No Support for Establishment of Islamic State in Indonesia

Although a growing number of radical groups in Indonesia today wished to see the country become an Islamic state, no widespread public support had been given to the idea. Preferring to maintain the Indonesian philosophy of Pancasila, many parties were against establishment of an Indonesian Islamic State (NII).
The principles of Pancasila that reject a state dominated by any one religion have for decades been in the mind and heart of the Indonesian nation. No wonder the Ansor Youth Movement (GP Ansor) has strongly against the establishment of an Islamic state by radical groups in Indonesia.
"Ansor was born to keep this country to remain prosperous and not to turn into an Islamic state," GP Ansor spokesman Saifullah Yusuf said in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday.
Speaking at the 77th anniversary of GP Ansor, Saifulla did not deny the emergence of an imported ideology that permeated the youth, including ideas about the establishment of an Indonesian Islamic State. He said that for Ansor, the idea of establishing an Islamic state was out of date and therefore the organization strongly opposed it.
"We want to assert that such an idea is out of date, and it is even a backward step if we continue to debate about the establishment of NII," said Saifulla, who is concurrently East Java vice governor.
According to him, the imported ideology even openly blamed the Muslim clerics and put aside the understanding which has been adhered by Indonesian Muslims so far.


"But Ansor opposes the idea and will keep guarding this country to remain prosperous," Saifullah said.
The NII movement is known to have recruited new members through prayer groups at public and university mosques by obliging each member to pay millions of rupiahs for a monthly contribution.
It is currently increasing recruitment effort by targeting students from a number of well known universities such as Muhammadiyah University and Brawijaya University in Malang, and Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java. Opposing the emergence of NII, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X has called on the people to be careful of possible recruitment by NII members in Yogyakarta.
"I hope the people in Yogyakarta will be careful and alert to anticipate unwanted occurrences in connection with NII efforts to recruit new members using hypnotism," Sri Sultan said in Yogyakarta recently.
According to him, their target was the youth especially school and university students, and that it would also pose a challenge for parents who need to increase their supervision and communication with their children.
"In line with the incident (recruitment efforts by NII members) parents and youths must be careful and alert. This is important because NII members carry out their action while the youths are at home and outside their homes," he said.
Asked on the possibility of Yogyakarta so far known as city of students as the NII target Sultan said that was not impossible because a lot of young men and women from outside the city are studying in the city.
"Therefore I call on the people to be able to look after themselves and their families well to anticipate any eventuality," he said.
Sultan said he did not know for sure if the recruitment issue was a mere rumor or an illegal money collection activity because new recruits had always been asked to give payments.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of Yayasan Prasasti Perdamaian (Inscription Peace Foundation) Noor Huda Ismail said NII movement was emerging with a new pattern and target.
"The pattern and the target of today’s NII are different from those of Kartosuwiryo’s period," Ismail said in Semarang, Central Java, on Sunday.
According to him, NII has been envisaged as a nation based on sharia and laws justifying all means. He said that NII would never disappear or die out because it has so many branches and the declaration of jihad war resorting to bombing terrors which resulted in many losses of life.
"This ambition by justifying all means is to build an Islamic state," Ismail said, adding that the interest of a number of people in the NII movement could not be separated from the background of its supporters.
"Consciously or unconsciously, the youth which is deemed as the educated becomes the main recruitment target of NII members by way of brainwashing, which is rather different from earlier times," he said.
The recruitment of NII members has also been adjusted with the time, to void law enforcement authorities.
"For these reasons, all parties especially the younger generation had been called on stay alert of the NII movement that has been developing," he said.
Kartosuwiryo was the founder of the NII in middle of the the 1950s in Java and had tried to declare a modern Islamic caliphate in Indonesia and managed to build 10 million followers nationwide.
After 13 years from guerrilla locations in Central and West Java, Kartosuwiryo was captured and executed by the government in September 1962. Being considered a dangerous movement, NII was suppressed and eradicated in the era of the Suharto government.