When the clock struck midnight on the last day of 2021, unlike people across the globe who shouted “Happy New Year!”, the people of Myanmar yelled “Our revolution must prevail!” in defiance of the junta, and cursed coup leader and junta boss Min Aung Hlaing. Over the past 11 months Myanmar people have shown unwavering opposition to the regime that overthrew the elected civilian government and seized power in a February coup. They demanded a restoration of democracy and the return of the rights stolen from them by staging street protests, launching a peaceful civil disobedience movement—a popular strike in which civil servants refuse to work under the regime and people boycott products and services from military-owned businesses to the state lottery, and refuse to pay taxes—as well as armed resistance as the junta continued its brutality against unarmed civilians around the country. “Though it has been 11 months since the military coup, our people continue to demonstrate their rejection of the military dictatorship in different ways,” Ko Tayzar San, one of Myanmar’s most prominent anti-regime protest leaders, wrote on his Facebook account. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-people-greet-new-year-with-shouts-of-our-revolution-must-prevail.html
EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD
Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.
“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”
