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Solo. Noordin M Top is dead, but the feared Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network is not, experts gathered here said on Tuesday.

“Jemaah Islamiyah still wants to create an Islamic nation in Indonesia by using Islamic boarding schools as one of the bases to promote its political ideology,” said Nurrohman MA, a lecturer from the Bandung Islamic State University.

He was speaking at the ninth Conference on Islamic Studies in Solo, Central Java, on Tuesday, an annual event held by the Islamic High Education Directorate of the Religious Ministry involving all Islamic universities in the country.

He went on to say that public schools, Islamic boarding schools, college campuses and jails were key environments for terrorist recruitment.

Nurrohman, who in the conference spoke on the political climates of Islamic boarding schools in Tasikmalaya, Garut, and Cianjur said several madrasas in West Java were potential breeding grounds for radical Islam.

Nurrohman said that if movement gained strength, the state philosophy of Pancasila will be even more threatened.

Mukhibat Mag, a lecturer at Ponorogo Islamic State University, said Islamic universities must make real contributions to fighting terrorism. One way is to integrate the values of religious tolerance in class material, methods and evaluation to prevent students from turning to fanaticism.

“Difference in belief is a blessing, and no religion ever teaches violence,” he said.

Prof. Achmad Jainuri, a lecturer at Surabaya Islamic State Institute, said that Islamic studies should no longer be viewed as a separate discipline.

“We urge the government to place Islamic studies in a conceptual framework with other religious views,” he said.

Khaeron Sirin MA, a lecturer from Jakarta’s Al-Qur’an University (PTIQ) condemned death sentences for terrorists, which he said gave birth to new violence. He added that despite a global move away from the capital punishment, Indonesia continued to perform executions.