Defunct JI terror group seeks to get ex-members to surrender, stand down

Nationwide outreach tour aimed at ensuring they do not regroup or join splinter groups

- Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

Former senior leaders of now-defunct terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) held a gathering in Bekasi, a satellite town of Jakarta, urging their former comrades to stand down, turn themselves in and contribute to peace and economic development in Indonesia.

Speaking via videoconference, Abu Rusdan, a former JI leader arrested in 2021, told a packed room of about 400 former members on Sept 8: "Go ahead, turn yourself in.

If you have any arms, surrender them (to the authorities). You will not be detained." His appeal was part of a nationwide outreach tour aimed at ensuring that former JI members do not regroup or join existing splinter groups, following the June dissolution of the terror group that was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings.

Similar gatherings were previously held in other places such as Yogyakarta, Jambi on the western island of Sumatra, and West Nusa Tenggara province capital Mataram, according to the former JI leaders who organised the meeting with the support of Indonesia's national police counter-terrorism squad, Detachment 88.

Police said on Sept 8 that all former JI members who turn themselves in would still be prosecuted according to their involvement, but would be given special consideration.