in the Middle East and Pakistan as of last year,
with the lion’s share studying in Egypt and Yemen, the Education and
Culture Ministry said.
Although Indonesia has not seen any major
terrorist attacks since the 2009 bombing of the JW Mariott and Ritz
Carlton hotels, radicalism and intolerance have grown.
Among the examples are the repeated
persecution of members of the Ahmadiyah and Shiite minority Muslim
sects, the closing of churches in West Java and Aceh of Indonesia and
the violence and threats perpetrated by members of the Islam Defenders
Front (FPI) that have gone unanswered by the authorities.
Further, several high-profile clerics with terrorist ties were exposed to radical groups while they studying overseas.
BNPT chairman Insp. Gen. (ret.) Ansyaad
Mbai said the agency was regularly updated on Indonesian student
activities by the nation’s embassies in the Middle East and Pakistan.
Mbai said the agency also cooperated with
other nations, including Egypt, India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, to
monitor Indonesian students.
"We have bilateral joint working groups
with those countries. We share intelligence information, conduct joint
trainings and other activities," he said.
According to Mbai, the BNPT has been
closely monitoring Indonesian students who joined radical groups
overseas after they returned to Indonesia.
"We will keep an eye on them. We will
monitor their activities and their partners here. Should they violate
the law, we will not hesitate to detain them," Mbai said.
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