Reflecting On The Case Of Siti Elina And The View Of Varying The Strategy Of The Government Against Islam, The Founder Of The NII Crisis Center Gives Menohok Comments

Founder of the Islamic State of Indonesia (NII) Crisis Center Ken Setiawan. (ANTARA/HO-BNPT)

JAKARTA - Founder of the Islamic State of Indonesia (NII) Crisis Center Ken Setiawan said radicalism and terrorism are facts and not stigmatization. Ken stated that this was related to opinions as if radicalism and terrorism were labeling and stigmatizing the government against Islam. "This narrative is very dangerous because some people who have minimal literacy can be influenced by the narrative of religious stigmatization and the absence of terrorism threats that are just fabrication," said Ken in a release from the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) received in Jakarta, Antara, Thursday, November 3. He stated this in response to the arrest of a woman named Siti Elina (SE) who was about to break into the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, with a gun some time ago. Ironically, after the incident, a figure commented that the case was a form of government stigmatization against Muslims. In fact, the figure asked the public not to believe in radicalism and terrorism, because it is the government's "regulation" ahead of the political year. Ken considered the need for more massive education than all elements to spread that fighting radicalism and terrorism is not a stigmatization of religion. The call for anti-radicalism and anti-terrorism actually saves religion from slander by terrorist groups," he stressed. He revealed that there is a fact where people learn from the wrong teacher. Finally, the person interpreted and applied verses related to jihad in the wrong way too. According to Ken, this was experienced by SE because it received the doctrine and influence of teachers and husbands who turned out to be the treasurer of North Jakarta's NII. Ken said the ideology of NII will never die. In fact, this ideology is now quite massive, especially among women. This is evidenced by several perpetrators of acts of terrorism involving women. Before the case of SE breaking into the Merdeka Palace, the attack on the National Police Headquarters in South Jakarta was also carried out by a woman. In addition, there were also suicide bombings in Surabaya and Makassar which were also carried out by female perpetrators. "Women are more vulnerable, because if they have joined NII or HTI and are bound by marriage, then they are more obedient to their group," said Ken. Ken said that many of the case complaint reports received by the NII Crisis Center recently involved women in cases of radicalism and terrorism. In fact, he added, not a few of them are undergraduate and graduate from well-known universities in Indonesia. He also encouraged the creation of regulations to prohibit ideologies promoted by radicalism groups in Indonesia. According to him, it is important because the ideology is clearly against the nation's ideology, namely Pancasila. "Currently, there is no legal umbrella that can take action against radicalism such as NII, khilafism, salafism, wahabisme and others. Even if it is prosecuted, only the organization, it is only with a light article. If they change their name, then they can return to recruiting and raising funds," said Ken Setiawan. He considered that it was necessary for the state to eradicate radicalism in the name of religion. The reason is, none of the religions on earth teach violence, destruction, let alone kill fellow humans.