By: Alif Fikri )*
Radical ideas can attack anyone, including the younger generation, especially children who have been convicts of terrorism. Therefore, all parties need to support the deradicalization program and continue to support the religious moderation program.
The influence of radicalism apparently has a big impact on the growth and development of children of terrorist convicts in socializing in society. It is felt that the government’s actions are still not intensive in handling radicalism for children of terrorist convicts.
Responding to this, Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin emphatically said that there was already a RANPE (National Action Plan for Countering Extremism) movement which was sheltered by the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT). The action plan also covers issues related to children of terrorist convicts. Apart from that, the Vice President also gave directions for reintegrating and changing the mindset of the people towards children of terrorist convicts.
Ma’ruf also said that the public must believe that the children of terrorist convicts can still be improved with more specific treatment and methods, including cooperation between the BNPT and the local government.
BNPT together with the local government should have a kind of rehabilitation center for children. And then besides carrying out rehabilitation, also making efforts to return them to the community in the framework of reintegration so that people are willing to accept and even want to educate.
Ma’ruf Amin also feels that the government also needs to be aware of the risks to children who can be exposed to radical ideas through the internet.
Therefore, the Vice President emphasized to the government and the public to pay attention to problems that arise from direct interactions or through the media.
Many factors make children vulnerable to radicalism. But the main factor is the family and educational institutions. This is proof that many children are exposed to radicalism through online and institutions such as the suicide bombings in Surabaya and Sibolga, as well as children who are featured in ISIS propaganda videos that are spread on social media such as Youtube.
It is undeniable that social media is an extraordinary tool for spreading radicalism. Children when they receive radical information will usually feel curious and rarely feel afraid. This curiosity is used by radical groups to lead them to access information that has been designed through social media.
Do not let innocent children become the main objects in the spread of radicalism. So that child protection should be a national development agenda and priority, so that ideally children are protected from exposure to radical ideas.
One of the ways to prevent or fortify children from radicalism is by stimulating an attitude of love for the motherland from an early age. One of them is through simulations such as songs containing elements of nationalism.
Besides that, the heroic stories of warriors also need to be retold to children. Stories of heroism in the struggle for independence involving various ethnic groups and religions should be told so that children understand that Indonesia is a nation that is diverse with various ethnicities and religions.
One way to prevent radicalism from spreading is to provide outreach to all elements of society about how dangerous radicalism is, including teachers and students.
The teacher can be one of the gateways for this understanding to enter, but at the same time it is also the entrance to prevent it. Through the teacher, the students will get enlightened if the teachers are enlightened first.
Previously, Mahfud MD as the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs emphasized that one of the threats in maintaining the unity of the nation and state was radicalism. Therefore, every individual has the right to care for the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
Mahfud said “The Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) is a gift from God that we have, and must be cared for. One of the things that threatens to protect the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia is radicalism, namely a movement that wants to dismantle agreements in the life of the state as Darul Mitsaq.
The doctrine of radical thinking is, of course, very dangerous. The impact of the radicalism doctrine is able to damage the joints of life that are adhered to by the majority of society.
On a different occasion, the Director for Prevention of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), Brigadier General R Akhmad Nurwakhid, said that as many as 12.2 percent of Indonesian people have the potential to be exposed to radical views. Of these, the majority are millennials and generation Z.
Nurwakhid said the first indicator is the millennial generation and gen Z which are suspected of being anti-Pancasila, pro-khilafah or pro-transnational ideology. Second, according to Nurwakhid, this generation already has an intolerant paradigm towards diversity and differences.
They have an exclusive attitude towards change or even with their environment, they have the most religious truth claims.
Radical understanding and intolerance are 2 things that need to be anticipated, lest children who are the flesh and blood of these terrorist convicts inherit the attitudes and thoughts of their parents.
)* The author is a contributor to the Nusa Bangsa Institute
