Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad isn’t the only highly-placed raving moonbat in Southeast Asia. Today Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz let loose with a blast of vitriol against the United States, while speaking to the heads of Islamic schools in Java: Indonesian VP: United States Is ‘Terrorist King’. (Hat tip: Let’s Roll.)

“Actually, who is the terrorist, who is against human rights? The answer is the United States because they attacked Iraq. Moreover, it is the terrorist king, waging war,” the official Antara news agency quoted Haz as saying.

It was unclear what prompted Haz to make his remarks in a speech to heads of Muslim boarding schools in Central Java.

The comments are likely to anger Washington and harm Jakarta’s desire to get their hands on key terror suspect Hambali, who is in U.S. custody.

The conservative Muslim politician is known for strong statements that appear out of step with the government.

He once showed no hesitation visiting leading militants, including Abu Bakar Bashir, whom regional governments accuse of being spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiah militant network, blamed for attacks in Southeast Asia including the Bali blasts.

“Unclear” what prompted him to say these things? Could it be because these schools are teaching Indonesian children this same radical Islamic ideology? Just a wild guess…

UPDATE: What do you know? Looks like my wild guess hit the bullseye: Starting young: JI targets schools. (Hat tip: dennisw.)

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Documents seized by Indonesian police in recent months suggest the extremist Jemaah Islamiyah group is targeting some 140 religious boarding schools in the country in a bid to spread its brand of militant teachings.

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the terrorist group blamed for last year’s devastating Bali blast that killed 202 people, is also suspected of being behind last week’s car bomb attack at the Marriott hotel in Jakarta.

The documents seized showed JI has been eyeing religious boarding schools, or pesantrens, in densely populated Central Java, which has a large rural population.

“Documents seized during the recent arrests of JI members had the names of 141 pesantrens and 388 Muslim clerics written down as targets to be imbued with their ideology,” Central Java police chief Didi Widayadi told CNN by telephone.

“Their target is to infiltrate these pesantrens and to gain their support,” he added.