TEMPO.CO, Surabaya - East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Anas Yusuf has called on regional governments across the province to take intensive measures to keep residents from joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).
Anas made the statement following a series of crackdowns against ISIS sympathizers by the National Police’s anti-terror squad Detachment 88 (Densus 88)—the last one launched on Wednesday, March 25, 2015, in Malang, Central Java.
"We hope all components can give understanding to those willing to join ISIS,” he said after a meeting with the province’s chiefs of regency and city police stations at the East Java Police headquarters on Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
Anas said support from regional governments to tackle the spread of ISIS would cement preventive measures in each region. He also called on clerics across the province take an active role in the society to deal with the issue.
East Java Governor Syaifullah “Gus Ipul” Yusuf, separately, has voiced concerns over the province’s becoming an ISIS hotbed. “We will take all the necessary endeavors to avert the recruitment,” he said on Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
MOHAMMAD SYARRAFAH | EDWIN FAJERIAL
