About the Series

ICPVTR is starting a new webinar series focusing on the question of radicalisation and diasporas. As part of this, we will explore the question of how and why radicalisation takes place amongst transnational diasporas through close examination of the experience in different parts of the world. Through this series, ICPVTR hopes to deepen our understanding of why a small segment of migrants choose a path of radicalisation, the facilitation networks that support the flow of people and ideas, and the programmes developed to manage them.

Abstract

The Indonesian diaspora is not immune to radicalisation and extremism. Since the emergence of ISIS in 2014, Indonesian nationals overseas have engaged in terrorism-related activities as travel facilitators, recruiters, fundraisers, propagandists and supporters, across Asia such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. The 2016 case of ex-migrant workers who became the first  would-be female suicide bombers in Indonesia also shows the radicalisation process taking place overseas. Although the number of radicalised individuals overseas is still small compared to those in the country, prevention of future radicalisation and extremism among the Indonesian diaspora remains a focus of the Indonesian government and host countries.

Speakers

Wahyu Susilo was trained as a historian and graduated from the Department of History at Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta. He is actively involved in issues relating to migration, labour governance and development, and security. In 2004, he founded Migrant CARE and has spent 18 years advocating for the rights of Indonesian migrant workers. Susilo was given the Trafficking in Persons Report Hero Award in 2007 for his efforts to combat human trafficking. In addition to migrant issues, he participated in a short course on Disengagement and Rehabilitation Counter-Violence Extremism at Monash University, Melbourne, and co-authored a publication entitled “Migrant Workers’ Vulnerabilities to Exposure of Violent Extremism: Case Study of Indonesian Returnee Women Migrant Workers in Hong Kong” (2020).

Dr Haula Noor received her PhD in 2021 from the Australian National University’s Coral Bell School of Asia and Pacific Affairs. Her doctoral dissertation examined the contributing role of family contexts in jihadism. She obtained her BA in Psychology and MA in Interdisciplinary Islamic Studies from the State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah in Indonesia. Her research interests include family and terrorism, family psychology, Islamic studies, and terrorist ideology. Haula’s publications include “When Parents Take their Children in Jihadist Suicide Bombing. What can be done?” (2018) and “Normative Support for Terrorism: The Attitudes and Beliefs of Immediate Relatives of Jemaah Islamiyah Members” (2011). She currently teaches at Indonesian International Islamic University (IIIU), Depok, Indonesia.

Dr Noor Huda Ismail is a Visiting Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He is the founder of Ruangobrol.id, a start-up community website that promotes alternative narratives to prevent radicalism and terrorism. He was previously the executive director of the Institute for International Peacebuilding until 2014, where he and his team produced a module on deradicalisation programmes inside and outside Indonesian prisons and ran a series of capacity building workshops for wardens in 12 Indonesian prisons. He has also produced and directed multiple documentary films, as well as published two books, on terror-related issues.