Khilafatul Muslimin is as Dangerous as ISIS: Counterterrorism Agency

TheIndonesia.id - Director of Prevention of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) Brigadier General Pol R Ahmad Nurwakhid said the Khilafatul Muslimin group was as dangerous as Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, the Islamic State of Indonesia (NII), and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS). They are all campaigning for the establishment of a caliphate system.

This was revealed by Nurwakhid in Bogor, responding to a convoy of motorbike groups carrying attributes that read 'Awakening of the Caliphate' in Brebes, Central Java, and Cawang, East Jakarta. In some of their attributes, they campaign for the establishment of the caliphate system as a solution for the people carried out by the Khilafatul Muslimin group.

Nurwakhid, in his written statement on Tuesday, said that the Khilafatul Muslimin actually had the same ideals and ideology as HTI which had been dissolved by the government, namely establishing a caliphate. "The difference is, that HTI is a trans-national movement and is fighting for the caliphate system in various countries. While the Muslim Khilafatul claims to have established a caliphate with an elected caliph," explained Nurwakhid.

Nurwakhid explained that the genealogy of the Khilafatul Muslimin cannot be separated from the NII because most of the key figures in this movement were NII members. Its founder and leader is Abdul Qadir Hasan Baraja, a former member of the NII and one of the founders of the Ngruki Islamic Boarding School which took part in the Indonesian Mujahideen Council in 2000, although he chose not to be active.

Nurwakhid added that several parameters can be used in viewing the Khilafatul Muslimin. First, the ideological aspect is very dangerous by having the ideological ideals of a caliphate in Indonesia as HTI.

"Although in their confession they do not conflict with Pancasila, their ideology is to disbelieve in a system that is not in accordance with their views," he explained.

Second, continued Nurwakhid, historically, the founder of this movement was very close to radical groups such as NII, Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI), and had a track record in terrorism cases. Baraja has been detained twice, the first in January 1979 related to the Warman Terror, detained for 3 years. Then arrested and detained again for 13 years, in connection with the bombing cases in East Java and Borobudur in early 1985.

Third, is the ideological impact. This movement which has ideological ideals of changing a system is very vulnerable to metamorphosis into a terror movement. "Look at the case of the arrest of NAS as a terrorist suspect in Bekasi, which was found in his rented box containing the Khilafatul Muslimin and the Khilafatul Muslimin embroidered logo," he said.

Nurwakhid continued, that the Khilafatul Muslimin movement is easily affiliated with terror group networks such as ISIS. During the heyday of ISIS in 2015, Rohan Gunaratna, a Terrorism Researcher from Singapore, found that Khilafatul Muslims have pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Regarding this issue, Nurwakhid explained, BNPT, which was mandated as the leading sector to coordinate the prevention of ideas that can encourage terrorism, has coordinated the Regional Government, Forkopimda throughout the territory of the Republic of Indonesia to be aware of this movement because it is contrary to the nation's philosophy and has the potential to give birth to a terrorism movement.

"This coordination will continue to be strengthened. The goal is to continue to detect as early as possible regarding the potential for the emergence of the roots of radicalism and terrorism in society," said Nurwakhid.