MikeLigalig.com

BENARNEWS- Dozens of Indonesian women working in Hong Kong used their earnings to support the Islamic State after being recruited online, according to a think tank in Jakarta.
A report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) urged Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim country – to work with labor recruiting agencies to prevent radicalization. It explored how dozens of Indonesians in Hong Kong became vulnerable to extremist recruitment as religious teachings and prayer groups grew alongside with demands for more nannies, domestic helpers or caretakers for the elderly.
The women were exposed to radical content online, said Nava Nuraniyah, an IPAC analyst.
“Some of these women were drawn in by jihadi boyfriends they met online,” she said in a statement. “But some joined IS as a path to empowerment.”
While the number of radicalized workers is small compared to the Indonesian workforce, it is potentially dangerous, Nava said.
Indonesians form the second-largest migrant community in Hong Kong, with more than 150,000, according to official census data. The Philippines leads the list with more than 180,000.
The IPAC report released Wednesday charted the mostly female Indonesian Muslim community in Hong Kong, which tripled during the past 17 years because of the demand for domestic workers.
It said Jakarta-based overseas employment agencies marketed Indonesian women as being “cheaper” and more pliable than better-trained Philippine maids, resulting in many Indonesians being paid less than the minimum wage. Even though the workers were systematically underpaid and exploited, abuse was not a direct factor in their radicalization.
“The search for a sense of community in an unfamiliar environment may have been more important,” the report said, explaining the growth of the Muslim community was accompanied by a rise in religious outreach (dakwah) activities by Indonesian clerics. The outreach started with moderates but gradually included extreme ideologues.
“Indonesian women found friends in these dakwah groups that often acted as surrogate families,” the report said. “When one was drawn into a radical circle, others followed.”
IPAC conducted in-depth interviews with several dozen domestic workers in Hong Kong, Indonesian clerics and leaders of Islamic organizations in the city and in Jakarta. It also monitored social media and analyzed documents from outreach groups.
The report identified at least 50 female radical workers in East Asia who had taken part in a variety of extremist online discussion groups, including 43 who worked or are working in Hong Kong, three in Taiwan and four in Singapore.
The war in Syria brought support for violent extremism to Hong Kong, the report said, explaining that Indonesian Muslims were interested in the conflict and extremist sites on social media had some of the most detailed news.
As of June 2017, four women joined IS in Syria, about 16 returned to Indonesia and mostly married militants and eight were deported from their host countries or from Turkey while trying to cross over to Syria, the report said.
“None were ever interested in supporting attacks in their host countries,” the report said, explaining the Indonesian migrant workers would rather support forces fighting the Syrian government or pro-IS violence in Jakarta.
Getting exposed to radical preachers
As religious conservatism grew in Jakarta, the women in Hong Kong were exposed to radical preaching at Muslim community meetings when prayer groups and visits from clerics became more prevalent, Nava said.
“These women see militants as heroes and want to help them with money and logistics. Some get involved and want to help the militants go to Syria, and are prepared to follow them there.”
The public should not panic about the report, she said, but expatriate communities should watch out for migrant workers becoming radicalized.
“If one sees a colleague beginning to show symptoms of exposure to radicalism, approach them in a good way,” she said.
The government needs to do more to explain the threat of terrorism to migrant workers, according to Anis Hidayah, executive director of Migrant Care.
“They are vulnerable to IS recruitment. They don’t realize it,” she said, adding the government should consider setting up a help line or sending an official notice to spread awareness.
“These efforts need to be expanded down to the village level,” she said, as she explained embassies should use social media to spread the government’s message about the dangers of extremism.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir and Nusron Wahid, head of the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers, could not be reached for comment.
Turkey Deportees
Since 2015, 430 Indonesian nationals have been deported from Turkey as they tried to cross into Syria, authorities said.
“It doesn’t mean all of them are linked to IS. They never crossed into Syria,” Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters in Jakarta on June 17.
She said 193 Indonesians were deported from Turkey in 2015, 60 in 2016 and 177 in the first six months of 2017.
Officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs said more than 160 deportees from Turkey since last year have been trained in weaving and sewing and how to start small businesses.
About 75 of the deportees were children who received counseling, toys and educational assistance.
Commenting on those figures at that time, IPAC director Sidney Jones confirmed that 60 percent of the deportees were women and children. She called the rehabilitation program insufficient.
“There has to be a plan for where the children are going to go to school, there has to be counselling for those children,” she said.


* Work from Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.mochahost.com



Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=96877.0