PONPES NGRUKI ADMITS NUR SAID ONE OF ITS GRADUATES

Solo, July 21 (ANTARA) - Al Mukmin Ngruki Islamic boarding school (Pompes Ngruki) in Sukoharjo District, Central Java, has admitted that Nur Said, a suspect in Friday's hotel bombings in Jakarta, was one one of its students.

"According to our records, Nur Said from Temanggung was once one of our students," the school's director, Wahyuddin, said in Sukoharjo on Tuesday.

Wahyuddin said Nur Said, suspected to be the bomber at the JW Marriontt Hotel in Jakarta last Friday, enrolled at Ponpes Ngruki in 1988 and finished his studies in 1994.

"In our records, Nur Said, a son of Muhammad Nazir and Tuminem, studied at Ponpes Ngruki from 1988 to 1994," Wahyuddin said.

In earlier media reports, the Ngruki Islamic boarding school denied that Nur Sait was once a student at the school but Wahyuddin explained the denial was made before the file on Nur Said was found.

"Although we have finally admitted that Nur Said used to be one of our students, we hope all parties will refrain from hastily concluding that he was a perpetrator of the bombing and instead wait until the final result of the police investigation into the case is announced," Wahyuddin said.

He added even if Nur Said's alleged involvement in the bombing was finally proven to be true, what he did after graduation was no longer the school's responsibility.

"In addition to similar subjects like those in public schools, two specific subjects taught at the Ngruki Islamic boarding school are the Koran and the Hadis," Wahyuddin said.

According to him, no violence- or jihad-related subjects in a narrow sense were taught at the school.

"Therefore, I strongly deny that Al Mukmin Ngruki Islamic boarding school is a terrorist breeding ground," Wahyuddin said.
Asked about the involvement of several former students of the school in past bombings, Wahyuddin said their decision to engage in such activities had nothing to do with what they had learned at the school.

"Outside influence from hard-line groups might have changed the Islamic values that we have instilled in our students," he said, adding that the school management had anticipated such cases by giving teaching material taken from the Koran.

"Anyway, we really deplore the involvement of Ponpes Ngruki alumni in bombing attacks," Wahyuddin said.