JI-linked schools in Indonesia change tack after group’s disbandment

Formerly used as recruiting grounds, they have promised to remove extremist content

- Aqil Hamzah and Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

A gentle laugh accompanies almost every single sentence uttered by Mr Imtihan Syafi'i, the principal of an Indonesian Islamic boarding school – or pesantren – in Magetan regency, about three hours away by car from Solo in Central Java.

When he points out the Wi-Fi router in the sparsely furnished room in a nondescript building on the grounds of Pesantren Darul Quddus, a boyish glee takes over, as he repeatedly exclaims how modern and connected the school is.

At this mixed-gender school spread out over four blocks, about 40 students aged between 17 and 25 are housed in separate dormitories for males and females. They are free to keep in touch with the wider world via smartphones.

But his affable smiles and easy-going manner belie a darker past. Mr Imtihan, who is in his early 50s, was a key leader in the now-defunct terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), acting as the head of its fatwa council. And since its inception in 2015, Pesantren Darul Quddus had served as recruitment ground for the group.

“All of our teachers were members, and some of our older students were part of JI too,” he told The Sunday Times, which visited the school on Sept 13.

However, he stressed that the active recruitment of students to become JI members has ceased since the arrest of former JI chief Para Wijayanto in 2019.

Formed in 1993 in Indonesia, JI was the South-east Asian affiliate of Islamist militant organisation Al-Qaeda. The group was outlawed in 2008 after deadly attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia, including the bombings on the holiday island of Bali in 2002 that killed more than 200 people, many of them Australian tourists.

There are 42 JI-linked pesantrens across the archipelago today, according to Wijayanto – a small percentage compared with the over 41,000 Islamic boarding schools registered with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.