Indonesian government must officially ban religious group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) that allegedly harbors perpetrators of terror attacks in the country, a member of Indonesian parliament said here on Friday.

Slamet Effendy Yusuf, a legislator from the Golkar Party said that the religious group has long been recognized to have connections with terrorist group's accomplices.

"The group's ideology is also identical to the one of the terrorist group in terms of its terror acts, concealing suspects from the law and their adherence to violence," Slamet the member of Commission I for Security and foreign affairs policy at the parliament said here.

Slamet said the government must take quick decision regarding the idea to ban the group since the terrorist group's network has already widespread in several points in the key island of Java.

"They already made base camps in several towns in Java, comprised of Bogor, Bekasi, Cilacap, Kudus, Banjarnegara, Wonosobo, Solo and Lamongan. If we realize it as an imaginary terrorist map, it is a very serious issue and very fearful," Slamet said.

He was referring to the police's findings on assembled bombs and terrorist hideouts in those cities revealed in the media prior to and after the bombings of the two luxury hotels in Jakarta last month.

He said that the government had instituted a similar ban on Indonesia Communist Party (PKI) in the mid 1960s for its promoting violence and breaking up harmony among the public excuses.

By forbidding the existence of Jamaah Islamiyah group in Indonesia, it would be easier for the government to eradicate terrorism, Slamet said.

"Secondly, it would clean up the image of Islam in Indonesia," he pointed out.

Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), or "Islamic Congregation," is a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization dedicated to the establishment of a Islamic State in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.

JI was added to the United Nations 1267 Committee's list of terrorist organizations linked to al-Qaeda or the Taliban on Oct. 25 2002 [5] under the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267.

In Indonesia, the JI was established in 1969 by Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar.

Bashir and Sungkar escaped to Malaysia after they were hunted down by the apparatus of the then-Indonesian government for their plan to set up Islamic state in Indonesia. Abdullah Sungkar died during his exile in Malaysia.

After his return to Indonesia, Abu Bakar Bashir now leads an Islamic boarding school of Ngruki in Solo Central Java, where some of the terrorist accomplices in the 2002 Bali bombings studied.

Source: Xinhua