Indonesia, the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population has officially declared any form of support for the Muslim militant group ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq in Syria) as illegal.
Indonesia whose citizens comprise up to 10 percent of the world’s Muslim population announced this new policy in an attempt to stall the ISIS’ global recruiting efforts. Djoko Suyanyo, the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister said in a statement that the ISIS or ISIL posed a great threat to the nation’s religious and cultural diversity.
"The government rejects and bans the teachings of ISIS […] from growing in Indonesia. It [ISIL] is not in line with state ideology, Pancasila, or the philosophy of kebhinekaan [diversity] under the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia," said Suyanto. Right now, Indonesian leaders are reported to be discussing specifically how they were going to implement the ban.
Although the ISIS is based in the Middle East, they are actively recruiting potential members from outside Iraq such as Europe and the United States, and particularly Southeast Asia because of its substantial Muslim population. The ISIS is hoping to recruit Muslims with foreign passports so they will be able to carry out terrorist activities in other countries like the United States.
ISIS has managed to gain a substantial amount of global attention because of its extreme ideologies and plans to build up their Islamic State. The U.S. administration also noted that these militants are a direct threat to the U.S.
