Indonesian kindergarten dresses girls as Islamic State-style jihadis
Independence day parade in Indonesia features girls in black robes and replica rifles – but head teacher denies trying to ‘instil violence’ in them
Photographs of the parade in the city of Probolinggo, East Java, on Saturday showed lines of young girls marching on the street wearing niqab-style black veils, carrying cardboard cut-outs of guns.
The head of the TK Kartika kindergarten in Probolinggo apologised “deeply” for the costumes, expressing regret over the decision and saying they were not trying to “instil violence” in the kindergarten children.
“We raised the theme of the struggle of the Prophet to increase faith and devotion to Allah,” said kindergarten head Hartatik.
The Probolinggo kindergarten is on the site of an Indonesian military complex, and Saturday’s parade took place a day after independence day, which falls on August 17, in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.
Asked to explain why the kindergarten had chosen the costumes, Hartatik admitted they had pooled props from previous years to save money.
“We used it to save funds,” Hartatik told BBC Indonesia. “[We] never thought about the impact. The important thing is to take part in the parade, that the children were happy, using the existing property.”