Ba’asyir Free Next Week: Java, Indonesia

Next week the ageing cleric Abu Bakar Basyir will be released from jail after being incarcerated for two and a half years for his part in the first Bali bombing.

The renowned spiritual leader of militant group Jemaah Islamiah and allegedly linked to Al Qaeda will, according to his lawyer, return to his home shortly after his release and continue teaching at the Ngruki (Islamic boarding school) located in Surakarta, Central Java.

The Ngruki boarding school was actually founded by the convicted leader nearly three decades ago and it is here that many of the terrorists studied who carried out the first Bali bombing. The president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yodhyono, is committed to stamping out terrorism in his country but has never hinted at any time he would close down these teaching establishments.

It is said that these establishments have been proven to be teaching hatred against westerners and what they stand for. Maybe not all of them but certain ones most definitely are.

What is in the future as far as other terrorist attacks is concerned is something we will never know or from where the source of these perpetrators of death will come. What I would venture to say is that with the release of Ba'asyir there is bound to be another occurrence - unfortunately.