MUI Must Be More Selective In Accepting Management, Don't Miss Being Infiltrated By Terrorists

JAKARTA - Commission III of the House of Representatives has asked the National Police's Anti-terror Detachment 88 to dismantle all terrorist networks in Indonesia. This follows the arrest of several clerics suspected of being involved in the terrorist group, Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).

"We from the Indonesia House of Representatives, especially Commission III of the House of Representatives, give our appreciation to the Anti-terror Detachment 88 which has succeeded in capturing the big figures of terrorist groups. We hope that Detachment 88 will continue to try to dismantle terrorism networks in Indonesia", said Member of Commission III of the House of Representatives, Jazilul Fawaid, Monday. November 22.

Detachment 88 some time ago arrested Ustaz Farid Okbah, who is the chairman of the Partai Dakwah Rakyat Indonesia (PDRI). In addition, Detachment 88 also arrested members of the MUI Fatwa Commission, Ahmad Zain An Najah, and Anung Al Hamat on suspicion of terrorism.

Farid Okbah and Zain An Najah have been deactivated from the MUI management. Jazilul emphasized that the arrests of the three terrorism suspects in Bekasi, West Java were by procedures and based on strong evidence.

“Densus will not make arrests if they do not have evidence. And as stated by the National Police, the arrests were made for the development of the case, including the confessions of dozens of terrorist suspects who had been arrested previously", said the Deputy Chair of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly.

“In addition, documentary evidence was also found that corroborates the alleged involvement of the three suspects in a terrorist network. So Detachment does not play around with arrests and has complied with the procedures for arresting. Let's respect the applicable legal process", added Jazilul.

From the evidence obtained by the Police, Farid Okbah, Zain An Najah, and Anung Al Hamat were confirmed to be involved in the JI group and JI's charitable foundation, the Baitul Maal Abdurrahman Bin Auf Zakat Foundation (LAZ BM ABA). Ahmad Zain and Farid Okbah are said to be involved in financing the JI terrorist group.

Jazilul also emphasized that Detachment 88 has been working professionally so far.

"However, Detachment 88 must also be careful in developing terrorism cases so that they are not considered as a form of criminalization of ulama", he added.

The arrests of Farid Okbah and Zain An Najah were shocking because these two scholars were well-known figures to the public. Farid Okbah even met President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) for input.

"This is indeed quite unfortunate and must be a joint introspection that terrorists have spread their networks everywhere, even to the closest circle of state administrators, including MUI", said Jazilul.

The legislator from the East Java X electoral district also asked MUI to be stricter in recruiting administrators and members. As an institution that is trusted by the community, said Jazilul, MUI must prioritize the element of prudence.

“MUI needs to be more selective when appointing administrators or accepting members. We don't want the same thing to happen again in the future", he said.

Furthermore, Jazilul also reminded all parties to be more vigilant with the alleged terrorist network 'infiltrating' state institutions such as the Police, TNI, and SOEs. Because there are many allegations that the JI group has been 'embedded' in state administration institutions to influence policy by recruiting experts and professionals.

"So we hope that with this arrest, Detachment 88 can further explore terrorist networks in Indonesia, whether terrorism networks have entered state ministries and institutions, TNI and Police officers, SOEs, and so on so that we can anticipate and take precautions", concluded Jazilul.