O

fficials from the Law and Human Rights Ministry and the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) will sit together this week to discuss the growing domestic support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, and will address its findings to the public, given that the issue is complex and sensitive.

The two institutions will also determine a mechanism to impose penalties on Indonesians who join and fight with the jihadist organization, which claims to occupy parts of Iraq and Syria while spreading terror in the region.

The Citizenship Law bans Indonesians from pledging loyalty to a foreign country or part of a foreign country and stipulates that offenders will be stripped of their citizenship, while the Criminal Code (KUHP) states that a person who joins a resistance movement against a legitimate foreign government faces imprisonment.

Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin said on Saturday that his office and the BNPT had earlier discussed the matter and were in full agreement that the revocation of citizenship was legally justified.

The two offices, Amir added, were still in talks to devise an appropriate mechanism, as such a move had never before been attempted. According to Amir, in previous cases, Indonesians who joined militant or terrorist groups had enjoyed dual citizenship from countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.

'€œNot only are they [Indonesians who join foreign rebel movements] violating our laws, they are also violating the prevailing laws in the countries where they operate,'€ Amir told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. '€œAfter the meeting [this week], we will communicate our measures to the public. People need to know about this.'€

The BNPT estimates that around 30 Indonesians have joined ISIL in Iraq and Syria as members of Jabhat al-Nusra (JN), a prominent Salafi jihadist organization with links to al-Qaeda.

The leaders of the country'€™s two largest Islamic organizations '€” Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah '€” recently decried the growing local support for ISIL, calling the organization political and not in line with Islamic teachings, which oppose the use of violence.

Although they have yet to issue official statements, NU and Muhammadiyah urged Indonesian Muslims not to join ISIL'€™s fight. NU'€™s executive council chairman, Slamet Effendy Yusuf, has also urged all Islamic organizations in the country to meet and discuss the matter.

Officials, including Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, and experts previously raised similar concerns that ISIL may win more supporters in the country, and have called for raising public awareness to counter the issue of armed jihad.

Amir'€™s office is also studying a photograph depicting Abu Bakar Ba'€™asyir '€” a convicted terrorist and spiritual leader of terror network Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT) '€” with several other men, allegedly ISIL supporters, during a baiat, or oath of allegiance, at a prison on Nusakambangan Island near Cilacap, Central Java.

'€œSo far, he has only pledged his allegiance. It was not a baiat attended by outsiders. The men [in the photo] are all Nusakambangan convicts,'€ Amir said. '€œHowever, we are examining it further.'€

The BNPT has said Ba'€™asyir, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence in Nusakambangan Penitentiary, and his network have been actively helping and financing ISIL for the past couple of months.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said the police were still monitoring a number of individuals seen in a recent
YouTube video, who were encouraging fellow Indonesians to join and fight with ISIL.

The police have determined the identities of the individuals, but said they would not reveal their names, all of whom are believed to be Indonesian nationals, to the public.

'€œWhat is more important is that the public need to know that no organization [in the country] is permitted to contradict the state ideology Pancasila or our laws,'€ he said.

In the eight-minute video entitled '€œJoin the Ranks'€, a man calling himself Abu Muhammad al-Indonesi urged Indonesians to join in ISIL'€™s violent campaign, saying it was an obligation for all Muslims as mandated by Allah. In the video, Abu is accompanied by a group of men holding firearms '€” some wearing military attire. English subtitles are also provided in the video, while a woman is heard chanting in Arabic in the background.