NU, Muhammadiyah told to fight radicalism

Jakarta, NU Online
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has made an overture to the country’s two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, asking them to join his administration’s efforts to combat terrorism and extremism in Indonesia, which is home to the world’s largest Muslim population of almost 210 million out of a total population of more than 240 million people.<>

Jokowi said earlier, during an event attended by a number of Muslim scholars and rectors of state-run Islamic universities from around the country, that religious and cultural approaches were better tools for eradicating terrorism, rather than the adoption of a security approach.

Jokowi, however, did not elaborate on what he meant by a cultural approach, but said Indonesia’s moderate Muslim organizations, including NU and Muhammadiyah, could set an example in a country that has long struggled with radicalism and terrorism.

Jokowi, who also said that the security approach that has been applied all over the world had failed to solve the problem of terrorism, added on Wednesday that after his meetings with leaders from NU and Muhammadiyah the government “needs [to hear] views from Muslim clerics” on the best ways to deal with radicalism.

Jokowi had also previously ordered Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno to take the necessary steps to prevent the IS movement from growing in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

Intelligence agencies had detected a growing IS presence in the mountainous district, which is already believed to be a terrorist hotbed.

In early December, some NU ulema agreed to engage in dialogues with radical groups to curb terrorism in the country, following a discussion with the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry at an Islamic boarding school in Depok, West Java.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq