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The terrorist who became a peacemaker

Khairul Ghazali uses own experience to help steer vulnerable Indonesian children away from the path of radicalization
The terrorist who became a peacemaker

Students attend a lesson at the Darusy Syifa boarding school set up by former terrorist Khairul Ghazali near Medan, Indonesia. (ucanews.com photo)

Published: September 27, 2016 10:01 AM GMT
Updated: September 28, 2016 02:43 AM GMT

Khairul Ghazali, a Muslim cleric, was imprisoned for being a mentor to jihadists. However his life took a different path after his wife paid him a visit in jail and told him how his children were suffering as a result of his activities.

Now free, he has founded a special boarding school with de-radicalization as its mission.

Located in Sei Mencirem village, about 35 kilometers from the North Sumatran capital of Medan, the school — Darusy Syifa — began operating in June.

"We prioritize educating terrorists' children," Ghazali told ucanews.com.

There are very few buildings there, only a mushola (Islamic prayer room) and a house used as a hostel. A larger mosque is now being built with government donations.

"Currently we have 20 students studying here. Twelve of them are children of terrorists," Ghazali said.

 

Dark era

The idea to establish the school on 31 hectares of land came from Ghazali's personal experience of terrorism.

The 51-year-old father of ten was a member of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a militant organization in Southeast Asia that seeks to establish an Islamic state.

In the mid 1980s, Ghazali settled in Malaysia, where he met prominent terrorists, including Hambali, the former JI leader allegedly involved in the 2002 Bali bombings.

He also met Abdullah bin Ahmad Sungkar, one of the founders of JI who died in 1999. "We used to talk and pray together," Ghazali recalled.

During his time in Malaysia he worked as a journalist and writer, while his job for JI was to indoctrinate members. "I brainwashed them with jihad ideologies," Ghazali said.

He returned to Indonesia in 1998 when Suharto fell from power. He began to help a JI cell in Sumatra responsible for several attacks in Medan and other Indonesian cities.

Ghazali's terrorist activities reached their peak in 2010. His followers carried out an attack against CIMB Niaga Bank in Medan and stole 400 million rupiah (US$30,500). A policeman was killed in the robbery.

A month later they launched an attack on a police station in Hamparan Perak, Deli Serdang, which killed three policemen.

Police would lay siege to Ghazali's home in Tanjungbalai, North Sumatra, which had become a gathering place for his followers. In the raid, two people were shot dead, while Ghazali and an associate named Jumirin were arrested.

"In my house, police discovered weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition," he said. Ghazali was eventually jailed in 2011 for six years.

 

Turning point

Being in prison with time to be alone made Ghazali reevaluate his life. He realized that he had chosen the wrong path.

"I realized this when my wife told me our children were not going to school," he said. "They were being teased by their friends for being the children of terrorists."

Ghazali began to think that there was something wrong with his life. "If I was acting properly, why were my children and wife miserable?" he said.

He decided to flip through the Koran and read the message of the Prophet Muhammad.

"I discovered that Islam basically teaches us to save, not kill," he said. "While in prison I experienced a reversal of thinking. I felt I had misused the teachings of Islam."

Accompanied by the Koran, he requested paper and pens from the prison warden and began to write his thoughts and reflections.

"Slowly, I wrote more and more. I handed it to my wife who typed it into a book."

Ghazali would publish two books while on remand and before being sentenced in late 2011. "Interestingly, the National Counterterrorism Agency sponsored the publications," he said.

"For my second book I was given a laptop by the anti-terror police unit," he said. "Maybe I was the first inmate to be given a laptop by the people who previously arrested me," he laughed.

 

Khairul Ghazali turned his life around after his wife told him how their children were suffering as a result of his terrorist activities. (Photo by Ryan Dagur)

 

De-radicalization

After his release in 2015, Ghazali thought about what he could do to prevent more people from becoming involved in terrorist acts.

"I wrote books but I thought this was not enough. I believe that the best way is through education," he said.

Ghazali had heard many terrorists' children had dropped out from school. "This is dangerous," he said.

In the Jihadist doctrine, children must serve their parents, including avenging them, he said.

Therefore, Ghazali established the Darusy Syifa boarding school as a solution.

 

Hope

Haris Iskandar, the school's director, said in addition to teaching the standard curriculum for junior high school, they give special lessons on de-radicalization.

"In a de-radicalization lesson, we teach how to be forgiving, peace-loving and not to hate," Iskandar said.

With Ghazali's own contribution, the school spends 12 million rupiah each month on the 20 students. The government, he said, will begin assisting operations next year.

AZ, one of the students, whose father, Jumrin, was involved in the CIMB Niaga robbery and who was freed last year, said he found a comfort in the school.

"I want to be a cleric," he said. "My father told me that I must be a good person."

Suhardi Alius, head of the National Agency for Combating Terrorism, visited the boarding school in September and appreciates Ghazali's effort.

"The children of former terrorists must be embraced and given an understanding of the dangers of radicalization," Alius said.

"People must not exclude them, but rather embrace them," he said.

Ghazali agrees. "There is no other way," he said. "In addition to fighting terrorism, de-radicalization efforts must target those who are most vulnerable, specifically terrorists' family."

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