T

he government has urged foreign nonprofit organizations operating in the country to support Indonesia’s vision for fighting terrorism, telling them to submit annual financial reports.

In a meeting with dozens of non-governmental organization (NGO) and nonprofit organization (NPO) representatives on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry’s secretary-general, Mayerfas, said that as one of the parties with the authority to issue operating licenses to the organizations, the ministry would carefully supervise their operations.

As a part of the supervision, the ministry would work together with the Financial Transaction Report and Analysis Center (PPATK) to trace a foreign NGO’s finances if there were any indication of terrorism funding or money laundering.

“The existence of NPOs and NGOs should bring advantages to Indonesia; we will not let any of them operate if their activities are not in line with us,” Mayerfas told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.

Based on ministry data, there are 83 international NGOs and NPOs registered to run activities in Indonesia: 31 from the United States and 11 from Britain. Most deal with humanitarian issues.

Earlier this year President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo signed Presidential Regulation No. 18/2017 on donation procedures in the fight against terrorism, which stipulates that local and international organizations have to know the identities of donors who give more than Rp 5 million (US$379), including the names of the persons or organizations, domiciles, nationalities and boards of management.

The ministry also plans to publish an official foreign organizations directory containing information about foreign NGOs and NPOs that operate legally in the country.

PPATK legal director Muhammad Salman said international organizations in Indonesia could possibly gather funds to finance particular terrorist groups through both legal and illegal ways. Therefore, he said it was important for the government to keep close watch on their activity and financial reports.

“Organizations could receive funds from any source and they could also gather funds before distributing them to a terrorist group,” he said.

The government has continued to fight against terrorism through deradicalization programs. Last month, 18 Indonesians who reportedly joined the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria returned to Jakarta to enroll in a compulsory deradicalization program.

Salman said the PPATK would work together with the Home Ministry to supervise the flow of donations to NGOs, emphasizing that the government had the authority to impose punishment for any kind of incompliance.

“There are NGOs in Indonesia that are involved in terrorism or indirectly fund terrorist activities. That is what we try to avoid,” he said, without providing further details about the NGOs.

He also said the government would take firm action against any organization that contravenes or tries to overturn Pancasila as the state ideology.

In July Jokowi issued a presidential regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on the disbandment of mass organizations that failed to adhere to Pancasila. Following the issuance of the Perppu, the Law and Human Rights Ministry revoked the license of an Islamist organization called Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia.