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Returning Islamic State extremists pose risk to RI

The extremist Islamic State (IS) organization, already seizing large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, has attracted support from Muslims around the world

Arnaud Richard-Feraro (The Jakarta Post)
Mon, December 8, 2014

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Returning Islamic State extremists pose risk to RI

T

he extremist Islamic State (IS) organization, already seizing large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, has attracted support from Muslims around the world. The brutal tactics it uses in its attempt to establish a caliphate has sparked fear and outrage around the globe and prompted military intervention. The Jakarta Post'€™s intern Arnaud Richard-Feraro talked to the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict'€™s director Sidney Jones, an expert on extremist Islamic movements in Indonesia, on the issue. Here are some excerpts:

Question: There are Indonesians joining the IS in Syria and Iraq, including some who have become suicide bombers. How many are there?

Answer: No one knows for certain. The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) says it knows of 96 while the Australian media has speculated there are more than 300, which is almost certainly too high. Some Indonesians have joined IS from studying abroad in countries like Turkey, Yemen or Pakistan and those departures are harder to track. Also many Indonesians have chosen to travel first to Malaysia and then fly to Turkey, in order to not arouse suspicion. To compare to the earlier generation of mujahideen, the number of Indonesians who went to fight in Afghanistan from 1985 to 1994 did not exceed 300.

How do you explain that there seem to be, proportionally speaking, fewer fighters with the IS from Indonesia than from European countries while Indonesia has the biggest contingent of Muslims in the world?

Many of those leaving European countries to fight with the IS are from minority Muslim communities who may feel alienated at home, which is clearly not the case in Muslim-majority Indonesia. It also may be a question of distance: Syria is much closer to Europe than to Southeast Asia.

Could you draw us a profile of an Indonesian fighting for the IS, if there is any?

There is no single profile. From the cases we'€™ve seen, the person is likely to be ethnic Javanese, in his late 20s, but can come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. Some have enough money to pay their own way there; some have past affiliations with radical organizations; some see Syria as the place where they can take part in the final battle between good and evil. Often those leaving already have a connection with someone who is there.

Reports claim the existence of a Katibah Nusantara (Malay archipelago unit for the IS) in Syria where fighters from Malaysia and Indonesia are training together in a military unit because of their common language. Can they be the basis for forming an Islamic state in Southeast Asia?

The existence of such a group was confirmed by the IS itself on Sept. 26, under the name of Majmu'€™ah Persiapan Al Arkhabily (Archipelago Group-in-Preparation). The Indonesian and Malaysian governments are aware that if those people come back, those cross-country bonds could persist. As for the idea of forming a Southeast Asian branch of the caliphate, a Daulah Islamiyah Nusantara, this is not a new idea. JI (Jamaah Islamiyah, a prominent domestic terror cell) at its height developed a concept of an Islamic state in the Malay archipelago in 1999 to 2000, but it never got anywhere.

How do you assess the risks for foreign nationals in Indonesia after IS spokesman Al-Adnani'€™s call for attacks against US-led coalition members last Sept. 22?

The risk may have risen, but to date even Santoso, Indonesia'€™s most wanted extremist in Poso, Central Sulawesi (a hotspot of sectarian conflict), is still calling for attacks against police. Still, the possibility of low-tech, lone-wolf attacks remains, such as trying to hit someone with a car or motorbike, and those would be almost impossible to predict.

What is the approach of Indonesia'€™s new government to terrorism?

It'€™s too early to say. I don'€™t think there will be much change, partly because the institutions handling terrorism remain the same. The IS was declared an illegal organization in Indonesia on Aug. 4, but that has no force of law. We don'€™t want Indonesia to have an Internal Security Act, but it would be good to make participation in military training by extremist groups at home and abroad illegal.

How should Indonesia handle the problem of returning jihadists?

First of all, we can'€™t assume that everyone coming back from Syria is going to want to conduct violent attacks. Many went to help fight (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad and have no intention of waging jihad at home. But there will be some and the concern is that these people will now have combat experience, tactical skills, weapons knowledge, deeper ideological commitment and international connections. Even if it'€™s just a handful of people, they could provide leadership for the tiny extremist movement here.

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