Evidence Mounts of Islamic State Influence in Indonesia

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A series of incidents and official statements in recent weeks underline the growing allure of the Islamic State group in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country. In late October, for instance, the country's National Counter-terrorism Agency (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Terorisme-BNPT) said that over 500 Indonesians were believed to have joined the group, although the police had only identified 200 of them (Channel News Asia, October 27). A BNPT spokesman said that a significant problem facing the police is that Indonesians often travel to Syria via complex routes, often under the pretext of undertaking pilgrimage in the wider Middle East, and that the authorities often only discover that a person had joined the Islamic State when the group announces their death.

In addition, the country's foreign ministry said this month that 119 Indonesians had been deported from Turkey on suspicion of seeking to cross into Syria (ABC [Sydney], November 10). Other countries have also intercepted would be jihadists, with Singapore deporting two Indonesian individuals suspected of intending to travel to Syria back to Indonesia in November (Straits Times [Singapore], November 11). In addition, the deaths of Indonesian Islamic State volunteers continue to be reported from Syria. One of the most prominent recent fatalities was Umar Jundul Haq (nicknamed "Uncu"), who was the son of Imam Samudra, who carried out the 2002 Bali bombings (The Australian, October 19).

Evidence suggests that the profile of Indonesian recruits remain diverse, as do their motives. For instance, Ahmad Junaedi, a meatball seller from Java who was arrested after his return from the Islamic State's territories in Syria, recently told a court in October that he had been partly motivated by promises of a high salary for joining the group (Channel News Asia, October 23). He said he left the group in part because he had been given menial tasks, such as making kebabs for Arab fighters, and was paid only $50 a month. His account is in keeping with other Southeast Asian volunteers' accounts of the Arab-dominated group's dismissive attitude towards them. On the other hand, another recent recruit is believed to be senior civil servant Dwi Djoko Wiwoho, the director of the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board's licensing office in the Riau Islands, who is believed to have travelled to Syria via Turkey while on holiday from work in August (Straits Times [Singapore], November 11). His current whereabouts are not known. Other recent studies, for instance by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), have drawn attention to the migration of whole families to Islamic State-controlled parts of Syria, with such moves sometimes driven not by husbands, but by female family members and teenage children (Jakarta Post, November 9).

So far, there have been no attacks in Indonesia directly linked to the Islamic State, illustrating that the group's Malay-language propaganda has so far focused primarily on encouraging radicals to come to their "caliphate," rather than conducting attacks in their home countries. Indonesia is, however, well aware of the potential threat and has recently announced plans to work to jointly with Australia to rehabilitate returning Islamic State fighters (Sydney Morning Herald, September 28).