Apart From Not Returning Home, The Government Is Reluctant To Take Care Of Former ISIS Citizens

JAKARTA - After deciding not to repatriate former ISIS Indonesian citizens, the government will ignore or not take care of 683 people spread across three camps, namely Al Roj, Al Hol, and Ainisa.

"Oh yes (just let it go). They didn't report it was only found outsiders who found the CIA (Central Intelligence Agent) and the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), there are Indonesians. We also don't know what, their passports have been burned, What to do with it, "said Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD to reporters at the Kemenkopolhukam Office, Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, February 12.

He added that no verification team had yet come to the refugee camps for hundreds of ex-ISIS Indonesians. According to Mahfud, so far, the data obtained by the Indonesian government is based solely on the CIA or the international red cross. The reason is that these residents avoided it when there was an authority from Indonesia to collect data.

"Yes, they have never shown themselves. Their passports were burned," he said, adding that so far the government knew that any of its citizens had joined ISIS but denied that they wanted to return home.

"Who are you asking to go home? That's a report, a report. ... They don't recognize them as Indonesian citizens," added the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK).

As for the children, if anyone wanted to return to Indonesia, Mahfud invited them to report. However, based on a report from the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) who came to the camp, none of the former ISIS Indonesians wanted to return home and they chose to hide instead of being in the data.

Later, Mahfud said, based on the team's report from Turkey, there were children and women who were the families of Indonesian ex-ISIS citizens. However, there is no passport to identify their nationality.

"This was just a report from Turkey, so many children, so many women. ... But there is no passport or not," he said.

Registered but not sent home

Although unwilling to take care of it, Mahfud said, the government will still collect data. Given that so far, data on the number of Indonesian citizens who have become combatants and former combatants has only been obtained from the authorities of other countries.

However, even though hundreds of Indonesians who were in the camp were to be landed, it does not mean that they will be sent home. This is because, at a meeting at the Bogor Palace, West Java some time ago, the government had made a decision not to return the Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) to Indonesia to maintain the security of 270 million Indonesian citizens.

"If terrorists are definitely not (sent home). Those who have joined the terrorists want to be sent home for what? In fact, you will become dangerous here," said Mahfud.

However, according to him, it would be a different story if the government heard that there were citizens abroad who were displaced and needed help. With these conditions, said Mahfud, the state must be present and repatriate them to Indonesia.

"So the FTF was not sent home, not people abroad. If people abroad are not terrorists, yes, just report to the embassy. If not terrorists, if terrorists are not. FTF has burned their passports and even challenged it. , "he concluded.