Post by sublime92 on Jun 19, 2017 16:19:07 GMT
The Indonesian government is taking steps to counter the radicalisation of mosques in Jakarta by deploying plainclothes officials to find out who manages them and what they preach.
A member of the government task force told The Straits Times that they have already uncovered an alarming fact - that some mosques in high-rise office buildings on the main Thamrin and Sudirman roads of downtown Jakarta, and just minutes from the presidential palace, are run by white-collar staff who are radicals.
At least one major government ministry and a top engineering school in Bandung, West Java, are also managed by radical groups. The government will now firmly "encourage" the building owners to oust the radical mosque caretakers.
The source told ST on Wednesday: "Typically, these mosques were rarely frequented - as we say the least 'makmur' mosques - so dedicated, radical Muslims were moved and began to dominate their day-to-day running and assumed the caretaker's role."
So committed are these new caretakers - some of whom are university graduates - that they invited hardline preachers to give sermons, he said.
The chairman of Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, Mr Said Aqil Siradj, told reporters on May 23 that radicalism has spread to mosques in a number of prominent universities in Jakarta, and the government needs to take urgent action to keep this from happening.
www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-steps-up-mosque-surveillance
A member of the government task force told The Straits Times that they have already uncovered an alarming fact - that some mosques in high-rise office buildings on the main Thamrin and Sudirman roads of downtown Jakarta, and just minutes from the presidential palace, are run by white-collar staff who are radicals.
At least one major government ministry and a top engineering school in Bandung, West Java, are also managed by radical groups. The government will now firmly "encourage" the building owners to oust the radical mosque caretakers.
The source told ST on Wednesday: "Typically, these mosques were rarely frequented - as we say the least 'makmur' mosques - so dedicated, radical Muslims were moved and began to dominate their day-to-day running and assumed the caretaker's role."
So committed are these new caretakers - some of whom are university graduates - that they invited hardline preachers to give sermons, he said.
The chairman of Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, Mr Said Aqil Siradj, told reporters on May 23 that radicalism has spread to mosques in a number of prominent universities in Jakarta, and the government needs to take urgent action to keep this from happening.
www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-steps-up-mosque-surveillance
