Torn between protecting citizens' rights and national security, the government is considering barring Indonesians who traveled to Syria to join terrorist group Islamic State (IS) from returning home.

According to National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) records, more than 600 Indonesian citizens, most of whom are women and children, currently reside in Syria, with government officials leaning toward not repatriating them.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said returnees from Syria could pose social and security threats.

He said current deradicalization programs often proved unsuccessful at reintegrating former terrorists and terrorist sympathizers back into society.

"When they return to society, they will be ostracized and could become terrorists again. [However] If we don't repatriate them, we are denying their rights as citizens," he said before a Cabinet meeting to discuss the matter at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday.

Indonesia, which continues to battle domestic terrorist groups, has faced the dilemma of whether to repatriate citizens affiliated with foreign terrorist movements before.

In a number of cases, returnees have gone on to pose security threats at home and abroad.

Indonesian couple Rullie Rian Zeke and Ulfah Handayani Saleh committed a twin suicide bombing in early 2019 in the Philippines after failing to join IS in 2016 via Turkey. They were identified by Indonesian authorities and deported to Indonesia in January 2017.

Syawaluddin Pakpahan, a returnee from Syria, a police officer stabbed to death in Medan, North Sumatra, in the same year.

Previous generations of terrorists have also been known to hone their skills abroad before launching terror attacks at home, as was the case with the perpetrators of the 2002 Bali bombing, who were believed to have gone to war in Afghanistan before returning home and planning the attack.

The government is setting up a team to assess its options.

The team will draft policy options based on two scenarios, whether to repatriate or not to repatriate the citizens, Mahfud said, including the legal framework to facilitate either decision.

The policy options will then be presented to Vice President Ma’ruf Amin and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who is expected to make a decision in May or June.

BNPT head Suhardi Alius said on Friday that the government still needed to verify information about the Indonesian nationals before taking action.

“We need to further verify whether they are Indonesians or just claiming to be Indonesians,” he said.

One implication of not repatriating the Indonesian nationals from the conflict-torn area is that they could move to other countries.

Suhardi said, citing intelligence information, at least 11 Indonesians had reportedly moved to Afghanistan.

The BNPT is also weighing up the fact that the country has ratified several international conventions on human rights.

“We have the law on child protection because we ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. There are obligations to protect children involved in conflicts or who are victims of terrorism,” said Andhika Chrisnayudhanto, the BNPT’s deputy head for international cooperation.

Article 15 of the 2014 law stipulates that every child is entitled to protection from, among other things, involvement in armed conflict and war, while Article 11 of the convention, which Indonesia ratified in 1990, stipulates that state parties should take measures to combat “illicit transfers and non-return of children abroad”.

Experts have urged the government to be careful in its handling of former IS supporters in Syria.

Research analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) Chaula Rininta Anindya said the government needed to thoroughly assess each citizen before making any decision.

“The repatriation requires a thorough assessment. [The government] needs to assess who is worthy of being repatriated,” she said, adding that — if a decision to bring the Indonesian citizens home was made — the government needed to ensure the returnees were effectively reintegrated into society.

Sidney Jones, the director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), said the government could repatriate some of the citizens first to gain a better understanding of the process.

“Only a small group has actually expressed interest in returning. Why can’t Indonesia work with humanitarian groups and identify the Indonesian orphans first? Bring three or four children home to understand how the process works,” Sidney wrote in an email to The Jakarta Post.

“Officials should do their homework and understand the cases and the nature of the data before rejecting repatriation wholesale. This isn’t about numbers, it’s about human beings.”

Security observer Stanislaus Riyanta acknowledged the government was in a tricky situation, particularly regarding the difficulties of assessing who wished to retain their Indonesian citizenship and who wanted to relinquish it.

“The state has obligations to take care of its citizens no matter what. We cannot interfere with their decision if they want to relinquish their citizenship but it’s tricky [to assess their citizenship status],” said Stanislaus.

Article 23 of Law No. 12/2006 on citizenship stipulates that Indonesian nationals automatically lose their citizenship status once they pledge allegiance to a foreign country. However, the nature of IS as a state entity was also debatable, Stanislaus said.

While Mahfud and Jokowi have expressed their personal preference not to repatriate former IS supporters, they said they would assess all options.

“We will calculate in detail the pluses and minuses, and the decision will be made after hearing from relevant ministries,” Jokowi said.

Popular

Govt eyes September for mass relocation of civil servants to Nusantara

Govt claims 'mudik' 2024 traffic management a success

Public hopes swell ahead of election dispute ruling