GOVERNMENT URGED TO TIGHTEN CONTROL OVER ISIS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, March 20 (Antara) - The Indonesian government has been urged to tighten its control over Indonesians traveling abroad and to monitor suspicious activities of residents at home to prevent them from joining Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).          Deputy Chairman of Commission I, which oversees foreign affairs, of the House of Representatives (DPR), Tubagus Hasanudin revealed that at least 514 Indonesians have joined the terrorist group ISIS.          Despite the ISIS influence in Indonesia not yet posing a factual threat, however, the Indonesian National Police has warned Indonesian citizens to exercise caution. It has appealed to the people of the country to be wary of irresponsible parties who persuade them to join ISIS.          "We appeal to all national elements to spread awareness among the younger generation of the country, so that they are not tempted to go abroad and join ISIS without a clear mission," National Police Public Relations Spokesman Brigadier General Anton Charliyan emphasized here on Friday.             According to the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Commander General Moeldoko, currently, the ISIS influence in the country is still at a potential threat level and not yet a factual threat. If it develops into a factual threat, the TNI will take action.           He affirmed that the ISIS should be appropriately handled as a common enemy, so that it will not become a factual threat.          "This group is like a 'cute little boy' playing around with guns. Everyone is threatened. This is not a serious thing, but still we have to treat them seriously," General Moeldoko said as quoted by daily Kompas.          Therefore, several quarters have called on the government to tighten its control over people's suspicious activities at home and the Indonesians traveling abroad. It should also supervise travel bureaus and minor hajj pilgrimage (Umroh) travelers.         Legislator Saleh Daulay has urged the government to monitor travel agents organizing minor hajj pilgrimage to anticipate the possibility of participants using their program only to join ISIS.         "The case of people using the pilgrimage program only as a means to reach Syria to join ISIS must never happen again. Although travel agents are not linked, the incident may not happen again," Saleh Pertaonan Daulay, the legislator from the National Mandate Party (PAN), remarked in a text message on Sunday.         He said ISIS' aggressive approach to recruit new members poses a serious threat to Indonesia.         "It is not nice to hear minor hajj pilgrims joining ISIS. Perhaps, they had already planned while they were still in Indonesia to later separate themselves from the tour group to go to other places," he stated while referring to a recent incident in which 16 tour participants had been reported missing in Turkey after separating themselves from their tour group and are feared to have crossed to Syria to join ISIS.          Therefore, Advisory Council Chief of the Indonesian Inbound and Minor Hajj Pilgrimage Travel Bureau Association (Asphurindo) Hasan Kiat has urged the Ministry of Religious Affairs to tighten its control over minor hajj pilgrimage to maintain the image of the official minor hajj travel agency.          Supervision on illegal travel agents is necessary to protect official agents from the negative impact of illegal operators.          "We have an integrity pact with the religious affairs ministry, however, what about illegal travel agents?" Hasan Kiat said in response to rumors about the alleged use of Umroh travel bureaus by people linked to ISIS.           He emphasized that if the government is not serious in controlling travel bureaus, the reputation of official Umroh travel agents would be at stake. There is potential of the travel agents being made scapegoats and labeled as suppliers of ISIS supporters.          Apart from tightly controlling travel bureaus, the government is also urged to monitor the movements of Indonesian citizens abroad.          Daulay, who is also chairman of Commission VIII on religious affairs of the House, urged the Indonesian embassies in countries sharing borders with ISIS to track the movements of Indonesian citizens in their respective areas.          "I think that one of the effective ways to be adopted now is to urge Indonesian embassies to ensure that there will be no Indonesian citizens crossing the borders and joining ISIS," Daulay said on Thursday.          Besides traveling for minor hajj, several Indonesian citizens go abroad, such as the Middle East, to seek jobs. In this case, the Indonesian Migrant Workers Placement and Protection Agency (BNP2TKI) has tightened its control in dispatching workers.          The BNP2TKI is on alert to deal with the possibility of ISIS recruiting Indonesian migrant workers as its new members. To that end, the agency has tightened the dispatch of migrant workers to the Middle East, BNP2TKI Chief Nusron Wahid revealed.          "Technically, we have tightened the dispatch process. We are also trying to instill the national outlook in them during the final preparation period and during the welcome program in their country of placement," he remarked.          By doing so, they will harbor strong feelings of nationalism and a good knowledge of Islam and will not be easily influenced by ISIS, Wahid noted.         Indonesia is only sending migrant workers to the Middle East for employment in the formal sector after it stopped the recruitment of migrant workers for the informal sector, he remarked.         What is important is to instill the right faith. After all, recruitment of ISIS members largely depends on the trust factor.         According to Director of De-radicalization Affairs of the National Counter-terrorism Agency (BNPT) Irfan Idris, ISIS recruits followers from the closest families or relatives of the existing members.         "ISIS recruits from among their closest friends or even from members of their families because it relies on the trust factor," Idris claimed during a discussion here on Thursday.         "The possibility of getting influenced by people closest to you is higher, particularly in Indonesia where there are various religious faiths relegated to children from their parents," he explained.          He pointed out that several members of the radical Islamist group had revealed that at the beginning, they were influenced to follow the ideology of ISIS by their closest ones.          Thus, he warned Indonesian families, and people, in general, to remain wary with regard to any suspicious activities of their friends or relatives.          Moreover, according to Nasir Abbas, an observer of terrorism-related affairs from the University of Indonesia, the radical ideology of ISIS has been developing in Indonesia for a long time.          "I believe that the ideology of ISIS has been developing for a while in various forms in Indonesia," Abbas claimed.          He pointed out that the ideology of ISIS can be developed in various forms on different forums where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.          "Such forums can easily reach different layers of the society and may not even be recognized by the public," he added.          Therefore, the militaries of Indonesia and the United States have agreed to jointly fight ISIS.          According to TNI Commander General Moeldoko, ISIS is a potential threat to the existence of the Unitary State of Indonesia (NKRI), and therefore, its existence should be stamped out.     ***2*** (T.A014/INE) EDITED BY INE (H-YH) (T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 20-03-2015 17:46: