Ali Imron played a huge role in the Bali bombing in 2002, planting a bomb outside the US Consulate and driving two suicide bombers to the famous Kuta tourist strip. While the bomb outside the US Consulate caused minor damage, explosions in Kuta killed 202 people, the majority of whom were Australian tourists (88).
Three of the convicted terrorists were executed in 2008, and another was killed in a police shootout in Jakarta in 2010. Imron, meanwhile, was sentenced to life in prison in 2003 and has since claimed to have seen the error of his ways, occasionally willing to be interviewed by the media to give insights into the workings of terrorists like he said he once was.
Imron appeared for an exclusive interview with Kompas TV’s veteran journalist Rosiana Silalahi for the talk show Rosi in Jakarta last night, in which he was asked for his opinion of a recent survey which says that 9.2% of Indonesians believe that democratic government should be replaced by an Islamic caliphate.
Imron opined that the problem isn’t in the number of terrorists present, but rather in how easily people can be radicalized.
“Terrorists, whether they’re few or many, will continue to spread their beliefs. It doesn’t take long to influence someone [to follow their beliefs], two hours is enough to provoke them until they’re ready to commit suicide,” he told Rosi, as quoted by Kompas.
Imron said that terror or radical groups often twist interpretations of the holy book of Quran in order to brainwash their recruits to carry out heinous acts (which, it’s interesting to note, is the same kind of argument former Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama made, albeit in a political sense, which saw him jailed for blasphemy against Islam).
Imron urged the government to tackle the spread of radicalism at its roots. He specifically pointed to religious leaders who brand other Muslims who have different viewpoints to them as kafirs (disbelievers), saying that these people or groups serve as the gateway to extremism.
“There must be a law to punish [religious leaders giving] sermons who brand others as kafirs. This is clearly dangerous,” he said.
You can watch the entire episode of Rosi in which Rosiana Silalahi interviews former terrorists (in Indonesian) here:
