Abu Bakar Ba’asyir has traveled a long and winding road. His story started in the 1980s, at the time when the New Order regime came down hard on leaders of Islamic movements. In 1983, Ba’asyir and a close friend, Abdullah Sungkar, who was also a pioneer at Al Mukmin, an Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, were accused of subversive acts against the country. Both were accused of inciting Indonesians to reject the principles of the state