Asad Ali, the former Deputy of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), said that Indonesians joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will be tasked only as pawns. Their primary objective will be to wage suicide bombing.
“There are hundreds of Indonesian ready to take on the task,” said Asad.
He added that Indonesians, as guests, will not earn high rank in ISIS. Moreover, Indonesians will likely not master local language, therefore having difficulty in communicating. “Indonesians joining ISIS will only be followers, not commanders,” he said.
However, still there are Indonesians willing to join ISIS, in spite of not being able to lead a pack of insurgents. Asad said that ideology is the main drive that makes them want to join the militants. “Only by hearing that ISIS’ plan to establish a caliphate in Syria, hundreds of Indonesians are tempted [to join],” he said.
On other occasion, Head of Counter-Terrorism Agency, Saud Usman Nasution, disagreed with Asad. Saud said that the greater reason is social and economic gap, in which becoming ISIS’ main propaganda theme. He said that social media has become the frontier of this propaganda, netting radical groups – and their supporters – West Indonesia Mujahidin, led by the notorious Abu Bakar Baasyir, and the East Indonesia Mujahidin, led by Santoso.
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