1001 Indonesia

[katarabhumi]

Reformed ex-militants in Indonesia mark Independence Day
August 17, 2017 / 12:12 PM

Former Islamist militants hoist the Indonesian flag at a ceremony to mark Independence Day at the Lingkar Perdamaian school in Tenggulun, East Java, Indonesia August 17, 2017.

TENGGULUN, Indonesia (Reuters) - Fifteen years since they were members of a radical Islamist group that killed 202 people on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali, Ali Fauzi and Sumarno are building peace instead of bombs.

The former devotees of the Jemaah Islamiah militant group are counseling ex-militants, educating their children, and employing their wives as teachers - part of Fauzi's Peace Circle initiative launched this year to combat extremism.

At the Lingkar Perdamaian school in Tenggulun village in East Java on Thursday, they celebrated Indonesia's Independence Day with a flag raising ceremony. Among those attending were 50 ex-combatants and militants.

In front of the local police commander and military chief, with students and former combatants arranged in formation looking on, the Indonesian flag was raised by three ex-militants in crisp white uniforms as the national anthem played.

"This came from the deepest part of our heart. It showed that we want to become good citizens,” he said.

Fauzi admitted some of the former radicals refused to stand and salute the flag, a hated symbol for militants who want Indonesia to abandon its secular constitution and become an Islamic caliphate.

"It's a process. Radicalization needs a process and so does deradicalization," he told Reuters.

"I understand some of them did not want to be exposed, still shy, still worried about their old community," he said.

"They were not ready to go to public.”

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has grappled with a small but virulent minority of Islamist militants since it emerged from authoritarian rule in 1998. The government promotes deradicalization - its self-styled "soft approach" to the problem - as a crucial weapon.

As the ceremony was underway in Tenggulun, a similar event was being held in a nearby prison, where the militant Umar Patek, sentenced for his role in the Bali bombings, carried the flag.

Former Indonesian militant Umar Patek (2nd L), sentenced for his role in the Bali bombings, takes part in a flag-raising ceremony to mark Independence Day in Porong Prison, Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia August 17, 2017 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Umarul Faruq via REUTERS


'MESSED UP'

Former Indonesian militant Umar Patek (2nd L), sentenced for his role in the Bali bombings, takes part in a flag-raising ceremony to mark Independence Day in Porong Prison, Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia August 17, 2017 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Umarul Faruq via REUTERS

Fauzi is the brother of the executed ringleaders of the 2002 Bali attacks Amrozi and Mukhlas. Another brother, Ali Imron, is serving a life sentence for the same attack on a club packed with tourists just over a year after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Trained by Hambali, the Indonesian al Qaeda leader imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, he taught Amrozi and Sumarno, along with about 80 others in East Java, to build bombs.

Sumarno drove a minivan packed with explosives from East Java to Bali. The vehicle was later parked outside the Sari Club and detonated with devastating results.

Sumarno - who says he believed the bomb ingredients were going to a conflict between Christians and Muslims on a remote island in Indonesia's far east - was imprisoned for his role.

“I was really messed up,” he said. “Bali was a peaceful place, not a combat zone.”

Fauzi was later imprisoned in the Philippines for terrorism offences unrelated to the Bali attack.

Fauzi said his deradicalization began in detention on his return to Indonesia in 2007, influenced in part by a police officer who paid for some medical treatment.

He also credits meetings with victims of attacks for persuading him to choose a different path.

"One of them was Max Boon, a Dutch man, whose legs were amputated (after a bomb attack on a hotel in the capital, Jakarta),” he said.

"He was a Catholic, but he forgave me and my students. And then I thought: what if I was in his position, could I be like him?”

The “alternative community” at Lingkar Perdamaian, in the same village where Fauzi and his brothers were raised, will prevent the recidivism of former convicts and their children following the same route, he said.

"For years, we have experienced terrorism in Indonesia,” he said. “But we also have years of experience in healing the terrorism disease.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-independenceday-militants-idUSKCN1AX0UB
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-independenceday-militants-idUSKCN1AX0UB
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[katarabhumi]

Philippines falls to Indonesia in SEA Games Men's Football
By ABS-CBN Sports on Aug 17, 2017 11:34 PM

In a bitter bit of coincidence, the Philippine men's national football team suffered the same fate as their female counterparts, falling 0-3, but this time to Indonesia, Thursday evening in the men's football tournament of the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The ladies fell to Vietnam earlier that afternoon.

Winger Septian David struck early for the Indonesian squad, scoring seven minutes into the match, followed by a second goal from Muhammad Hargianto just before halftime to double the Indonesian advantage.

Saddil Ramdani added the final touch for Indonesia in the 59th minute to bring the final score to 3-0.

The Indonesians improve to one win and one draw for four points, while the Pinoy side falls to one win and one loss for three points.

After two matches, the Philippines sits at fourth place in Group B, behind leaders Vietnam with seven points, while Indonesia and Thailand are neck-and-neck with four points apiece.

Rounding out Group B are Timor-Leste and Cambodia, both have yet to score any points in the tournament.

The Pinoys head back to the pitch on Sunday, August 20th when they take on Vietnam at the Shah Alam stadium.

http://sports.abs-cbn.com/seagames/...alls-indonesia-sea-games-men-s-football-29866

Won on 17 August at 19.45 PM (Indonesia time) and two of the goalscorers were player number 17 and number 8, what a coincidence.. Thank you for the sweet gift, brothers.. yaay


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Upcoming in theaters :

New trailer from Beyond Skyline (2017), starring Frank Grillo and Iko Uwais

Synopsis :
Mark (Frank Grillo), a tough-as-nails detective, embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son, Trent, from a nightmarish alien warship. To fight the aliens, he beseech help from Sua (Iko Uwais) and his group of guerilla fighters.

Movie location including Prambanan Temple Complex, Central Java Indonesia. Indonesian actors Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian joined in as cast and fight choreographer. Expect a ton load of Pencak Silat moves.

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[pr1v4t33r]

https://twitter.com/x/status/898590321088516096

 

[pr1v4t33r]

The 2nd trailer for Beyond Skyline

 

[pr1v4t33r]

'Wiro Sableng 212' strives to define Indonesian films

When the present gives little inspiration for ideas, one will tend to look toward the vast treasure chest of the past to mine their creativity. Indonesia’s film industry is still relatively young compared to that of Hollywood, which has been digging up the past for decades to entertain contemporary societies and audiences.

However, in the last couple of years in particular, it seems Indonesian pop culture has amassed enough influence and content to enable remakes.

Making remakes from past creative products can be very lucrative too.

For example, Warkop DKI Reborn Part 1, which was based on legendary comedy group Warkop’s past movies, was Indonesia’s largest-grossing local film of 2016.

Last year there was also a sequel to local teen pop culture iconic film Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? (What’s Up With Cinta?), which was also successful despite middling reviews.

There will also be a remake of classic 1980s horror film Pengabdi Setan (Satan’s Worshiper) from director Joko Anwar, who became a horror fan himself after watching the original movie as a kid.

The emergence of classic remakes might be an indication that audiences that grew up in the 80s and 90s are unwilling to let go of the entertainment that defined their youth.

Enter Wiro Sableng; a hugely popular novel and comic book series that was made into a notable television show in the 90s that told the tale of mystical and comical warrior Wiro Sableng and his fantastic adventures in 16th century Indonesia.

The original show was notable for its visibly cheap CGI effects, but it delighted and entertained the public nonetheless.

A new film about the warrior, Wiro Sableng 212, is due to be released sometime in 2018, under Lifelike Pictures in collaboration with Fox International Productions.

For generations, the tale of this Indonesian superhero has traversed generations with his iconic 212 tattoo on his chest, trusty axe and literally lifelong dedication to the pencak silat martial art.

Is the film industry’s tendency to often look to the past necessarily a bad thing? Not always.

The film’s producer, Sheila Timothy, said part of her intention in reviving the Wiro Sableng series as films was to introduce the character to a newer generation, much as how its original 1970s novel series was adapted for the 1990s generation.

“We figured out the marketing campaign carefully since this February,” the producer said.

One notable marketing campaign that appealed to the newer generation was an event at Popcon Asia 2017, where the film’s team held a competition for attendees who showed up to the event cosplaying as the white-robed warrior.

The film cast is a star-studded crew of some of Indonesia’s finest actors and actresses.

Vino G. Bastian is fittingly starring the lead role as Wiro Sableng, which was created and penned by his late father, Bastian Tito.

Others include Lukman Sardi, Yayan Ruhian, Marsha Timothy, Sherina Munaf, Cecep Arif Rahman, Happy Salma and rockstar Andi /rif.

The film director, Angga Dwimas Sasongko, aims to make Wiro Sableng 212 as authentically Indonesian as possible but with the sophistication of international-level action films.

“We want to create a new benchmark for Indonesian films[…] Wiro Sableng 212will be a film that defines Indonesia,” Angga said.

To achieve the benchmark, Angga’s team has collaborated with fight choreographer Man Ching, who has choreographed Jackie Chan films.

Meanwhile, Yayan Ruhian, the actor and martial artist who will be demonstrating the moves as Wiro Sableng’s foe Mahesa Birawa, explained that no less than three pencak silat schools were consulted in the making of the film.

“I will not be trying to just showcase one type of silat. There are dozens of forms of such in Indonesian martial arts. What will appear in the film will be something uniquely Indonesian even without the need to identify what specific strain it is,” Yayan said.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/life/...g-212-strives-to-define-indonesian-films.html

 

[katarabhumi]

Wonderful Indonesia: Best Video at UNWTO General Assembly
By Alain St.Ange - September 17, 2017

At every UNWTO General Assembly Tourism Destinations compete for the coveted prize of the Best Promotional Video. This year at the UNWTO General Assembly that was held in Chengdu China it is Indonesia with their Wonderful Indonesia Video who won the top price.

Find below the link to Wonderful Indonesia video that won 2 Awards at UNWTO Video Competition 2017.

https://eturbonews.com/164854/164854

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[katarabhumi]

Fossil discovery in Indonesia reveals ‘lost world’ of beasts
by Basten Gokkon on 19 September 2017

• On the Indonesian island of Sumba, scientists unearthed the bones of tiny elephants, giant rats and other extinct creatures.
• They also found Komodo dragon fossils, confirming the lizard's existence outside the islets off of nearby Flores island.
• Sumba remains little researched. The scientists hope more can be done.

Location of Sumba Island

As recently as a few thousand years ago, the Indonesian island of Sumba was home to miniature elephants, giant rats and dragons, according to fossil discoveries reported in a scientific journal last month.

The expedition marks the first discovery of a Komodo dragon fossil outside the islets off of Flores, an island east of Bali, prompting one scientist to wonder if the creatures might be reintroduced in Sumba.

The report, published last month in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, described fossils of dwarf elephants (Stegodon florensis insularis), rodents as big as cats, and the world’s largest living lizard, the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), the only one of the group that still exists.

Some of these species are estimated to have inhabited Sumba as recently as 12,000 years ago, according to the paper.

The expedition took place in 2011 and 2014 when scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) collected fossils from several deposits on Sumba, part of a group of islands tucked between the continental shelves of Asia and Australia.

The archipelago, known as Wallacea, was named in honor of the biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, who first identified the borders of species distribution across the region in the 19th century.

The region received global attention in 2004 when a group of archaeologists described fossils of an extinct tiny human, dubbed the “hobbit,” or Homo floresiensis, on Flores, just north of Sumba.

The discovery of the hobbit was noted as one of the most spectacular discoveries of the past half century. It has since spurred interest in further exploration of the island chain, including the ZSL team’s expedition to Sumba.

“The hobbit was found in association with a remarkable extinct fauna of giant rats, pygmy proboscideans [elephant-like creatures], and other unusual vertebrates, and it’s likely that similar faunas would also have been present more widely across Wallacea in the past,” lead author of the Sumba expedition Samuel Turvey, a research fellow at the ZSL’s Institute of Zoology, wrote in an email. (“Fauna” refers to the animals distinct to a place or period.)

“However, we know next to nothing about the fossil faunas of most other islands in the region, so we can’t yet reconstruct patterns of evolution or biodiversity turnover through time for this biogeographically fascinating region,” he added.

Jaw fossil of a giant rat from Sumba. Photo courtesy of the Zoological Society of London.

Sumba itself has seen little research, both in terms of fossil excavation and wildlife surveys, Turvey said.

“Maybe this is because there are simply so many islands in Indonesia to study, and still relatively few biologists or paleontologists focusing on this megadiverse region,” he ventured. “The priorities for biodiversity research across Indonesia are overwhelming.”

The scientists hope additional research on Sumba can provide further insight into evolution in the region, and inform decisions about environmental management and conservation.

“These discoveries offer a fascinating and poignant glimpse at a lost world, as many of the animals that evolved in isolation on islands in Wallacea were lost following the prehistoric arrival of modern humans,” Turvey said.

They have also made him ponder the merits of reintroducing the Komodo dragon to Sumba, “to restore disrupted ecosystem processes.” But it should not be taken lightly. “This would be a very sensitive issue to consider, given the obvious human-wildlife conflicts that these animals cause,” he cautioned.

https://news.mongabay.com/2017/09/fossil-discovery-in-indonesia-reveals-lost-world-of-beasts/
https://news.mongabay.com/2017/09/fossil-discovery-in-indonesia-reveals-lost-world-of-beasts/
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[CountStrike]

Indonesia and Thailand will submit a joint bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

It was confirmed by the official ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) portal on Saturday following the 12th AFF Council Meeting, which also saw the appointment of Joko Driyono, deputy president of the Indonesian FA (PSSI), as the new AFF vice president.

This came after Indonesia previously signalled their intent to partner with other Southeast Asian countries to host international football's most prestigious competition.

"Both the PSSI and the FAT [Football Association of Thailand] have the support of their respective governments and, as such, we at the AFF are supportive of this joint bid," AFF secretary-general Azzuddin Ahmad was quoted saying.

To date, no other country has confirmed or submitted a bid for the 2034 World Cup yet.

The North American trio of Canada, Mexico and the United States will compete with Morocco to host the World Cup in 2026, while the only bid confirmed so far for the 2030 edition is Uruguay-Argentina.

If successful, it will be the third time that Asia plays host to a World Cup after South Korea-Japan in 2002 and Qatar in 2022.

 

[katarabhumi]

Nature and nurture: Indonesia's sublime Bintan Island is a haven for wildlife and heaven for humans

• The Daily Mail's Siobhan Warwicker got close to local wildlife on Indonesia's Riau Archipelago
• She stayed at the acclaimed Banyan Tree Bintan, a private resort of 64 thatched villas next to the sea
• During her stay she encountered turtles, bats and even cheeky monkeys who all populate the island

By Siobhan Warwicker For The Daily Mail
Published: 10:36 BST, 23 September 2017 | Updated: 14:41 BST, 23 September 2017

My baby hawksbill turtle isn’t playing ball. While the other matchbox-sized hatchlings propel themselves along the beach to be claimed by the surf, mine has chosen to take a nap.

Adlan Bakti, the Havaianas-wearing naturalist who nurtured these 50 endangered creatures from eggs, watches as eager volunteers release his fleet into the sea. Except for my narcoleptic.

Nudging its black, beetle-like shell, he whispers: ‘Statistically, only 1 per cent make it to adulthood.’ I have a feeling this one might be in the 99 per cent.

Totally wild: The thatched villas at Banyan Tree Bintan

Local: A Hawksbill turtle, which nests on the island

Whether the touch of the warm sand is fleeting or not, the sensation is etched onto their memories. In 20 years, metre-long females will return to nest on this curve of beach on the Indonesian island of Bintan.

And who can blame them? This is Banyan Tree Bintan, a resort of 64 thatched villas looking out to the moody South China Sea.

Every morning, a piercing sun burns off a melancholy mist to reveal a blue horizon, which eventually gives way to the pink evening sky. My Balinese-style villa, with pool and indoor and outdoor daybeds, is the best place to marvel at it all. Yes, we’re in honeymoon territory.

Turtle-release days happen once every couple of months. But wildlife is intrinsic to the Banyan Tree experience.

Most of the villas share their terraces with a colony of pug-faced bats. I’m warned to watch out for monkeys trying to slide open my doors and, one day, on opening my laptop, I find an army of ants between the keys.

I’m perfectly happy to share my space with the locals. You can build a five-star resort in the jungle, but the jungle always rules. This feels like some far-flung place miles from anywhere but, on a map, Bintan is more like a snapped-off piece of Singapore than part of the Indonesian archipelago. It’s just an hour by catamaran from the populous city state.

Sublime: Banyan Tree Bintan delivers views of the South China Sea stretching into the horizon

Decadent: Experience traditional Indonesian dining at this outdoor Bintan Restaurant

Although more than three times larger in size than Singapore, around 5.4 million fewer people reside on this island — and most of its 340,000 population live far from this serene northern shore.

One afternoon, a thunderstorm breaks the peace. At the first ‘boom’ over the breakfast terrace, I scuttle into the restaurant with a woman wearing a hijab cradling her baby. Geckos dart into the shrubs. The symphony of crickets is hushed.

When the rain sheets down, life takes shelter. Thankfully, we are geared up for rainforest weather, with all-inclusive spa treatment packages the attraction for many.

Stunning: The villas are decorated in traditional Balinese style, each raised with stilts and set on hillsides

Secluded: Banyan Tree Bintan's bay of stunning talcum-white sands offers a perfect respite

A few miles away, the Sebong River snakes its way through the mangrove forest. Floating restaurants and fishermen’s huts on stilts line the mouth of the river, where children dangle their legs over the water.

Joe, my wide-smiled eco-tour guide, navigates the narrowing waterways in our little motor boat. Eels and stingrays slip through the water. Once, Joe tells me, a ray leapt so high that it landed inside the boat.

Two fluffy-bellied babies in a troupe of macaques pick their way across the canopy, hurried along by a flash of teeth from the alpha male. A white butterfly so big it could be the Bread- and-Butterfly from Alice In Wonderland beats its wings close to our heads. This is the lifeblood of Bintan: mangrove wood provides huts and fishing equipment, while grouper, snapper, prawns and mussels are among the edible bounty.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/t...onesia-s-sublime-Bintan-Island-haven-all.html

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[katarabhumi]

Indonesia emerges the overall champion at ASEAN Para Games
Jakarta | Sun, September 24, 2017 | 04:30 pm

Indonesia's Nan Mei Sholihah (left) competes in the women's 100-meter track and field event at the 2017 ASEAN Para Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Wednesday. Nanda won the gold medal. (Antara/Rafiuddin Abdul Rahman)

Indonesian para-athletes that competed at the 2017 ASEAN Para Games arrived home on Sunday having bagged 126 gold medals, 75 silver and 50 bronze to secure the overall champion title.

“I had been certain since day one [in Kuala Lumpur] that we would finish as the champion,” Indonesian Paralympic Committee president Senny Marbun said in a statement.

“The keys to our victory were the knowledge of our opponents’ strengths and weaknesses as well as the full support that we received from the Youth and Sports Ministry,” he added.

The ninth Para Games was held in Malaysia, from Sept. 17 to Saturday.

Indonesia, which finished second with 81 golds in the 2015 edition in Singapore, performed laudably throughout the biennial event and even surpassed its initial 107-gold target.

In Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia overpowered the host team, which was runner-up with 90 golds, 85 silvers and 50 bronze. Favorite Thailand finished third with 68 golds.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/...the-overall-champion-at-asean-para-games.html

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[katarabhumi]

World’s smallest squirrel discovered in Indonesia
IANS | Sep 25,2017 , 09:36 PM IST

Jakarta : Indonesian scientists have found the world's smallest squirrel in the country's Borneo rain forest, authorities revealed on Monday.

World’s smallest squirrel discovered in Indonesia

The Bormean pigmy squirrel or exilisciurus exilis was found in Meratus mountain of South Kalimantan province, Xinhua news agency quoted a senior scientist as saying.

"One of surprising things is the fact that there is a unique and endangered species, the smallest squirrel in the world in Meratus mountain."

The species, found on September 16 during an expedition, is 73 mm long and weighs about 17 grams."This type of species lives across Borneo island, especially the area with height of over 1,000 metres above sea surface," the scientist added.

http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/i...llest-squirrel-discovered-in-Indonesia/328939

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Indonesian Embassy holds batik workshop in Vientiane
ANTARA - Monday, 25/9/2017

Batik Painting Workshop held by Indonesian Embassy at Vientiane Center Mall in Laos.

Vientiane, Laos (ANTARA News) - The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Vientiane organized a batik workshop for Laotians at the Vientiane Center Mall as part of a series of activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Indonesia-Laos relations.

"Batik making has been chosen, as it is rooted in Indonesian culture and technically easy to do. We want to intensively promote Indonesian culture in Laos," Wishnu Krisnamurthi, chairman of the committee in charge of holding the event to mark the 60th anniversary of Indonesia-Laos relations, stated here on Monday.

The Indonesian Embassy in Vientiane has roped in Indonesian batik designers to teach the participants at the workshop.

"They (Laotians) are very interested in Indonesian batik. Laos has a distinctive culture of beautiful woven fabric, but not everyone can weave, and weaving as an activity is not as easy as batik making," he explained.

The batik workshop was attended by some 70 Laotian participants from the Laos art school, art galleries in Laos, Lao ethnic art organization, and local people visiting the Vientiane Center Mall.

"I think batik making is a very enjoyable activity. I love to use canting (a spouted tool used to apply liquid wax) on a cloth to paint batik," Khamheng Phommasy, one of the batik workshops participants from the Lao Art Institute, remarked.

Phommasy claimed to be interested in Indonesian batik due to its unique and diverse hues.

"The most important aspect is that I love Indonesian batik since I like to design it on cotton fabric," Phommasy said.

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/112769/indonesian-embassy-holds-batik-workshop-in-vientiane

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Batak music group Amigos enlivens Indonesian fair in Paris
The Jakarta Post | Mon, September 25, 2017 | 04:35 pm

Indonesian group Amigos, a Batak music band that has been active for 33 years, performed at the Colorful Indonesia Festival (FCI) in Paris, an event in the French capital held on Sept. 23 to 24 at the Pavillon Dauphine.

As reported by Antara news agency, hits performed included popular classics such as "Lissoi" and "Alusia". The song "Situmorang" especially enlivened the atmosphere, as the title namesake was switched to "Pandjaitan", which is the Batak last name of the Indonesian Ambassador to France, Hotmangaradja MP Pandjaitan.

Surya Rosa Putra, education attache at the Indonesian Embassy in Paris, told Antara on Monday that the appearance of the band, which consists of Vico Pangaribuan, Reinhard Nainggolan and Jean Butar-butar, aimed to promote Indonesian culture in France.

Amigos and Style Voice, another band that performs Batak music, also conducted mangulosi, which is the dressing of traditional fabric ulos, on Hotmangaradja, as well as Indonesian Ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Fauzi Soelaiman, Bonita Sadanoer and other guests at the festival.

Other musicians who performed included Balawan Jazz, dance group Joged Nusantara and the embassy's Balinese gamelan group Puspawarna, which consists of 20 French members. (liz/asw)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/trave...amigos-enlivens-indonesian-fair-in-paris.html

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10th Indofest festival to be held in Adelaide, Australia
The Jakarta Post | Sat, September 23, 2017 | 02:04 pm

Tidung Island provides a tropical getaway just north of Jakarta. (Shutterstock/File)

The tourism ministry’s Wonderful Indonesia brand will take part in the upcoming Indofest event that will be held at Victoria Square, Adelaide, Australia on October 1.

Indofest is the biggest Indonesian event in South Australia that is held annually by the community of Indonesian people in Adelaide, this year marks the 10th anniversary of this event.

With the theme of “Kampung Indonesia” (Indonesian Village), this year’s Indofest will highlight the nation’s official motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity).

Visitors can expect to see music and dance performances, food stalls, interactive workshops on Indonesia and cooking demos at the event.

This festival will also promote Wonderful Indonesia tourist destinations through social media.

“Indofest is the only sustainable festival in Australia. This year’s Indofest coincides with the 10th anniversary of the event and it has gained full support from the Australian government, especially from South Australia, and the Indonesian embassy. It is estimated that there will be 10,000 people who are going to come to Indofest,” explained tourism ministry's deputy minister for overseas promotion, I Gde Pitana.

“Visitors will feel the atmosphere of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Papua [islands] from these booths,” added the ministry's deputy assistant for Asia-Pacific tourism promotion, Vinsensius Jemadu.

Meanwhile, the ministry’s Wonderful Indonesia brand is going to have its own booth that will serve as the information center for Indonesian tourism.

Tourism minister Arief Yahya explained that the number of Australian tourists coming to Indonesia has been increasing quite well, from 2015 to 2016 the increase was at 14 percent.

“Bali is still the biggest market but tourism ministry is also introducing other interesting destinations. The good news is, 60 percent of Australian tourists are repeat visitors, meaning that they have at least went to Indonesia once, had a good experience here and would like to come back again,” told Arief.

Arief said that there needs to be a relationship improvement with airlines through joint promotions and an incentive to open new routes to other destinations besides Bali and Jakarta.

“Creating the 10 New Balis is the government’s effort to develop other destinations outside Bali. As it gets easier to invest in Indonesia, investors and businessmen from Australia can invest in the tourism sector by partnering up with an Indonesian counterpart,” added Arief. (asw)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/trave...estival-to-be-held-in-adelaide-australia.html


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[katarabhumi]

Indonesian music, dance spark cultural chemistry

“The same principle applies to our life as well. Our life cannot operate outside the boundary of harmonious existence with others.”

As the hypnotic harmony of percussion instruments rippled throughout the Indonesian Embassy in Seoul on Sept. 17, Indonesian and Korean audiences sat still side by side, thoroughly tuned to the Gamelan music performed in front of them.

The event on the pleasant Sunday afternoon featured performances of Indonesia’s traditional ensemble music Gamelan and lion dance Reog, marking the launch of weekly music classes for students.

“Harmony in Gamelan is created through the disciplined application of each percussion instrument,” said Indonesian Ambassador Umar Hadi in front of some 40 Koreans and other audience members. “The same principle applies to our life as well. Our life cannot operate outside the boundary of harmonious existence with others.”

An artist performs a traditional Indonesian dance at the Indonesian Embassy in Seoul on Sept. 17, where Gamelan ensemble music and Reog dance were featured. (Joel Lee/The Korae Herald)

Emcees of the event at the Indonesian Embassy in Seoul on Sept. 17, where Gamelan ensemble music and Reog dance were featured. (Joel Lee/The Korae Herald)

Gamelan is predominantly made up of percussive instruments, including metallophone, kendhang, xylophone, bamboo flute, rebab and sindhen. The music predates the Hindu-Buddhist culture that thrived in Indonesia millennia ago, and developed into the current form during the Majapahit Empire from the late 13th to early 16th century.

In modern times, Gamelan has influenced Western contemporary, romantic, avant-garde and jazz music as well as Japanese contemporary music, leaving its unmistakable melodies in the works of composers Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Bela Bartok, John Cage, Don Cherry and Ryuichi Sakamoto, among numerous others.

“I have played Gamelan for many years since I was young. Whenever I play the music, I feel replenished and mystified by its soothing sounds,” the envoy said. “Gamelan incorporates many philosophies and traditions of Indonesia, chiefly our national motto ‘unity in diversity.’ There are many varieties of Gamelan in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan, and even in Java there are many different kinds of Gamelan music.”

Describing his compatriots as a “lucky people” exposed to the country’s sundry musical traditions -- a nation comprised of some 17,000 islands spanning three time zones -- Hadi said, “Our contemporary cultures are becoming more diverse and complex, as cultures merge to create new hybrid cultures. I hope the Korean people’s experience in learning Gamelan would lead to more creative endeavors between our two countries.”

At the venue, Indonesian traditional dance group Kelompok Tari Tradisional Indonesia, Gamelan-performing ensemble Laras Garis and a team of dancers in Korea, Reog Singo Mudho, showcased their music, following a lunch of traditional Indonesian dishes. Laras Garis has Korean players, who use Gamelan instruments owned by the embassy and several Indonesian communities and universities in Korea.

The embassy initially opened one Gamelan class for learners, but due to the surging number of applicants, has decided to offer two classes on Saturday.

Korean students who have studied in Indonesia through the government-sponsored Darmasiswa scholarship program also participated in the event.

Indonesian Ambassador Umar Hadi (Joel Lee/The Korea Herald)

A tiger dance by Reog Singo Mudho (Joel Lee/The Korea Herald)

“Indonesian is a relatively easy language to learn, because it uses an alphabet and its pronunciation is similar to English. The grammar is simple with no past, present and future tense,” Jun Hyo-bin, who studied in the city of Solo for a year through Darmasiswa, told The Korea Herald. “I went to Indonesia because it is a growing country with many possibilities. The market is still unpenetrated in many ways, and people love Korea thanks to the ‘Hallyu Korean Wave’ boom.”

The one-year scholarship -- covering all the costs of education, housing and food -- is organized by Indonesia’s Ministry of National Education in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs, and has been offered to foreign students from countries with diplomatic ties to Indonesia since 1974. Students learn about the Southeast Asian country’s diverse cultures and language, encompassing art, music, dance, cuisine, philosophy and more.

Twenty-eight Korean students were selected from a pool of about 100 applicants for the 2017-18 program, and have started their education at leading universities in and around Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Malang, Medan and Aceh, among others.

Students taking Gamelan classes at the Indonesian Embassy (Joel Lee/The Korea Herald)

Indonesian Ambassador Umar Hadi (center, right) with his spouse and Reog dancers (Joel Lee/The Korea Herald)

For those interested in experiencing Indonesia through the scholarship, Jun advised them to “live like locals, riding motorcycles, eating on the streets and rubbing shoulders with the natives.”

“Although Indonesians and people of Southeast Asia are passionate about Korea largely through our pop culture, our understanding of their cultures is skin-deep and shallow,” she said. “Koreans make up the largest foreign community in Indonesia. But if you go there without any preparation, the chance of failure in business is high. Mastering the language and understanding the culture are crucial.”

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170925000914


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A look inside Indonesia's twin village, where 12 sets of twins live in close proximity
By Indonesia correspondent Samantha Hawley - Posted October 03, 2017 18:56:51

Six-year-old identical twins Kansa and Kalisa won't perform for a camera on demand. The sisters shunned the ABC when we visited their housing complex in East Jakarta. Not a single photo was taken, but their screams of horror at even the thought of it could be heard down the street.

We slowly backed away feeling ashamed to have even asked.

But it mattered little, a few doors away we found another, much more cooperative set of identical twins.

The local Indonesian media have dubbed Perumnas Klender, a modest housing estate in East Jakarta, a twin village.

Twelve sets of twins live within 6,000 square metres — 10 are identical.

"It all started in 1990, there were six pairs of twins in one alley," the head of the neighbourhood, Andang Subaryono said. "When we did the calculation in May 2014 we found 19 pairs."

Since then some have died and some have moved away, leaving 12. None are related by blood.

Athyyah Alya and Athyyah Kamila Aziza, look and dress the same. The 12-year-olds stand awkwardly together as they speak. They were born and raised in the neighbourhood.

Seventeen-year-olds Riky and Riko Prawoto are being raised by their uncle and aunt on an alley within the village, where three sets of twins reside.

"I called this alley of the twin," their uncle Setijoko said. "It's a blessing from God that there are a lot of twins living here."

Rico and Riky count themselves lucky too.

"We joke and laugh together, we suffer together and we have fun together," Rico said. Or was that Riky?

So if they're not related, why do so many sets of twins live in such a small area?

There's been no study of the cluster, but the locals seem to agree there's nothing in the water.

"It's just a coincidence, there are no myths," the neighbourhood head Andang insisted.

Asmina, the mother of four-year-olds Fani and Fina, the youngest twins in the village, is not superstitious either. "I'm happy there are many like them," she simply explained.

But our presence has upset her twins too. We insisted we'd wait, but Fani and Fina were woken from an afternoon sleep to greet us.

They were two-times grumpy and doubly unimpressed.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-03/a-look-inside-indonesias-twin-village/9011462
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-03/a-look-inside-indonesias-twin-village/9011462
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[katarabhumi]

Neighboring Indonesian mosque, church foster friendship amid religious tensions
Joe Cochrane, New York Times - 5/10/2017

JAKARTA, Indonesia — On a tree-lined side street in the Indonesian capital sits a colonial-era Protestant church with rustic wooden pews and stained-glass windows, and an antique pipe organ built into a large wall behind the altar.

Across the street is a modern, 100,000-square-foot mosque with towering arches at its entrances and a cavernous prayer area laid wall-to-wall with red carpet.

Despite their different faiths, the two houses of worship are friendly, helpful neighbors — and an example of pluralism in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation at a time of heightened fears over religious intolerance.

“We respect each other,” said Nur Alam, an imam at the Sunda Kelapa Grand Mosque, which opened in 1971. “If we never offend other people, then we will be respected.”

Across the street, Adriaan Pitoy is a pastor at St. Paul’s Church, which was built in 1936 under the Dutch colonial administration. “Our relationship is just one of many steps we take,” he said of the neighbors at the mosque. “We also go to other mosques to promote dialogue. Our relationship with our friends next door is normal.”

For the two houses of worship, normal means sharing parking spaces during busier services: Friday Prayer for the mosque, Sunday Mass for the church. They also host interfaith dialogue sessions, and even volleyball tournaments. During Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month, the staff at St. Paul’s, some of whom are Muslim, carry boxes of food to the mosque for worshippers there to break their fast.

This type of religious harmony among neighboring houses of worship is evident not just in Jakarta, but across the Indonesian archipelago. About 90 percent of Indonesia’s 260 million people are identified as Muslim, but the country also has small but influential Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian populations.

Yet these friendly relations are regularly overshadowed by international news reports and social media posts about racial intolerance and fears of the “Islamization” of Indonesia.

In recent years, there have been hundreds of cases of hard-line Islamic groups harassing, attacking and in some cases even killing religious minorities including Christians, Shiite Muslims and members of the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect, and forcibly closing hundreds of churches and other houses of worship across the country.

Then there is Indonesia’s domestic terrorism, dating back to 2000, including multiple bombings and attacks in Jakarta and the resort island of Bali by terrorist cells that pledged loyalty to al-Qaida or the Islamic State.

“If you see the actions of these hard-line groups, and threats from ISIS, or Indonesian militants coming back from Syria, they are a threat to interfaith cooperation in Indonesia,” said Theophilus Bela, former president of the Jakarta Christian Communication Forum, who has for years documented attacks on, and discriminatory actions against, churches in Indonesia.

A recent local challenge to religious harmony can be found cater-cornered from St. Paul’s Church and the Sunda Kelapa Grand Mosque, where, across a boulevard and public park, lies the official residence of the governor of Jakarta.

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was supposed to be living there. Instead, he is in prison, serving a two-year sentence for blaspheming Islam in a case that ignited violent street marches through Jakarta by hard-line Islamist groups. They demanded he be prosecuted or lynched outright for citing a verse of the Quran that warns Muslims against taking Christians and Jews as allies. Mr Basuki had said that Muslims taking the verse to mean they could not vote for non-Muslims were being deceived.

Mr. Basuki, a Christian, subsequently suffered a landslide loss in a runoff election in April. A few weeks later, he was convicted by a Jakarta court and immediately transferred to a high-security prison, to the cheers and celebrations of hard-line Islamic groups gathered outside the courthouse.

Mr. Basuki’s prosecution and imprisonment shocked much of the country, in particular its religious minority communities.

Despite the case and its stoking of Muslim-Christian tensions, both Mr. Nur and Mr. Pitoy contend that the episode of Mr. Basuki was more political than religious, and they say they are not worried about the long-term durability of Indonesia’s pluralistic tradition.

“The people of Indonesia know that there have been conflicts among religious groups, but actually it’s not really just because of religious faith, but maybe it’s political, economic and things like that,” Mr. Pitoy said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to differentiate between politics and religion — especially in Indonesia.”

In August, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a human rights organization founded in Britain, released a report saying that Indonesia’s centuries-old tradition of religious pluralism was “under severe threat,” and that its reputation as a moderate, democratic Muslim-majority nation that protects freedom of religion was being undermined.

The report said some Christian communities particularly feared for their safety.

“There’s almost a sense that they are second-class citizens in their own country,” said Benedict Rogers, the organization’s East Asia team leader.

In response to the fall of Mr. Basuki, who used to attend Sunday Mass at St. Paul’s, Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, one of his key political allies, established a special task force to reinforce the country’s state ideology, known as Pancasila, which enshrines pluralism.

Despite Mr. Basuki’s case, violent attacks on religious minorities have decreased substantially in the past five years. The Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, a nongovernmental organization in Jakarta, had recorded only 93 such attacks this year through August, compared with 264 in all of 2012.

“But the number of blasphemy cases because of social media, because people have comments on Facebook and groups report them to the police, that is growing now,” said Bonar Tigor Naipospos, vice chairman of the Setara Institute’s executive board.

Mr. Nur and Mr. Pitoy both said Indonesia’s core problem with religion is not intolerance, but a lack of education and understanding among its people. Less than half of all Indonesians have completed primary school, according to the government’s statistical bureau.

“Indonesia is Muslim-majority — you have to accept it — but the lower class has a very simple knowledge” of Islam, Mr. Nur said. “That is why, if you want to know about the essence of Islam, which is peace and tolerance, study the Quran.”

When asked if he thought that religious intolerance was growing in Indonesia, Mr. Pitoy, the pastor at St. Paul’s, said, “I don’t think so.”

“The problems are about poverty and making social justice a reality,” he said of the challenges facing the church. “Also, with globalization, there are failures internally, and it has created many sudden changes. It’s very important to have a common foundation, and we have it with our constitution and Pancasila.”

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/wo...-Amid-Religious-Tensions/stories/201710050117

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[Nike]

Neighboring Indonesian mosque, church foster friendship amid religious tensions
Joe Cochrane, New York Times - 5/10/2017

JAKARTA, Indonesia — On a tree-lined side street in the Indonesian capital sits a colonial-era Protestant church with rustic wooden pews and stained-glass windows, and an antique pipe organ built into a large wall behind the altar.

Across the street is a modern, 100,000-square-foot mosque with towering arches at its entrances and a cavernous prayer area laid wall-to-wall with red carpet.

Despite their different faiths, the two houses of worship are friendly, helpful neighbors — and an example of pluralism in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation at a time of heightened fears over religious intolerance.

“We respect each other,” said Nur Alam, an imam at the Sunda Kelapa Grand Mosque, which opened in 1971. “If we never offend other people, then we will be respected.”

Across the street, Adriaan Pitoy is a pastor at St. Paul’s Church, which was built in 1936 under the Dutch colonial administration. “Our relationship is just one of many steps we take,” he said of the neighbors at the mosque. “We also go to other mosques to promote dialogue. Our relationship with our friends next door is normal.”

For the two houses of worship, normal means sharing parking spaces during busier services: Friday Prayer for the mosque, Sunday Mass for the church. They also host interfaith dialogue sessions, and even volleyball tournaments. During Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month, the staff at St. Paul’s, some of whom are Muslim, carry boxes of food to the mosque for worshippers there to break their fast.

This type of religious harmony among neighboring houses of worship is evident not just in Jakarta, but across the Indonesian archipelago. About 90 percent of Indonesia’s 260 million people are identified as Muslim, but the country also has small but influential Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian populations.

Yet these friendly relations are regularly overshadowed by international news reports and social media posts about racial intolerance and fears of the “Islamization” of Indonesia.

In recent years, there have been hundreds of cases of hard-line Islamic groups harassing, attacking and in some cases even killing religious minorities including Christians, Shiite Muslims and members of the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect, and forcibly closing hundreds of churches and other houses of worship across the country.

Then there is Indonesia’s domestic terrorism, dating back to 2000, including multiple bombings and attacks in Jakarta and the resort island of Bali by terrorist cells that pledged loyalty to al-Qaida or the Islamic State.

“If you see the actions of these hard-line groups, and threats from ISIS, or Indonesian militants coming back from Syria, they are a threat to interfaith cooperation in Indonesia,” said Theophilus Bela, former president of the Jakarta Christian Communication Forum, who has for years documented attacks on, and discriminatory actions against, churches in Indonesia.

A recent local challenge to religious harmony can be found cater-cornered from St. Paul’s Church and the Sunda Kelapa Grand Mosque, where, across a boulevard and public park, lies the official residence of the governor of Jakarta.

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was supposed to be living there. Instead, he is in prison, serving a two-year sentence for blaspheming Islam in a case that ignited violent street marches through Jakarta by hard-line Islamist groups. They demanded he be prosecuted or lynched outright for citing a verse of the Quran that warns Muslims against taking Christians and Jews as allies. Mr Basuki had said that Muslims taking the verse to mean they could not vote for non-Muslims were being deceived.

Mr. Basuki, a Christian, subsequently suffered a landslide loss in a runoff election in April. A few weeks later, he was convicted by a Jakarta court and immediately transferred to a high-security prison, to the cheers and celebrations of hard-line Islamic groups gathered outside the courthouse.

Mr. Basuki’s prosecution and imprisonment shocked much of the country, in particular its religious minority communities.

Despite the case and its stoking of Muslim-Christian tensions, both Mr. Nur and Mr. Pitoy contend that the episode of Mr. Basuki was more political than religious, and they say they are not worried about the long-term durability of Indonesia’s pluralistic tradition.

“The people of Indonesia know that there have been conflicts among religious groups, but actually it’s not really just because of religious faith, but maybe it’s political, economic and things like that,” Mr. Pitoy said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to differentiate between politics and religion — especially in Indonesia.”

In August, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a human rights organization founded in Britain, released a report saying that Indonesia’s centuries-old tradition of religious pluralism was “under severe threat,” and that its reputation as a moderate, democratic Muslim-majority nation that protects freedom of religion was being undermined.

The report said some Christian communities particularly feared for their safety.

“There’s almost a sense that they are second-class citizens in their own country,” said Benedict Rogers, the organization’s East Asia team leader.

In response to the fall of Mr. Basuki, who used to attend Sunday Mass at St. Paul’s, Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, one of his key political allies, established a special task force to reinforce the country’s state ideology, known as Pancasila, which enshrines pluralism.

Despite Mr. Basuki’s case, violent attacks on religious minorities have decreased substantially in the past five years. The Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, a nongovernmental organization in Jakarta, had recorded only 93 such attacks this year through August, compared with 264 in all of 2012.

“But the number of blasphemy cases because of social media, because people have comments on Facebook and groups report them to the police, that is growing now,” said Bonar Tigor Naipospos, vice chairman of the Setara Institute’s executive board.

Mr. Nur and Mr. Pitoy both said Indonesia’s core problem with religion is not intolerance, but a lack of education and understanding among its people. Less than half of all Indonesians have completed primary school, according to the government’s statistical bureau.

“Indonesia is Muslim-majority — you have to accept it — but the lower class has a very simple knowledge” of Islam, Mr. Nur said. “That is why, if you want to know about the essence of Islam, which is peace and tolerance, study the Quran.”

When asked if he thought that religious intolerance was growing in Indonesia, Mr. Pitoy, the pastor at St. Paul’s, said, “I don’t think so.”

“The problems are about poverty and making social justice a reality,” he said of the challenges facing the church. “Also, with globalization, there are failures internally, and it has created many sudden changes. It’s very important to have a common foundation, and we have it with our constitution and Pancasila.”

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/wo...-Amid-Religious-Tensions/stories/201710050117

.

Actually the more educated but got thin layer of Islamic teaching is one who most prone to radical ideology. Lot of my friends who graduated from University, is one the most visible cases they usually appeared more pious and have a hard stance toward state ideology and other faith. Meanwhile their lower educated parents is usually got more laid back attitudes toward religion.

 

[katarabhumi]

Actually the more educated but got thin layer of Islamic teaching is one who most prone to radical ideology. Lot of my friends who graduated from University, is one the most visible cases they usually appeared more pious and have a hard stance toward state ideology and other faith. Meanwhile their lower educated parents is usually got more laid back attitudes toward religion.

The more educated are familiar with internet and social medias, the availability of information which is abundant and easy is to obtain there has made them lazy and don't bother anymore to find a teacher, let alone a good and proper one. With no filter and guide, no wonder they're easily infected by radicalization.

++++


The good jihadi: inside Indonesia’s terrorist boarding school
By: Gabrielle Lipton - POSTED ON: October 6, 2017

In North Sumatra, a former Indonesian radical has opened a boarding school for the children of terrorists to prevent their futures from looking like his past.

What happens when children begin to realise that their parents are following a different path? What happens when that path ends behind bars? Or on the receiving end of a bullet? What happens in the minds of children whose parents are terrorists?

Khairul Ghazali had plenty of time to think about these questions when he was in prison – six years, exactly, the shortest sentence among his comrades convicted for terrorist activities in 2010. He had plenty of time to think not just about the children killed in the bombings carried out by the terrorism organisation he was a part of, but also those whose parents were sitting in cells near his.

He thought not about changing the roots of terrorist organisations in Indonesia but changing the seeds, so to speak. He thought about digging up those susceptible to perpetuating Islamic militancy and re-planting them in a new, healthier plot of land.

This ultimately ended up being 30 hectares near Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, now the site of Ghazali’s Al-Hidayah Islamic Boarding School.

Ghazali was born into a family that was part of Darul Islam, an Islamic group founded by militias that fiercely believed in turning Indonesia into an Islamic state. As a teenager, in 1984, he joined Indonesia’s Jemaah Islamiyah, a separatist terrorist organisation borne from Darul Islam. As a young adult, Ghazali helped carry out bombings and bank heists around the country before being jailed in 2010.

When officials from Indonesia’s National Agency for Counter-Terrorism (BNPT) visited the prison where he was being held, Ghazali shared with them his vision to stunt the future of Indonesian terrorism through education, to give children whose parents have been involved in terrorist activities an emotionally safe place to learn, a place where they weren’t exposed to violence. The school would be an embodiment of the shift in his definition of jihad.

By the time he went on parole in 2015, word of his idea had spread among national and local government, and the governor of North Sumatra sent a plea to the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises on Ghazali’s behalf to grant him the land. With the help of friends and family, he realised his vision and built Al-Hidayah.

With round cheeks sandwiched between a tuft of beard and thick-rimmed glasses, Ghazali brims with joviality, his wrinkle-free 52-year-old skin hiding the turmoil of his past. “This school is to prevent radicalism from touching the children of terrorist families,” he says. “I chose a place somewhat away from the crowd or in the suburbs in order to have the land and soil for children to learn life skills.”

The 20 male students currently enrolled live on campus and learn the standardised Indonesian school curriculum supplemented with lessons in English, Arabic, entrepreneurship, agriculture and psychology. Some have fathers behind bars; others have witnessed their father’s death. But this is not a rescue mission, and although Ghazali visits the homes of the students, they must come with the consent of their parents or guardian. The school’s religious ethos follows rahmatan lil ‘alamin, teaching Islam through a lens of peace and tolerance. On one occasion a student was withdrawn when his parents returned to radicalised beliefs.

Al-Hidayah’s key goal, however, is to surround students with others who come from similar homes, who see each other as normal, who are taught why and how to step off the path they might have unknowingly been on and support one another along the way.

“Being different from other children is not easy, and these students have to be counseled on how to cope with mockery from other kids, how to develop their self-esteem, how to think they are equal compared to other ‘normal’ children,” says Hamdi Muluk, a professor of psychology at the University of Indonesia who has researched and published extensively on the psychology of terrorism. “Children also might not understand what terrorism means. This can make them feel confused, not confident, fearful of being rejected. And if they feel frustrated, they might convert this to revenge or hate. This can become a serious problem when they reach their teenage years. Someone has to explain to them realistically what happened to their parents.”

While terrorist activities in Indonesia are currently few and far between, Ghazali was a prime contributor during a period when they were at an all-time high. When he joined Jemaah Islamiyah, Indonesia was under the administration of President Suharto, a military dictator who pursued the archipelagic country’s unity through the doctrine of Pancasila – a five-pillared ideology that promotes coexistence of multiple religions – over Sharia law. There was no tolerance in Suharto’s regime for radical Islam, and their desire to flee from this oppression pushed Ghazali and others into Malaysia and Thailand, often using time abroad to equip themselves with bomb-making and weaponry skills.

When the regime finally fell in 1998, Jemaah Islamiyah returned to Indonesia to carry out terrorist activities around the archipelago. The Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005 killed 202 and 20 people, respectively, the 2003 Jakarta bombing at the Marriott Hotel killed 20, the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy killed nine and the 2000 bombing of the Philippine embassy killed two. There was also a 2010 bank heist in Medan in which an estimated $44,000 was stolen. Two days later, a midnight attack on the police headquarters in Hamparan Perak, North Sumatra, left three officers dead.

Following this final attack, and knowing they were being pursued by the Indonesian Special Forces’ counter-terrorism squad known as Densus 88, Ghazali took his comrades to his home in Tanjung Balai, about five hours east by car from the scene of the crime. Their hideout was quickly discovered and, a month later, Densus 88 raided Ghazali’s home, ending in the death of two terrorists and prison sentences for the rest.

The bedlam of Ghazali’s former life could not be in starker contrast to his current surroundings.

Al-Hidayah’s curriculum spans maths, languages and agriculture

The school is a simple and peaceful place, comprising two classrooms with pastel lemon-and-lime-coloured walls, a mosque, a couple of offices, a workshop space, three outdoor play areas and dorms. Tuition is free, the eight teachers all work as volunteers and funding comes from Ghazali himself, as well as a cohort of high-ranking government officials who got behind the project: the head of BNPT, Suhardi Alius; National Police chief Tito Karnavian; and the police chief of Medan, Mardiaz Kusin.

Alius was one of the first government officials to become aware of the school, hearing about it from members of his staff who visited Ghazali in prison, and is now the school’s most active supporter. While such a place certainly aligns with the goals of BNPT, the school moved Alius on a personal level and he fundraised among his friends to help build the school’s mosque without touching government money.

“These children are victims,” Alius says. “They’re often ostracised and experience social punishment, and as they get marginalised and secluded they might get closer to their parents’ ideology. But here, they’re loved and given attention and put in society instead.” He’s made the trip from his base in Jakarta to visit the school three times, and BNPT now develops Al-Hidayah’s curriculum as part of its annual task list.

Despite the uplifting nature of his idea, Ghazali has struggled to re-socialise himself and establish his school as part of the local community, which initially opposed the project on suspicion that its ethos was a sham and that Ghazali was using it as an undercover way to continue working for his former organisation.

“At first I was opposed by the community,” Ghazali says. “There was stigma; we were considered to be producing child terrorists. We were reported to authorities who eventually came to see me and saw we were not printing future generations [of terrorists].”

Despite such accusations, rejection is just as strident from the other side too. His former comrades now view him as a traitor – a puppet of the government and a doll of Densus 88 and the BNPT.

Soon, though, the brother of one of the Bali bombers will be establishing a similar school in the East Java village of Tenggulunan, which will also be supported by BNPT and the local government. Alius says there might even be a third school on the horizon.

Ghazali now teaches religion through the prism of peace and tolerance

Ghazali would never claim that Al-Hidayah is a perfect model but, for the students who stay, his new form of jihad seems to be working.

“I’ve studied here since August 2016,” says Ahmad Irgi, an 11-year-old student who had dropped out of public school after fifth grade. His father died in prison in 2015. “My mother brought me here to study religion and skills so that I can be a pious and able son. Now I have a lot of friends. And many of them have shared my same fate.”

And what, exactly, does Irgi hope his future holds? A career as a police officer.

http://sea-globe.com/indonesian-radical-boarding-school/


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