By: Dodik Prasetyo )*
The government has taken a firm stance to refuse return, let alone repatriate ISIS ex-Indonesian citizens. The decision was considered the most appropriate considering that they have refused to claim to be Indonesian citizens, burning passports, and calling the government a thogut. Their return to the country only triggered public unrest because it could increase terrorism in Indonesia.
Indonesia is still surrounded by the threat of radicalism in which its massive movement still keeps institutions such as BIN and the Police on alert to all possibilities. So that the government’s decision not to repatriate ISIS members from Indonesia is certainly right, this is a preventive effort by the government so that they do not sow the seeds of new radicalism.
The government has previously decided not to repatriate 689 former ISIS citizens and border crossing terrorists who are currently in a number of countries in the Middle East.
The decision was taken in a limited meeting (ratas) chaired by President Joko Widodo directly at the Bogor Palace. Of course the decision was taken to ensure a sense of security and comfort for around 260 million citizens in Indonesia.
Nevertheless, the government still opens options to repatriate children from FTF terrorists who cross border boundaries (foreign terrorist fighters) and suspected former ISIS to Indonesia.
The government also provides concessions for their children who have nothing to do with the acts of terror committed by their parents.
Aziz Syamsuddin as the deputy chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives said that the government’s decision not to repatriate ISIS members from Indonesia is entirely the authority of the government.
According to him, the steps taken by the government did not violate the rules regarding citizenship, especially if they had burned his passport.
Support for the decision also came from the Presidential Advisory Council Member (Wantimpres) Agung Laksono, himself supporting a government decision that did not repatriate former ISIS citizens and suspected cross-border terrorists.
He considered, the decision made Indonesian people numbering 260 million people feel relieved. Agung also agreed with President Jokowi who referred to the ISIS combatants as former Indonesian Citizens.
He considered that the former ISIS spread across a number of Middle Eastern regions automatically lost citizenship because they no longer recognized Indonesia as their country.
The term former Indonesian citizen is certainly not an exaggeration, because President Jokowi wants to be consistent with Law (Law) Number 12 of 2006 on citizenship, which reads, ‘that an Indonesian citizen (Indonesian citizen) will lose his citizenship if he joins a foreign military without permission from the President.
His citizenship status will also be lost if he expresses his desire to no longer be an Indonesian citizen. As with the act of burning passports that are considered as a statement of desire to no longer be part of Indonesian citizens.
MPR Deputy Chair Hidayat Nur Wahid also supported the government’s move to refuse to repatriate hundreds of ex-ISIS citizens. Hidayat said the government must have conducted an in-depth study before deciding not to repatriate them.
He also said that everyone knew that hundreds of Indonesian citizens had consciously left Indonesia to join the ISIS group. According to him, they automatically released Indonesia when they had taken the action that ISIS wanted to burn an Indonesian passport.
This shows that the government remains in its stance, thus, no other options are taken regarding the former ISIS citizen.
The Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security Mahfud MD also ensured that the government would not take legal action against them after deciding not to repatriate suspected terrorists. Because the citizens who become FTF are also not in Indonesia and have burned their passports.
The burning of the passport certainly implies that he does not really want to return to his homeland. Of course it would be funny if the government made a passport for former Indonesian citizens who consciously burned their passports while saying the passport was thogut.
According to the PBNU Chairman Said Aqil, the Indonesians already considered ISIS as a state, and deliberately abandoned Indonesian citizenship when joining the group.
Said said they had separated themselves from Indonesian citizens and then joined ISIS citizens in Iraq.
If the government repatriates the ex-Indonesian citizen ISIS to Indonesia, then the government will not think of any other people, even though those who have gone to Syria have shown rejection of their status as Indonesian citizens.
)* The author is a social political observer