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Well-off, educated Indonesians not immune to IS propaganda
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Entry point: Construction workers put the finishing details on the entrance of Istanbul's newly-constructed Eurasia Tunnel that runs under the Marmara Sea, in Istanbul, on Dec. 16. (AP/Emrah Gurel)
T
he recent arrest of former mid-ranking Finance Ministry official Triyono Utomo after being deported from Turkey for attempting to enter Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) radical movement with his family has changed the discourse on the group’s support base in Indonesia.
Earlier, experts suggested that economic factors could be the main driver of the influx of Indonesians going to Syria in past years, as IS reportedly offers high wages and allowances for its fighters and their family members.
But Triyono’s decision to leave a well-paying job at the ministry to live under IS in Syria shows that the militant group could appeal to anyone regardless of economic or educational background.
Triyono’s profile does not match that of most IS sympathizers in Indonesia.
The 40-year-old former civil servant acquired an applied science and accountancy joint degree from the highly competitive State Accounting Academy (STAN) in 2004, whose graduates are automatically offered jobs at the ministry.
In order to ascend the ministry’s ranks, Triyono left the country to pursue a master’s degree in public policy at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, from which he graduated in 2009.
Ministry spokesperson Dina Anandita confirmed that Triyono was a former official at the ministry with a IIIC rank, but added that the public should not associate what Triyono had done with the ministry because he officially left his job on Aug. 16, 2016.
“The only reason he provided when resigning from his job was that he wanted to manage a pesantran [Islamic boarding school] in Bogor, West Java,” Dina told The Jakarta Post on Saturday, “He submitted his resignation in February and the ministry approved it in August,” she added.
(Read also: Alleged IS supporter quit civil servant job for own reasons: Ministry)
The National Police’s counterterrorism squad Densus 88 is currently interrogating Triyono and his wife, Nur Khofifah, 44. The couple also brought their children — NA, 12, MSU, 7, who was born in Australia, and MAU, 3 — on their aborted journey to IS-controlled areas.
“We have seven days to conclude the investigation. We will find out who motivated and facilitated him [to go to Syria],” National Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul told the Post.
Initial information acquired by Densus 88 from Triyono’s questioning disclosed that he sold all his assets including his house in Jakarta to fund his trip to Syria to live in a “country that applies Islamic sharia [law]”.
The spokesperson said the police could only charge Triyono and his wife with terrorism if the investigation later discovered that they were organizationally linked to IS and involved in terror activities in Syria or in Indonesia.
However, Triyono could be released after the probe if it could only be concluded that he was just an IS sympathizer.
Terrorism expert from the University of Indonesia (UI) Ridwan Habib said the war on radical ideology in Indonesia had become tougher as IS’ chief ideologues overseas could directly influence highly educated Indonesians through the internet and social media.
“Triyono’s case proves that IS [propagates] ideology that can win the minds of educated people and is no longer […] just winning over the stomachs of [poor people in Indonesia],” Ridwan said.
