Government Study On The Necessity Of Returning Ex -ISIS Citizens

JAKARTA - The government is currently conducting a study on the repatriation of 660 Indonesian citizens who were former ISIS followers. However, a number of high-ranking state officials, including President Joko Widodo, have indicated that there is a possibility that hundreds of these citizens will not be sent home.

This can be seen from what President Jokowi conveyed through his official Twitter account. In his tweet, the former governor of DKI Jakarta admitted that he had received a question about the return of ex-ISIS citizens and the answer he gave indicated that there would be no repatriation for those who are currently stranded in Middle Eastern countries.

"Regarding Indonesian citizens who are ex-ISIS organizations who are reportedly about to return to Indonesia, journalists ask me: 'what about those who burned their passports.' If I did, I would say: no. But of course, this will still be discussed in a closed meeting, "said Jokowi in his account, as quoted by VOI on Thursday, February 6 evening.

Regarding Indonesian citizens who are ex-ISIS organizations who are reportedly about to return to Indonesia, journalists ask me: what about those who have burned their passports. If I did, I would say: no. But of course, this will still be discussed in a limited meeting. pic.twitter.com/2To9HrNlQY

- Joko Widodo (@jokowi) February 6, 2020

Not only Jokowi, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam) Mahfud MD also stated that things were not much different from his superiors. Personally, the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) actually does not want Indonesian citizens associated with ISIS to return to Indonesia.

"For me personally, I don't (want former ISIS citizens) to be sent home," Mahfud told reporters at the Bina Graha Building, Presidential Palace Complex, Central Jakarta, Thursday.

Although he said he did not want Indonesian citizens who had joined ISIS to return to Indonesia, the government is still conducting studies regarding the impact of this repatriation.

Mahfud said the issue of repatriation would be handled by the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), chaired by Suhardi Alius, to draft a plan containing two options related to ex-ISIS Indonesians, namely being sent home or not and what the impact of the two options was.

"The first draft should not be sent home because of this (reason), this, this, this legal rule. If there is a legal rule, we show it, if there is no legal rule. Second (for example) it is repatriated for this reason. "Mahfud explained, adding that after the planning was prepared, the government would then sit down together before making a final decision.

Although the government is still reviewing the possibility of repatriating ex-ISIS Indonesians or not, the Professor of International Law at the University of Indonesia (UI) Hikmahanto Juwana seems to want the government not to hesitate not to repatriate them.

The reason is that the 660 Indonesian citizens who have joined ISIS have actually lost their citizenship when viewed based on Article 23 of the Citizenship Law letters d and f.

According to Hikmahanto, through his release distributed to journalists, Article 23 of the Citizenship Law letter d states that an Indonesian citizen can lose his citizenship because he is serving in foreign military service without prior permission from the president.

Meanwhile, the letter f refers to Indonesian citizens who voluntarily take an oath or pledge allegiance to a foreign country or part of that foreign country.

"So the term 'part of a foreign country' could be rebels who want to overthrow the legitimate government. Aren't ISIS rebels in Syria even using terror methods to replace the Syrian and Iraqi states," said the academic.

Moreover, according to Hikmahanto, if it is true that all this time the ex-ISIS citizens are still considered Indonesian nationals by the government, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indonesian Representative in Syria should provide assistance to them.

However, in fact, until now there has been no story about the Syrian Embassy or other authorities handling ex-ISIS citizens who have stumbled on legal cases. "In fact, this is not happening," he stressed.

Not to mention, some of them were also caught tearing Indonesian passports. So, this shows that they no longer want to be Indonesian citizens.

So in the future, it is not wrong if Indonesia then feels that it has no obligation to protect them. "In theory, these former Indonesian citizens have the status of stateless. However, this stateless condition is not in Indonesia so that the government is not too bothered to make them citizens," he said.

Previously reported, government authorities such as Kemenkopolhukam together with the National Police, BNPT, State Intelligence Agency (BIN), Ministry of Religion, Ministry of Social Affairs conducted a study on the plan to repatriate Indonesian former combatants in the Middle East.

It's just that several considerations are still being debated by related agencies, including the matter of efforts to develop and deradicalise Indonesian citizens who are ex-ISIS, which are not easy matters considering they have been exposed to radical ideologies.

Meanwhile, the police are still digging up information on 600 Indonesian citizens (WNI) who are planned to be repatriated to Indonesia after the collapse of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) by America. Because, the status of 47 of them were prisoners.