Uncovering the Motive Behind the Phenomenon of Indonesian Citizens Joining Foreign Armies

JAKARTA - Kezia Syifa's name has been widely discussed on social media since last week. This Indonesian citizen joined the United States Army National Guard.

His decision to take the military path in a foreign country at the age of 20, caught the attention of netizens.

Kezia Syifa's family is an Indonesian diaspora who live in the United States. She and her parents have lived in the state of Maryland since mid-2023. Her family moved to the US with a green card status or permanent residence permit. This allows Syifa to have legal access to education and career choices there.

Syifa is not the only Indonesian who chooses to join the foreign military.

Since July 2025, the phenomenon of Indonesian citizens joining foreign armies has begun to emerge. At that time, a former Marine Corps soldier, the Navy's Satria Arta Kumbara, joined the Russian mercenaries. The man who had the last rank of sergeant two was thrown into the battlefields in Eastern Europe, specifically on the Russian-Ukrainian border.

The public was again made excited when Second Lieutenant Muhammad Rio became a Russian mercenary, the Wagner Group. Like Satria, Rio who is a member of the Aceh Police Brimob Unit also plunged into the battlefields on the Russian-Ukrainian border.

Both Satria and Rio had problems with their units before leaving Indonesia.

Before joining the Russian mercenaries, Satria had problems with his performance which led to him being called up three times in 2022.

However, he did not fulfill any of the calls, so his party went to his house and did not find Satria. He was then declared to have deserted until in 2023 he was fired from the TNI AL service.

Meanwhile, Rio has also been sanctioned with demotion or reduction in rank for two years due to an immoral case. This demotion sanction has the potential to close the opportunity to develop a career for a certain period of time. Then, he was dismissed dishonorably for desertion.

According to data from the Russian Ministry of Defense in March 2024, as many as 10 Indonesian citizens were tracked as mercenaries.

Deputy Chairman of Commission I of the DPR, Dave Laksono, spoke up about the phenomenon of Indonesian citizens becoming part of foreign militaries. This phenomenon, said Dave, must be understood not only as an individual case, but as a national reflection momentum to strengthen the defense system, strengthen citizenship rules, and maintain the country's sovereignty.

Researcher from the Department of Politics and Social Change at the Centre for Strategic and International Stuidies (CSIS) Nicky Fahrizal highlighted the problem of state servants who become mercenaries. Nicky emphasized the importance of mitigating this because the private military organization is not a state military institution.

Nicky alluded to Rio and Satria who were said to be mercenaries from the Wagner Group, which often recruits military personnel from various countries. In addition to Wagner, which is based in Russia, Nicky also mentioned a number of other private military companies, such as BlackWater, which took part in the Iraq War.

"The military institution has a high discipline, yes. There are strict administrative requirements before joining, including regarding citizenship. Well, if these mercenaries, they immediately fight for Russia, but it could still be Indonesian citizens. This is what needs to be watched out for," said Nicky.

Nicky added that the offer to join the military organization was very large, even it could be the reason not only for money. There is a possibility of psychological reasons with a tendency to participate in wars that become a driving force.

"There are also those who join because their souls love war, which is called war junkies. Moreover, if you are still young with a desire to fight high, but there is no assignment. He gets bored, unmotivated, and looks for others," he explained.

For this reason, Nicky encouraged the TNI and paramilitary institutions such as Brimob to pay attention to the condition of their members, starting from recruitment to see the extent of the psychological condition of prospective members.

"The offer (recruitment) is so broad in the world of the military. Therefore, we also need to anticipate, especially from special forces units and high-risk units. In addition, it is necessary to try to clean it up again through discipline within each corps," said Nicky.