Falling into Terrorism via Social Media, Ex-Convict Regrets and is Grateful to Be Accepted Again by the Community

Illustration. Densus 88 members brought the suspect in a terrorism case to the plane at Juanda Airport in Surabaya on Thursday, March 18, 2021. (Between-Umarul Faruq)

JAKARTA - A former terrorism convict with the initials SL expressed his regret for being involved in a terrorist network.

"I feel very sorry for the actions that were part of the terrorism network," said SL in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan (Kalsel), Tuesday, December 12, as reported by Antara.

SL briefly explained how he first entered the network, starting from social media.

Through social media, he learned religious knowledge but did not know that the lesson turned out to be deviated from its true meaning.

He only realized this after he was arrested and put in detention to undergo legal proceedings for his actions.

"For my actions, I was sentenced to four years in prison and served three years and six months at the Cikeas Penitentiary," he said.

SL continues to express regret and hopes that the community around where he lives will accept him back, because now he has realized it and has returned to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).

"I have vowed twice to enter and join the Republic of Indonesia and am very sorry and do not want to fall into the terrorist network again," he said.

SL, who was accompanied by his wife and children, apologized to all parties who felt aggrieved by his actions and also apologized to his extended family, especially his wife and children, who had been embarrassed by his actions.

He also asked the police to never be careless in monitoring social media. If there are deviant teachings or invitations to act immediately.

Finally, SL asked the wider community not to follow in his footsteps because it was all pointless and would bring shame to the good name of his extended family.

"I advise that if you study religion, don't just have one teacher, but take it from many teachers so you understand better, and be more careful when studying via social media," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of National Vigilance and Conflict Handling, Kesbangpol, South Kalimantan (Kalsel) Agus Prabowo said that his party is currently continuing to monitor former convicts in Central Kalimantan.

"We continue to monitor the community so that things like this don't happen again. Because our job and function is only to carry out supervision so that something similar doesn't happen," said Agus.

In the future, more extra supervision will be carried out so that there are no more things like this in South Kalimantan. Because problematic ex-convicts are generally victims, not actual perpetrators.

"We will again carry out extra supervision, and we will carry out training for former prisoners so that they can reintegrate into society and get jobs again, and we are also working with districts/cities in this supervision," he concluded.