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Tempo: A.B. Ba'asyir Akan Gugat AS, M'sia, S'pura Bila Terus Tuduh Teroris By Retno Sulistyowati 26/1/2002 1:24 am Sat |
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TEMPO Interaktif, Jakarta: KH Abu Bakar Ba'asyir akan menggugat
pemerintah Amerika Serikat, Malaysia, dan Singapura bila masih
terus mendiskreditkan dan menduganya sebagai teroris. 'Saya akan
menggugat mereka melalui kuasa hukum saya,' ujar Abu Bakar
seusai klarifikasi dengan Tim Intelpam Hubungan Luar Negeri,
Mabes Polri, Jakarta, Jumat (25/1) malam.
Abu Bakar menjelaskan bahwa dirinya telah mengklarifikasikan
segala hal tentang dirinya dan aktivitasnya selama di Indonesia
maupun di Malaysia. Pimpinan Pondok Pesantren Al Mukmin itu yakin bahwa pada
dasarnya Polri telah memiliki data akurat tentang dirinya dan
pihak-pihak lain yang didiskreditkan sebagai teroris. 'Saya yakin,
Insya Allah, polisi dan pemerintah akan melindungi warga
negaranya,' paparnya. Kiai asal Solo itu juga yakin bahwa yang diincar bukan hanya
dirinya tapi juga beberapa ulama lain. Namun demikian, ia tidak
bersedia menyebut nama-nama ulama yang dimaksud. 'Saya
hanya sebagai pintu masuk yang tujuannya mengincar para
pimpinan Islam,' tambahnya. Hal itu dilakukan, lanjut Ba'asyir, supaya bangsa dan negara
Indonesia dapat dikuasai. Selanjutnya, mereka akan menuntut
pemerintah Indonesia mengikuti kemauan yang diarahkan. Usai memberikan keterangan kepada polisi selama sekitar tujuh jam,
Kiai Ba'asyir juga menegaskan bahwa dirinya bukan teroris. 'Saya
bukan teroris dan tidak ada bukti bahwa saya terlibat teroris,'
tambahnya. Ia juga memastikan bahwa dirinya tidak memiliki hubungan apa pun
dengan kelompok Al Qaidah pimpinan Usamah Bin Ladin. Ia
menjelaskan, secara fisik dirinya tidak berhubungan dengan
Usamah, tetapi secara iman ada. 'Dan saya memuji perjuangannya
dalam melawan teroris AS,' tukasnya.
Mengenai Fathur Rohman Al Ghozy, Kiai berjenggot putih itu
menjelaskan, bahwa konon, Fathur memang pernah sekolah di
pondok pesantren yang didirikannya. 'Tetapi waktu itu saya sudah
di Malaysia,' katanya. Meskipun termasuk Fathur muridnya, Kiai Ba'asyir mengaku tidak
mengetahui apa-apa tentang diri Fathur, karena ia meninggalkan
pondok pesantren sekitar 15 tahun.
Sedangkan terhadap Abu Jibril, seorang penganut aliran As Sunah
yang ditangkap Kepolisian Malaysia, Kiai Ba'asyir mengaku kenal.
Abu Jibril, lanjutnya, adalah mubaligh yang baik. Keduanya sering
melakukan tukar pikiran tentang agama. Penahanan tersebut,
menurut Ba'asyir, karena dia dianggap telah mengajarkan ajaran
jihad dan mati sahid, yang dianggap membahayakan pemerintah
Malaysia. 'Inilah keanehan bagi negara yang mengaku Islam,' kata
dia. Menanggapi kebiasaan Abu Jibril yang suka berganti nama,
misalnya dengan nama Iqbal, Kiai Ba'asyir menjelaskan bahwa
nama asli Abu Jibril adalah Mohamad Iqbal Bin A Rahman. 'Abu
Jibril adalah nama alias,' katanya. Di dalam Islam, lanjut dia, Abu adalah sebutan kehormatan. Ia
mencontohkan, dirinya yang mempunyai anak bernama Rasyid,
maka bisa dipanggil Abu Rasyid.
(Retno Sulistyowati-Tempo NewsRoom) FEATURE-Asia casts worried eye on its Islamic schools
25 Jan 2002 01:40 By Achmad Sukarsono JAKARTA, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Centres for learning the Koran and
computers with a desirable dose of discipline thrown in? Or havens
for preachers of hate and violence? These are questions Asian authorities are asking as they cast a
worried eye on Islamic schools or madrassas, concerned they
encourage the attitudes that lead to terrorism.
But madrassa administrators warn restrictions imposed because of
these concerns could trigger a backlash among millions of Muslims
who revere the schools. They say the vast majority of madrassas still concentrate on their
traditional role of teaching pupils Islamic values and rules and how to
read the holy Koran and write its version of Arabic, with many adding
the benefits of mathematics, computer studies and European
languages. Although most madrassas stand against the use of violence, in a
radical minority Islamic teachers slam Western policies they say
repress Muslims, preach violent reprisal for alleged grievances, and
include military training in the curriculum.
FIGHT FOR ISLAM "Basically, the children are taught to fight for Islam," said one official
in the Catholic-dominated Philippines which has around 1,500
madrassas for its Muslim minority. Since December police in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines
have arrested dozens of people who allegedly had links to the al
Qaeda network, which the United States blames for the September 11
terror attacks. Many studied and taught in madrassas in those
countries or elsewhere in Asia. Singapore's Islamic Religious Council (MUIS), which administers the
island country's six madrassas, said it has been updating its register
of religious teachers or ustadz. "We don't want any Tom, Dick or Harry calling themselves ustadz,"
MUIS President Maarof Salleh said last week.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government is
considering changing rules governing madrassas. Religious affairs
now fall within the purview of the country's sultans and state
governments issue the schools' licences.
In Pakistan, where most of the Afghan Taliban militants studied a
purist version of Islam, President Pervez Musharraf has made it clear
he would get tough on the schools. There are more than 7,000 madrassas in Pakistan catering to several
million students from around the world. The independent Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan estimates around a third provide some
kind of military training. But in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country with more
than 180 million Muslims, most of whom spend at least some time in
madrassas, authorities are less nervous.
"We do not see any worrying sign. We will not intervene with them
because intervention will only breed distrust," said Muhammad Irfan,
director of Islamic religious schools at Indonesia's ministry of religious
affairs. PARAMILITARY FORCE Such comments are likely to be grist for critics who say Indonesia
does not take the threat of terrorism and reality of communal violence
seriously enough. Thousands of members of Indonesia's Muslim paramilitary force
Laskar Jihad, known for its battles against Christians in the nation's
bloodied Moluccas islands, once attended madrassas owned by the
group's mother body, Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah.
Singapore said Ibrahim bin Haji Maidin, the leader of the Jamaah
Islamiah group it accuses of planning attacks on U.S. facilities in the
island republic, was an ustadz and recruited members through his
religious classes. Several of those recently detained by the Malaysian government
were also religious teachers, including the son of Nik Aziz Nik Mat,
spiritual leader of the country's top Muslim party.
Last week, Manila arrested a terror suspect originally from Indonesia
who spent years in a central Java Islamic boarding school, popularly
known as a 'pesantren'. Jakarta authorities told Reuters these schools should not be the
scapegoat. "Honestly, there are graduates who do bad things but that does not
mean it's the voice of the pesantrens," said supervisor Irfan. "We
won't let some wayward few destroy tens of thousands of pesantrens
that have brought peace to this country for ages."
POLITICAL PURPOSE Islamic schools elsewhere in the region also warn against hasty
government moves. "I'd be worried if there were any attempt to change the curriculum of
the schools," Naiem Wongkasorn, spokesman of Thai Muslim
education group Anurak Moradok Islam, told Reuters.
"If it happened we'd know it was for political purposes and because
of pressure from outside Thailand. Muslim schools have never had
any problem...never teach anyone to be violent."
Free board and education lure poverty-stricken families in Asian
countries to send their children to these schools. Most are in rural
areas that often lack other affordable education.
And because many madrassas are administered from generation to
generation by the same family and become part of a community's
heritage, often they are more accepted than conventional schools.
Their existence as the last bastion of non-Western education in
many Asian countries has earned them standing in Muslim society. In
the view of the faithful, it is a plus that the schools are often loosely
coordinated by a state religious body rather than secular-oriented
education ministries. In typical Islamic boarding schools students follow a regimented
programme from dawn to dusk with tough old-fashioned rules, often
enforced through corporal punishment.
But many Asian madrassas have also adopted modern curricula and
English and equipped themselves with sophisticated computers and
laboratories to keep up with the times.
Most do so voluntarily and say they need no government
intervention. Insensitivity and stereotyping all madrassas as grounds
for Muslim militants would only backfire.
"Do not insult us with that. If anyone tries to control the pesantrens,
our community will react and that means half of this country's
population will rumble," |