April 1, p1

Dressed simply in a burgundy Arabian-style shirt and dark cargo shorts, 31-year-old Ahmad Junaedi sighed deeply as he described his largely monotonous life as part of the Islamic State (IS) organization in Syria last year. '€œIt was nothing like I imagined. As soon as I reached the location and conducted my duties, I felt like I did little to help anyone,'€ he said during an interview with The Jakarta Post on Tuesday evening at a hotel in Depok, West Java.

Junaedi, along with Helmi Muhammad Alamudi and Abdul Hakim Munabari, was arrested in Malang, East Java, last week after returning from Syria. He is the first Indonesian willing to share his story fighting alongside IS.

Junaedi, who was previously involved in Islamic organizations Muhammadiyah and Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), said he was first approached by Salim Mubarok Attamimi, also known as Abu Jandal al Yemeni al Indonesi, early last year to travel to Syria and join the cause.

Your comments:  
The reason why he was never put on the frontline is because he wasn'€™t mentally and physically capable. His being there was partly financial and partly religious zealotry. IS was willing to let him go because he was just a burden on the rest of the group. This guy might also have promised IS that he will recruit more people, until he gets caught.

O. Flyer

IS takes anyone who wants to fight; even 10-year-old children. Children of various ages have appeared in IS fighter training videos and they had to be killed in battles because children were fighting and killing people. Even a 10-year-old can load and fire an AK-47, or pull a pin in a hand grenade and throw it.

Maybe you should think again, particularly when IS desperately needs more fighters, as IS has had too many of their fighters killed and not many now want to go join IS to fight.

Recently, IS was forced out of the city of Kobane in Syria, plus it was forced out of all the villages and towns in that province. In Iraq, IS lost the city of Tikrit and all the towns and villages in that province. IS has been forced to retreat just about everywhere and is losing the war in both Iraq and Syria. IS certainly does desperately need any fighter it can get.

So yes, I think that you had better think again and I do think that he is telling lies. I think that the Indonesian government should hold him until they find out the truth directly from the people in the city where he was stationed.

Eddy Saf

It is apparent that IS'€™ motives are not based on religion. They are clearly terrorists, who use religion as a tool to recruit people.

IS recruits people with low education who are easily brainwashed. Moreover, this guy has some experience in other radical Indonesia Islamic organizations, which made him a strong candidate for recruitment.

Since Indonesian people, who are mainly Muslims, are potential IS targets, I believe the government should make more of an effort to eliminate the factor that makes them potential candidates for IS, such as dissolving the Islamic organizations that show signs of radicalism.

Adhietya Saputra

Reading this article several times, the reason this guy was not given or allocated other duties is because he is obviously a stupid, weak, pathetic individual.

At no stage during this report does he make it clear that for anyone joining this group, they are making the worst mistake of their lives. He does not speak out strongly against IS.

I believe he is back in Indonesia to recruit more people, and this guy and his colleagues should be locked up in solitary confinement for 20 years, as it is clear he is going to follow the other radical groups he has been involved with. It would not occur to him to find a job and pay off his debt and support his wife and kids.

LTB

People that join IS mostly are like him. They don'€™t have a deep understanding of IS.

Mounte Cristo

Let'€™s just say if I were looking for gullible people, I'€™d go where I know I can find them, which IS does too.

Kamtisini

In all fairness though, Indonesia is far more populous than many of the Western nations that have seen their citizens recruited; yet its number of recruits, percentage-wise, is much lower.

I wonder why. Is it due to financial restraints on travel?

Ketoprak

Most people from the West that go to Syria are of Arabic decent. Many go because they are not happy with their lives and feel a rootless split between cultures; they seek a group or something to cling to. I believe close family ties is a socio-cultural thing not directly connected to religion.

In the West, people generally may not be religious, but that is because people are not forced into a religion, as is the case in many other countries.

People in the West have more possibilities to live their lives as they like, which I think is a very good thing, and which lots of people, including many Indonesians living here, enjoy a lot.

Lars Anderson

This case is an effective story to discourage others not to join IS. But you guys love to think of yourselves as the smart ones and all locals as stupid. One commenter said he wants to portray Junaedi as an idiot.

By portraying Junaedi as an idiot, he will not help Indonesia combat IS. We have to get more coverage on Junaedi. This is a big blow for IS. Demonizing Junaedi is simply stupid. Are you on IS'€™ side or what?

Bwawi

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