NU chairman: RI easily penetrated by foreign ideologies

Jakarta, NU Online
Indonesia as the largest Muslim populated country in the world has a high level of openness, so the nation is vulnerable to penetration by foreign ideologies, including extremist and antagonist ones, a religious figure said.

KH Masdar Farid Mas'udi, chairman of the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU), the largest Muslim organization in the country made the statement in an international workshop themed "Raising Awareness about the UN`s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy among Civil Societies in Southeast Asia," here on Wednesday (1<>8/11).

The workshop taking place on November 18-19 at Sultan Hotel here is being attended by 90 representatives of civil society organizations in Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia and Indonesia as the host.

"Without comprehensive prevention efforts, the worst scenario could happen," Masdar Farid Mas'udi said.

Citing example, Mas'udi said, like a tree, the extremist ideology grows out of three things namely the seed such as a narrow understanding of religion, the media in the form of poverty and underdevelopment and the fertilizer in the form of marginalized/ excluded feeling.

"The narrow understanding of religion is not only a monopoly of one religion. In every religion there is a latent danger, especially for those who hold fast to the textual context," he said.

According to him, the narrow understanding would make those people claim to be the only group who believe and have the right to life.

"They believe that their understanding as an absolute explanation of the religion," he said.

In the meantime, poverty makes some people feel pessimistic and they can find happiness in the world. And in such condition, certain persons like Noordin M Top, a terrorist from Malaysia came up, he said.


While the marginalized/excluded feeling, according to him, differed by two things, namely local terrorists triggered by local conflicts and international terrorists triggered by international conflict.

Therefore, three parties should be involved in the handling of terrorism that is the clerics to prevent the emergence of a narrow understanding of religion.

"If we do not want Islam to be hijacked by terrorists the clerics must educate their followers ... with respect for differences among God`s creatures," he said.

The matter of poverty becomes one of the government`s responsibilities of how to free the people from the problems of poverty and ignorance.

While efforts to overcome the global and local injustices are borne by the parties who have authority to stop the war and hegemonic ambitions, Masdar Farid Ma`udi added. (dar)