Ex-JI spiritual leader still holds radical beliefs, says Indonesian official

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s counterterrorism chief said Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, a spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group released from prison in 2021, still believes in radical ideology, it has been reported.

The Head of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), Boy Rafli Amar, said he knew of this development from the last communication between his team and the former terror convict.

"From what we can see, we talk (to Ba’asyir), our team is communicating with him, he still believes in what he believes," CNN Indonesia reported Boy as saying during a meeting with the Law, Human Rights and Peace Commission of Indonesia’s Parliament in Jakarta, Monday.

After the meeting, Boy explained that Ba'asyir had joined the community in Central Java after serving his sentence in Mount Sindur Prison.

Boy said the communication programme that he had established was a mitigation measure so that Abu Bakar would not convey narratives that could radicalise other people.?

"We have to save others so that they don't become individuals who, because they heard narratives from him, ultimately have the potential to break the law. That's why we try to keep communicating with him and elements of the local government, so we are on guard together," Boy explained.

"The most important thing is that there are no narratives that lead to radicalisation being carried out again in the midst of society," he added.

Boy admitted that Abu Bakar was a senior among those who had a brush with the law. Therefore, Abu Bakar still has quite a strong influence and way of thinking on those who listen.

"Especially if those who hear it are young people who don't understand enough about religious values. So the important thing is (Abu Bakar) does not do things that are propaganda in nature," said Boy.

According to BNPT data, said Boy, at least about 80 percent of former terror convicts are still adamant about their stance or ideology, but Boy sees this as a challenge to face in the future.

Previously, he said there were 116 former terror convicts who were recidivists.?

"Out of a total of 1,036 identified ex-convicts, 116 have become terror recidivists. From this data, 19 people are still in prison," he said.

Boy also revealed some names in the recidivism, namely Iqbal Husaini who was involved in a military training case in 2009 and Supriadi who joined the pro-Daesh Mujahideen Indonesia Timur (Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen) or MIT network in 2012-2018.

Also recidivists were Juhanda, who was involved in the 2016 church bombing in East Kalimantan, and Sunakin, who was involved in the 2016 Jakarta shopping mall attack. In addition, Wawan Kurniawan, who was involved in the bloody 2018 West Java detention centre riot, and Agus Sujatno, who carried out the 2022 West Java police station bombing.?

Furthermore, Boy said that not all former convicts who left prison have pledged allegiance to Indonesia and have repented.

Previously, Abu Bakar recognized the Pancasila or the Indonesian national principles as revealed in a video viral in early August last year showing him giving a lecture. According to him, the basis of the Pancasila was monotheism as stated in the first precept.

Abu Bakar admitted then that understanding the Pancasila was a new thing for him because in the past, he considered the Pancasila as something that was “shirk” or polytheism.

However, later in August 2022, he reportedly changed his mind and said that while he agreed on the first principle of Pancasila’s “Belief in the Almighty God”, he expressed his rejection of those who did not use “Godly” laws as the form of the country’s governance.

Linked to Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah was tagged in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people and injured 209 more.