Radicalised children, the future terror

HAFT Saiful Rasul was only 11 years old when he died in Syria with the IS. He was the son of convicted terrorist Brekele, who is known by security officials as a hardcore supporter of IS in Indonesia.

Haft’s death must serve as a wake-up call for the security authorities and the public because we tend to ignore children when discussing radicalisation and extremism in Indonesia.

The Child Protection Law classifies children as those aged below 18. At least eight children have been imprisoned this year for their involvement in terrorism-related cases. This phenomenon is a cause for concern because we are seeing the rise of the children of terror.

Last November, I conducted a field study in Poso, central Sulawesi, where communal conflicts in early 2000 killed many people. Poso is still considered ground zero for radicalisation in Indonesia.

My conversation with children aged three to 12 and their mothers, whose fathers and husbands were involved in the sectarian violence and have either been imprisoned or killed by the police, led me to conclude that the children experienced a process of radicalisation the same way adults, who I had talked to, did.

These children were dragged into a cycle of terror influenced mainly through schools, religious groups and social media. I observed that they were also traumatised by these experiences.

A mother told me that three of her sons witnessed police killing their father in an ambush. Since then, they become more reserved, angry and violent.

Another woman said her daughter was present when the police arrested her husband. The girl now becomes frightened whenever she sees police officers.

Two other boys were traumatised after the police arrested their parents. They are now living a solitary existence with their grandparents and their resentment toward the police has been brewing ever since.

One child asked his mother to buy him a toy gun and he told her that one day he wanted to kill police officers with a real one.

Trauma is not the only psychological effect the children are suffering. Some of them have to deal with bullying from schoolmates. A mother told me that her son once took a knife to school after his friends called him “a terrorist’s child”.

As some studies have shown, the absence of parents or parental figures has made children more susceptible to violent behaviour. Imprisoning their parents may stop violent extremism, but not prevent future terror acts. The number of traumatised children will increase if the government doesn’t take action now.

They must deal with this issue immediately by providing comprehensive social interventions.

First, the government, with the help of experts and civil society, must address the children’s psychological trauma. The narrative that their fathers died for the “right cause” needs to be countered.

Second, the government must put programmes in place, which will provide an economic lifeline to the affected families. The children have not only lost role models, but families have to survive without their bread winners.

The government can work with women-led prevention of violent extremism activities in civil society and social and religious settings who remain “under the radar.” They are unrecognised, but are playing an important role in society.

Third, it is important for the government to raise awareness about the importance of helping the children live normal lives.

Like other children, they are the future of the nation. We don’t want them to be a ticking time bomb in our society.