Three Poso Fugitives Escape to Java
Tuesday, 06 February, 2007 | 09:35 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The police are now examining reports about the possibility that three fugitives from the Poso rioting have escaped to Java.

These are people trained by well-known terrorists such as Noor Din M. Top.

“There is a possibility they have escaped to Java,” said Badrodin Haiti, Central Sulawesi Regional Police Chief, yesterday (5/2) during a working meeting between Polri and the House Defense Commission.

According to Badrodin, one of the three fugitives is Upik.

Before Upik was active in Poso, he obtained terrorism lessons from Doctor Azahari and Noor Din in Blitar, East Java.

This assumption is supported by a Tempo source who is close to a Poso Mujahidin group.

According to the source, there are around ten Poso fugitives who are now hiding in Central Java, while the Central Java Regional Police have estimated there are only five.

Neither Badrodin nor the source was willing to mention the names of the fugitives or the hiding places.

In addition to pursuing the fugitives, the police will be gathering data about visitors and ustad (Islamic teachers) in Poso.

According to Badrodin, data about ustads who have come from outside Poso was important because so far radicalism in the area has spread by religious teachers who are not from Poso.

This view was supported by Ustad Abdurahman, a Posonese religious figure, who was asked for his opinion during a hearing with the House.

He requested the government to take a role in clearing up the meaning of jihad, which has so far been misunderstood by most people, including religious figures.

“They think that what they do is jihad, killing police member is halal (permitted) and their looting is fai (spoils of war),” he said.

Ustad Abdurahman also asked the police to trace the groups that teach such ideology.

“If they're found, I ask such schools to be shut down,” he said.

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