The Indonesian government on Tuesday banned citizens who joined the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria from returning home, because of fears they could pose a threat to national security.
A debate has raged in the world’s most populous Muslim nation over how to handle hundreds of suspected militants and their families seeking to return from combat zones in Iraq and Syria, as well as those in detention, after IS lost large swathes of territory.
The country has been torn between protecting citizens’ rights, especially those of women and children, and national security.
“The government has no plans to repatriate terrorists,” Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mohammad Mahfud said after a Cabinet meeting to discuss the return of hundreds of Indonesians held by authorities in Syria.
“The state should provide security for 267 million Indonesians from new terrorist viruses,” he said.
The government would collect more data on the identities of people who joined radical groups in the Middle East, he added.
About 689 Indonesian citizens are in Syria, of whom only 228 have been identified, he said, citing CIA records.
The government is considering allowing children to return home, especially orphans.
Indonesian veterans of fighting in Afghanistan spearheaded attacks in the 2000s against local and Western targets, including nightclub bombings on Bali that killed 202 people, including Taiwanese Eve Kuo (郭惠敏), 24, and four members of a Taipei-based rugby club — Australian James Hardman, 28; Englishman Daniel Braden, 28; and Godfrey Fitz, 39, and Craig Harty, 35, both of South Africa..
A sustained crackdown by Indonesian authorities since 2002 has reduced the threat of large-scale attacks against Western or civilian targets, but IS attacks abroad have inspired Indonesian militants to continue to plan and carry out attacks, mostly against police targets across the country, officials said.
Critics of the plan have said that it would be better to bring foreign fighters home and rehabilitate them, instead of risking that they could be further radicalized abroad.
“If they’re not managed well by the government, there is a possibility they’ll be used as proxies by powerful groups that could threaten Indonesia and other countries,” terrorism expert Taufik Andrie said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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