Gov't Awaits Probe Results to Return Ex-ISIS Supporters Home

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto said that the government was establishing a special task force that would look into the plan to return home Indonesians who were former supporters of ISIS (Islamic State) in Syria.

According to him, this matter could not be solved by Indonesia alone as it affected other countries. “So forming a task force is necessary to examine this case,” said Wiranto in his office, Friday, July 19.

Wiranto said there were some 120 Indonesian citizens—women and children—who were in limbo at refugee camps in the border area of Syria and Iraq. The men, meanwhile, have to face legal process for their alleged involvement in ISIS.

Wiranto underlined that the return of ex-ISIS supporters should not burden Indonesia. “We don’t want to bring back seeds of disease who have been brainwashed to be anti-Pancasila (Indonesian ideology) and anti-NKRI (the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia) to our beloved country.”

He also called on the public to refrain from making any speculation about their return. The government’s regulation on this issue will be announced after the results of the examination by the task force have been obtained.

Previously, Tempo Magazine's edition of June 15, 2019, reported about the hundreds of former Indonesian ISIS fighters who were in limbo in Syria. To Tempo, these people asked the Indonesian government to help them return home. The Kurdish authority has conveyed its willingness to do so but only if the Indonesian government submits an official request.

FRISKI RIANA