Former Indonesian ISIS Fighters Repatriation Decided Mid-2020
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4 February 2020 18:31 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister of Politics, Law, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD announced that the government has formed a special team to handle the repatriation of former Indonesian ISIS fighters abroad.
The team, which is led by the national counterterrorism agency (BNPT) Head Suhardi Alius, will mainly decide whether the foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) will be repatriated or left in the country they currently reside in.
“There are two decisions. The first is to repatriate them and the second is to leave them there. If they are repatriated, it is because they are Indonesian citizens too,” he explains.
“But if we decide to leave them there it is because they committed violations and have revoked their own rights as a citizen,” said Mahfud in his headquarters in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, February 4.
Mahfud said these two possible drafts will be discussed at the Vice President’s Office in April, which will be followed up to the president’s office to obtain Jokowi’s views upon the matter. The team will then deliberate all of the inputs before announcing what to do.
“It will likely be decided in May or June. The discussion to date is merely among internal government members,” said Mahfud MD who said there are 660 Indonesian nationals detained due to their alleged link to terrorist activities in Syria, Turkey, and Afghanistan.
EGI ADYATAMA