Top officials in the Indonesian Government have called for the country’s Public Service to be “purged” of people who support or have links to Islamic hard-line groups.
The move, which is spearheaded by Minister for Bureaucratic Reform, Tjahjo Kumolo (pictured) comes after revelations that hundreds of thousands of Government employees may have been influenced by radical ideology.
“Many have already been arrested and at least one has carried out a terrorist attack on a church,” Mr Tjahjo said in a statement that was also supported by head of the National Civil Service Agency, Bima Haria Wibisana.
Mr Tjahjo said of Indonesia’s more than 4.3 million Public Servants “at least 800,000 have been influenced by radical ideology”.
“Any links, directly and indirectly, to terror organisations such as Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda affiliate, or Islamic State ally, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah will result in dismissal and likely prosecution,” Mr Tjahjo said.
He said supporters of such organisations rejected the national secular ideology of Pancasila (five principles) and the Constitution, “which would make a Civil Servant’s status untenable”.
“Dozens of Civil Servants involved in terrorism cases have been arrested in the last few years,” the Minister said.
“So, the time has come to root them out before they can cause damage,” Mr Tjahjo said.
Executive Secretary of the Indonesian bishops’ Commission for the Laity, Father Paulus Christian Siswantoko said many Government institutions had been infiltrated.
“One of the suicide bombers who attacked three churches in Surabaya, East Java, in 2018 was a Civil Servant,” Father Paulus said.
Jakarta, 3 February 2021
