Calls for Dissolution of NII Increasing

The same voice was also aired by Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the Muhammadiyah Muslim organization. He said that the government should be able to completely solve the problem of the NII movement so that it would not thrive and harm the state interest.

"Virtually, the NII Movement is an old movement but the government since its birth did not settle it completely," he said.

He stated that the NII movement had affected younger generations and that the fact should awaken the government to eliminate it or even liquidate it. "Muhammadiyah firmly supports the Unitary State of Indonesia (NKRI) based on the Pancasila ideology. Therefore, Muslim generations should not be influenced with thoughts that would form a country with an other ideology," he said

He said that if the government did not firmly settle and solve the problem, the NII movement will thrive and grow in Indonesia. The NII way of brainwashing should be overcome.

A House Commission III member from the Islamic-based United Development Party (PPP), Ahmad Yani, meanwhile said one of the effective ways to combat brainwashing activity was through Islamic-based political parties.

He believed the extreme movement had happened because certain groups had been dissatisfied by the implementation of Islamic shariah in the country.

"Islam-based political parties through discussion forums could straighten their views about Islamic teachings," he said.

Calls for elimination of the NII movement also came from H Syarif Hidayat and Miftah Faridi of the Salman Mosque Foundation of the Bandung-based Institute of Technology (ITB).

After all, some have accused that the Salman mosque of ITB had been used as a base for NII cadre recruitment. In their written statement on Wednesday, Syarif Hidayat and Miftah Faridi said Salman Mosque was not a base for NII cadre recruitment.

The Salman Mosque foundation, they said, always kept guard, popularized and disseminated information on the danger of NII to various media organizations and propagation media.

For this, the Salam Mosque Foundation urged the government to dissolve NII and declare it as illegal organization in Indonesia. It also called on the government to take legal actions against any side who were involved in the NII activities.

The foundation always cooperated with the relevant sides like ITB, Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) and police to prevent, deter and handle criminal actions with regard to the NII actions. Currently, police are monitoring several places in Jakarta where clandestine NII movement members usually gather.

"We have already located concentrations of NII members and their number is only less than one hundred," Jakarta Metropolitan Police operations chief Senior Commissioner Sujarno said.