Scholar Warns Muslims of ISIS Influence in Indonesia

Jakarta (Antara) - Former chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Hasyim Muzadi has warned the Indonesian Muslims of the influence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). "As a Muslim, I have to call on the Indonesian Muslims to not let themselves be provoked by the ISIS issue which has entered into Indonesia," Hasyim Muzadi said in a written statement received here on Sunday. He said that the Indonesian Muslims should not be provoked, let alone joining the movement and supporting it. Hasyim said the Indonesian Muslims, especially NU members, should not support the ISIS and avoid things that could divide Muslims. "The ISIS is a new Islamic phenomenon in the Middle East which is by no means suitable with the Indonesian conditions," Hasyim Muzadi said. The former chairman of UN, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, said that Indonesia needed to be cautious because since the reforms era the seeds or embryos of radicalism had been planted in Indonesia, either through mass organizations, movements which had entered the country's system or through the medium of terror. "I think if the embryos are cultivated with a mixture of the ISIS issue and of the rift emerging in post presidential election, it will help increase transnational movements' redicalism which endanger the safety of the Indonesian Muslims and the integrity of the Unitary State of Indonesia," he stressed. (*)