By: Sandy Arifin)*
Until now, Syria is still being an arena of civil war that has lasted at least five years. The civil war, which began 15 March 2011 has made at least three hundred thousand of lives have been lost in vain. The war that was originally started by the people’s protest against the incompetence of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad has now evolved into a proxy war that is very complex. The complexity comes from the amount of foreign parties to intervene in the conflict of Syria.
One of the “foreigners” who plays quite significant role in the Syria’s civil war is those who had been called “foreign fighters”. The term foreign fighters refer to foreigners who had come to take part in the Syria’s civil war. Typically, the foreign fighters have joined the groups who want to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad, like the Free Syrian Army, Jabhat Al-Nusra, and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The foreign fighters came from different countries in the world, such as European countries, Australia, and Indonesia.
There are many that believe that the existence of foreign fighters posed a threat not only for Syria as the battlefield, but also for the countries of origin of the foreign fighters. For example, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere stating that the foreign fighters who have gained experience of war from Syria would be a sort of “time bomb” when they return to their home country. Maziere’s statement is corroborated also by security officials from various countries. Therefore, it is natural that the countries of origin of the foreign fighters became busy to formulate policies in order to counter the potential threats brought by foreign fighters when they returned to their home countries.
Indonesia became one of the country that being quite “confused” by the presence of foreign fighters in Syria’s civil war. It is given that there are at least 600-800 foreign fighters from Indonesia were joined by a number of militant groups in Syria. The foreign fighters are believed to save considerable potensial threat, especially in growing the seeds of radicalism in Indonesia. The potential threat will be greater if the foreign fighters decided to return home to Indonesia. Therefore, it is natural that some leaders of Indonesia considers the issue of the existence and the return of foreign fighters to Indonesia is an important issue and the need to look for solutions both short and long term.
So, what kind of policies that the government should take? Policies that give priority to the aspects of the military or law enforcement may be a short-term solution to address the threat of the return of foreign fighters. However, to create a long-term solution, the active role of the community is absolutely necessary. For example, people especially religious leaders need to actively participate in various campaigns advocating religious tolerance. In addition, the public also needs to play an active role in preventing defamation of religious values, beliefs, and cultures that are often being the catalyst for the birth of terrorist acts. In other words, if the public is willing to actively participate in various counter-radicalism policy drawn up by the government, then the potential threat of radicalism and terrorism can be minimized or even eliminated altogether.
)* The author is CIDISS contributor
