Indonesia’s prison deradicalisation scheme has 95 per cent success rate

Indonesia took cues from the UAE and now leads way by asking terrorists’ families to help challenge poisonous ideologies.

Policemen escort a suspect in the Sarinah bombing. Indonesia’s efforts to deradicalise violent individuals have much in common with those used in the UAE. Aman Rochman / AFP

JAKARTA // Indonesia is no stranger to terrorism and, for five years, the world’s most populous Muslim country has implemented a successful deradicalisation programme in its prisons.

Each year, hundreds of terrorism detainees – including the 22-year-old behind January’s Sarinah shopping complex bombings that killed seven people – undertake the government programme, which officials said is similar to initiatives in the UAE.

The Indonesian National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) has several well-developed techniques to talk detainees out of their radical thoughts. Educational, psychological and rehabilitation methods are used from the moment a suspect is arrested by police, “to also portray them as humans in court”.

When they refuse to respond, a softer approach is used. Their wives, children and friends are invited to their cells to talk to them.

The programme continues after their release from prison, to provide support to reintegrate into the community, to help them find jobs and ensure they are not lured back to radicalism.

Prof Irfan Idris, a director at BNPT, visited the UAE to look at similar programmes. He found strategies here to be the same in concept “but different in budget”.

“I visited Dubai in 2013 and went to meet a religious expert from the Government to discuss the issue of radicals and terrorists in the UAE,” he said.

“We shared information and he told me how beautiful the religious regulations are in the UAE.

“They counter radicalisation on all levels – prevention in schools, the home town and the mosque even.”

Prof Idris also visited a Hedayah anti-extremism centre in Abu Dhabi twice. “Commonly, we have the same strategy and programme in terms of how to prepare experts, how to spread enlightenment and empower society to work together and speak up,” he said.

There are 207 inmates undergoing BNPT programmes in 49 prisons across Indonesia’s 39 provinces. Success rates are high, with only 5 per cent returning to terrorist activities.

Last year, BNPT dealt with 538 former terrorists, and during that year 97 of them were released from prison.

“Only one of the 97 went back to terrorism, and that was Sunakim, who did the January 14 bombing [at the Sarinah complex],” said Prof Idris.

Sunakim, also known as Afif, was released from prison last September after serving four years. He had been caught on his way to Iraq in 2012.

Sunakim was one of the few who did not cooperate with the programme while behind bars.

“He did not want to speak to us or meet us. He never went out of the cell. I tried to talk to him but he was not cooperative,” said Prof Idris.

The committees that visited released radicals include psychologists, social workers and religious scholars.

However, the BNPT’s head of prevention, Brig Gen Hamidin, said that fighting extremism is never-ending

“When the Sarinah complex was bombed, all the media said, ‘you have failed in your prevention programme’,” he said.

“What I want to say is that talking about terrorism in Indonesia is talking about a long history of radicalism that started in 1948, with the establishment of the Islamic State of Indonesia.

“Radicalism in Indonesia has not stopped. The government is ready to force and process the law, but they [radicals] will hibernate.”

However, he said families are key to deradicalisation. “The most effective prevention method is family visits to their [radicals] cells,” Brig Gen Hamidin said.

Muamar Bakri, head of the religious and education affairs at BNPT, said the biggest difficulty he faces in the five prisons he covers is convincing detainees to listen to moderate religious scholars.

He said generally of detainees: “He considers his only scholar is Abu Bakr [Al Baghdadi, the ISIL leader], anyone else is not a scholar.”

Before the establishment of BNPT in 2010, deradicalisation programmes in Indonesia’s prison “were not very effective”.

“The human resources were weak and the terrorists are very clever. It is easy for one of them to become a terrorism preacher inside prison and influence other inmates to become radical,” said Prof Idris.

This prompted authorities to set up BNPT, which is now gaining global recognition for its success.