NU urges govt to crack down on ISIS in Indonesia

Jakarta, NU Online
The Indonesia's largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has urged the governmet to take firm measures in dealing with the emergence of groups claiming to be part of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as ISIL/Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, in Indonesia.<>

"The government must be firm. The police must act," NU general chairman KH Said Aqil Siroj said here on Friday (8/8), adding that unless stringent action was taken against ISIS, security and integrity of the nation could be threatened.

He said, NU did reject calls for joining ISIS and had also appealed to people to reject the propagation of ISIS ideology and its establishment, which has resulted in slander and disruption of the lives of Muslims and interfaith relations in the country.

A video footage has been uploaded in the social media network YouTube, which had gone viral depicting an Indonesian ISIS fighter calling on fellow Muslims in Indonesia to join ISIS.

Siroj stated that ISIS did not only fight for an Islamic caliphate but also spread an ideology that was against the Islamic ideology of "ahlussunah wal Jamaah."

He said ISIS actions in the Middle East of using violence, including killing of clerics who were opposed to their ideology, were obviously not in line with Islamic teaching, which does not tolerate violence.

"Islam is a religion that further fights for humanity and love for one another," he pointed out.

As a mass organization, NU, he said, certainly could not act against ISIS and therefore had called on the government to take action, adding that NU, however, would not remain idle in connection with the issue.

"The government must be firm. We as an organization will save community members, the younger generation. We will prevent radicalization. We are moving toward the early prevention stage," Siroj added.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq