BNPT: More Than 250 Books on Terrorism Circulating on Internet

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) deputy for law enforcement Insp. Gen. Ibnu Suhendra said there are presently more than 250 books on radicalism and terrorism circulating freely on the internet. Most of them are in portable document format or PDF that can be freely accessed and downloaded.

“The distribution of these books on the internet is part of the propaganda of terror groups. They are adapting to the development of communication technology, using the internet to spread their teachings,” said Ibnu while showing hundreds of books during a visit to Tempo's headquarters on Wednesday, December 1.

The books are mostly written by high-ranking officials of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS which have been translated into Indonesian. One of the translators of these books is Aman Abdurrahman. The founder of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah terror group is found to have translated around 200 books on propaganda to spread radicalism.

These books noted teachings that a country implementing a democratic system is kafir or an infidel country so that attacking police and law enforcers are allowed. The books also considered Muslims opposing their group as kafir (infidels).

“These books inspire terrorists. In every terrorist arrest, we find these books with them which have been converted into PDF and distributed on the internet,” Ibnu explained.

BNPT hoped that the Ministry of Communication and Information could immediately anticipate the widespread circulation of books on radicalism. “If terrorism is the fruit, then radicalism is the tree. As long as radicalism is not contained, terrorism will continue to occur,” Ibnu concluded.

Read: PDRI Questions BNPT's Allegation of Involvement in Jamaah Islamiyah Network

AGUNG SEDAYU