This number keeps increasing as many IS fighters are still operating at large, some within sleeper cells. For Indonesia itself, nearly 600 IS fighters have been deported since 2016 and 200 more have been identified as returnees.

The government’s decision against repatriating the former IS fighters, announced Tuesday, is the right thing to do. Apart from reasons of public security, the long term concern is the potential impact of exposure to terrorism and the IS’ beliefs on the young generation, at least within their networks.

Therefore, as Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said, the minors, if repatriated, would need substantial rehabilitation beyond psychological support.

Apart from Iraq and Syria, former foreign fighters and family members have also been coming from Afghanistan and the Philippines, while some were arrested and deported from transiting country’s airports during their attempt to join IS.

On the list of deportees was Chalid Abu Bakar Besmele — believed to have masterminded the 2018 Surabaya bombings — and also Rullie Rian Zeke and Ulfa H. Saleh, the couple from Makassar, South Sulawesi identified as the bombers of a church in Jolo, Sulu province, southern Philippines in January 2019.

Indonesian security agencies discovered that it was not just IS-affiliated groups such as Jamaah Ansharut Daulah or Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid that had meddled in Iraq and Syria conflicts. Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) members, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda, had also intended on joining the battleground.