Counterterrorism Agency Comments on Viral Radical Group Convoy

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) director of prevention Brig. Gen. Ahmad Nurwakhid on Tuesday commented on a video that went viral online showing a motorcycle convoy publicly promoting the caliphate lifestyle on the streets of Cawang, East Jakarta. The group supposedly responsible for the convoy is identified as ‘Khilafatul Muslimin.’

“The Khilafatul Muslimin group campaigns for the rise of the caliphate system as a solution for the Muslim community,” Nurwakhid wrote in a statement on Tuesday, May 31.

He insisted that this group shares similar ideologies with HTI, or Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, which the government deemed a radical group before disbanding it permanently. Nurwakhid explained that the Hizbut Tahrir is a transnational movement that fights to establish the caliphate system across the globe while Khilafatul Muslimin claims to have established a "chosen caliph" in Indonesia.

The latter group, according to Nurwakhid, is inseparable from the Islamic State Movement (NII), which paved the way for radical group movements in the country and shares a similar trait of scolding other social systems as heathens or infidels. 

The counterterrorism agency director also said the Khilafatul Muslimin can easily affiliate with terror groups such as ISIS, similar to its rise in 2015. Especially considering reports from researcher Rohan Gunaratna who classifies Khilafatul Muslimin as a radical group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS.

“BNPT has coordinated its efforts with provincial governments and groups across the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) to pay attention to this movement as it goes against the nation’s principle and can potentially give birth to terrorist movements,” he said.

MUTIA YUANTISYA

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