Clad in a flowery hijab of pastel and darkish hues, Mawar*, 49, kinds packages of home made fried chips into paper packing containers earlier than storing freshly squeezed bitter melon juice within the freezer. Her youngest son, a barefoot 10-year-old sporting a Spanish nationwide soccer staff t-shirt, darts out and in of the tiled porch of their meals store. Outdoors, the place lush palm leaves droop over parked motorbikes, he chuckles along with his pals as 4 of them huddle round an iPad, eyes fastened on the glowing display.
They appear to guide extraordinary, unremarkable lives—but, beneath the floor lies a hidden historical past their neighbors don’t know.
Budi* hasn’t informed any of his pals within the neighborhood or in school that he has been to Turkey and Syria. That’s a secret his mom has stored from most individuals, and even he, although unaware of the complete implications, understands that revealing this data might have dire penalties for his household. (*Mawar and Budi are pseudonyms granted for safety considerations.)
Mawar and her three sons left Indonesia for Syria in mid-2015 and stayed there for practically two years. That was a time when the Islamic State militant group—often known as ISIS—had declared its “caliphate” in massive elements of Iraq and Syria, attracting tens of hundreds of fighters and supporters from around the globe.
Quick ahead a decade, the extremist group now not controls any land and most of its distinguished leaders have died. However hundreds of alleged former fighters, girls, and youngsters have lingered in Syria’s Al Hol and Roj camps because the fall of the self-proclaimed “caliphate” in 2019.
Rights organizations have referred to as on international locations around the globe to repatriate their nationals, however some governments worry a public backlash and potential safety threats from people radicalised by ISIS—a bunch that, at its peak, beheaded civilians and enslaved hundreds of ladies and, though considerably weakened, has continued to recruit members and not too long ago claimed duty for lethal assaults in international locations similar to Russia and Mozambique. On New Yr’s Day, a person who pledged allegiance to the extremist group drove right into a crowd killing 14 people in New Orleans.
As Indonesian authorities are anticipated to undertake the primary ever large-scale repatriation of ladies and youngsters from camps in Syria this yr, TIME spoke with Mawar, whose life was upended by ISIS, concerning the challenges of returning to her house nation and what it means to be granted a second probability.
“I believed it could be straightforward to reside there [in Syria], that every thing was assured, like schooling, well being,” Mawar stated in an unique interview, recalling the times when she first began studying concerning the “caliphate” declaration on her cell phone. “My prolonged household additionally shared posts straight with me that confirmed life in Syria… So I bought motivated.” Mawar, whose dad and mom had been farmers, believed ISIS provided a greater future for her three sons, now aged between 10 and 25 years previous. She imagined a land for the “chosen ones”—“a peaceable place.”
Quickly, Mawar was on a aircraft from Jakarta to Istanbul, together with a number of relations. A 3-hour journey on foot throughout the Syrian border in the summertime of 2015 led them into the palms of Islamic State militants, who drove the group to Raqqa, as soon as described because the “caliphate’s capital.”
However it didn’t take lengthy earlier than Mawar’s goals of better equality had been shattered.
She stated her female and male family members had been separated. Her youngsters had been denied the chance to attend college. Besides for infrequent journeys to the market to purchase groceries, Mawar’s sons spent most of their time inside the confines of a sparsely furnished third-floor flat, which solely had electrical energy for about an hour a day. The home, with its drab, grime-covered partitions and mattresses strewn throughout the ground for about 10 girls and youngsters to sleep on, grew to become their whole world.
“It was not what I anticipated in any respect,” stated Mawar, a girl with a spherical face and delicate options.
The obvious monotony of their every day lives was solely interrupted by loud sounds piercing by means of the partitions. “I noticed no warfare straight between ISIS and different teams, however there have been many explosions,” Mawar recalled. The picture of a wailing child, spared from the bombing that claimed his dad and mom within the condo throughout the road, continues to hang-out her. “I additionally bought actually traumatized by the way in which I used to be strolling to the market and there can be bombs falling in entrance and behind me,” Mawar stated, her palms and arms tracing huge arcs within the air as if to embody the chaos she witnessed.
Reeling with a profound sense of disappointment, Mawar stated her household despatched a letter to the ISIS militants ruling town protesting towards the dwelling circumstances and even requested an viewers with the de facto authorities established by the extremist group. Consequently, they confronted police harassment.
About six months after arriving in Syria, she and her household began on the lookout for methods to flee. They tried twice with out success. Solely on their third try did a smuggler facilitate her household’s departure, which included 17 folks in whole. He charged them over US$4,000—about 4 instances the Indonesian annual minimal wage in 2017.
After dodging gunfire, Mawar stated they walked in pitch darkness to a border camp between Syria and Iraq. The Indonesian embassy in Iraq finally assisted with their repatriation. Mawar stated she might solely breathe a sigh of reduction when she was sitting on the aircraft from Bagdad, by way of Doha, to Jakarta. “I used to be very proud of teary eyes,” she stated. “On the similar time, I began fascinated with what would occur after we arrived in Indonesia.”
The world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation is believed to have seen extra of its residents be part of the Islamic State than all different Southeast Asian international locations mixed. In accordance with authorities, from 2013 to 2017, over 2,150 Indonesians traveled to Syria and Iraq. Analysis by the Institute for Coverage Evaluation of Battle, an impartial assume tank, showed that some left to combat towards the now-deposed Bashar al-Assad’s regime, whereas an idealized Islamic life below the “caliphate” declared in June 2014 attracted many households. Some had been deported earlier than they might attain their ultimate vacation spot, others killed within the warfare, others died of illness and even hunger. A whole lot have been stored in detention following the jihadist group’s territorial defeat in 2019.
In Might, a Nationwide Counter Terrorism Company (BNPT) official stated, in response to local media, that at the least 375 Indonesians had been recognized as in want of repatriation within the Al Hol and Roj camps—most of them girls and youngsters.
Mawar is grateful she was given the possibility to return house and keep away from the dire circumstances of the camps. Trying again, she insists that she was deceived, describing herself and her youngsters as victims. “I wished to go to Syria due to all of the propaganda, however what I discovered was one thing very completely different,” she stated, as her voice sharpened. “It feels prefer it was a rip-off to me. The motion is a rip-off. I believed I used to be becoming a member of an important empire, nevertheless it was a giant lie and a mistake.”
Mawar argued that the extremist group can’t be confused together with her faith: “ISIS will not be Islam and Islam will not be ISIS.”
After returning to Indonesia, Mawar went by means of a government-run rehabilitation program for a number of weeks. She now hopes others are additionally capable of finding a brand new path.
In a December press convention, the top of the BNPT, Eddy Hartono, stated that Indonesia has undertaken efforts to carry house a few of its residents detained in Syrian camps. “We have now agreed to repatriate them, prioritizing girls and youngsters,” he stated. Hartono stated that there have been normal procedures in place and that just a few households had beforehand been taken to a rehabilitation heart in Sentul, West Java, the place they had been psychologically assessed, earlier than being moved to facilities managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, and finally reintegrated into native communities.
In accordance with an unpublished NGO report seen solely by TIME, 39 Indonesian girls and youngsters had been anticipated to return to Indonesia in January, in what can be the primary large-scale repatriation of Indonesian nationals from camps in Syria. The group, which was vetted by Indonesian authorities, included 16 grownup girls and 23 minors, a few of whom had been born in Syria.
However latest occasions within the Center East have sophisticated the federal government’s repatriation plans.
Noor Huda Ismail, founding father of the Institute for Worldwide Peace Constructing in Indonesia, stated that bringing extra girls and youngsters from Syria ought to solely be a matter of time, noting it was a precedence for Prabowo Subianto, President of the world’s third-largest democracy since October.
Nonetheless, there have been delays following the collapse of Assad’s regime in December. “Initially, Jakarta was going to work with Damascus, however with the change in management we don’t know what might occur,” Ismail stated.
A Jakarta-based BNPT official informed TIME that, as of early January, Indonesian authorities had been looking for a protected route for the ladies and youngsters ready to be repatriated. “Contemplating what is going on in Syria, we’re nonetheless planning one of the best and most secure strategy to carry our residents,” he stated. The identical official stated building of a brand new nationwide heart for deradicalization had simply began final month in Jakarta.
Within the wake of the Syrian authorities overthrow, clashes have intensified between Turkish-backed insurgent teams and the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces guarding the detention amenities in northeastern Syria, the place international nationals affiliated with ISIS have been stored. “It’s a time when all people’s life is at risk, particularly given the uncertainty within the northeast,” stated Sidney Jones, senior adviser to the Jakarta-based Institute for Coverage Evaluation of Battle. “However even when it’s extra essential than ever to attempt to carry folks house, it’s additionally tougher than ever.”
In accordance with an Amnesty Worldwide report launched in April, about 11,500 males, 14,500 girls, and 30,000 youngsters had been held in at the least 27 detention amenities and two camps in Syria. The rights group has referred to as on nations to repatriate their residents, arguing that detainees from over 70 international locations have endured inhumane circumstances, together with torture and gender-based violence. Specialists stated that ladies looking for to go away the camps have reported dealing with threats and aggression from pro-ISIS people.
Though many governments have been reluctant to take them again, some have elevated their efforts. On the finish of final month, Iraq announced that it had repatriated 360 nationals from the Al Hol camp.
The Trump administration’s latest freeze on U.S. foreign-aid has heightened each the problem and urgency, inflicting considerations amongst humanitarian staff who worry the camps’ circumstances might deteriorate. Some additionally fear about ISIS assaults on the camps and even potential inner riots as a consequence of food shortages, which might be exploited by the extremist group.
Adlini Sjah, an affiliate analysis fellow at Nanyang Technological College in Singapore, stated that “after years of preparation,” Indonesia presently has a extra “beneficial atmosphere” domestically to obtain returnees, together with a “sympathetic political local weather” and elevated “readiness.” Though it’s inconceivable to get rid of all of the dangers related to repatriating former ISIS supporters, she stated that the nation has constructed up adequate “expertise” in addition to “sources.”
Sjah additionally agrees with the prioritization of ladies, youngsters, and youngsters—earlier than they’re additional uncovered to radicalization and groomed to hold out assaults.
Jones famous that the rehabilitation and reintegration of Indonesians coming not solely from Syria, but in addition from conflicts in Afghanistan and the Philippines lately have been “very profitable.” In an effort to counter violent extremism, the Indonesian authorities has supported applications that present former militants with vocational abilities and employment alternatives.
The safety analyst stated those that have been chosen to return to Indonesia wouldn’t be on the checklist if the federal government wasn’t satisfied they’re keen to make a greater life for themselves.
Offered they’re certainly in a position to attain their house nation, Jones stated, “I feel they’ll be high-quality.”
However merely getting house doesn’t imply returnees received’t face additional challenges. Decided to realize monetary independence, Mawar arrange her personal meals vendor enterprise. “I began from zero and with no data… My chips had been fairly oily initially,” she laughed, recalling her early experiments with spinach, bitter melon, and sambal.
In 2018, Mawar moved together with her youngsters to a neighborhood in West Java, the place they didn’t know anybody. Now, she has two huge freezers and a totally outfitted kitchen the place she crafts and packages about 300 baggage of her signature chips every month. The beige partitions of her store are adorned with 4 golden frames showcasing her entrepreneurial certificates. Regardless of struggling financially, she is pleased with with the ability to pay for each her store and the home subsequent door.
Within the neighborhood, Mawar is thought for promoting chips and little else. “Solely the native authorities within the village is aware of my previous,” she stated, whereas sitting on a protracted darkish wood bench in her store.
Mawar nonetheless takes precautions, similar to avoiding being photographed as a result of she fears it’d draw undesirable consideration from her neighbors or others who might harass her household. She can also be cautious of talking with journalists. “Some tales have described us as sexual slaves or youngsters of terrorists,” she stated, talking of the portrayal of returnees extra broadly in each native and worldwide media. “These headlines are so unfair,” she stated. Mawar famous that such media protection has had damaging psychological impacts, notably on youthful folks. “They’ll carry these labels for the remainder of their lives.”
Leonie Jackson, assistant professor of worldwide relations at Northumbria College in England, who analyzed 365 newspaper articles, concluded that media representations of ladies and ladies who joined the extremist group in Syria had contributed to “the temper of indifference amongst policy-makers to the destiny of British [ISIS] fighters and their households following the autumn of the caliphate.”
Conscious of discrimination confronted by different returnees each in colleges and workplaces, Mawar instructed her sons to “maintain again” this a part of their historical past. Her youngsters, nevertheless, might hardly be happier about being again in Indonesia: “They a lot choose it right here,” Mawar stated.
She hopes that the kids of returnees and deportees will have the ability to develop up free from the stigma related to terrorism. “The general public wants to grasp this challenge higher… it makes me really feel unhappy to assume that my household and different households might not have the identical alternatives.”
Ismail, whose group is launching a number of outreach actions this yr, agreed that “the federal government has an essential function in connecting completely different sources, however on the finish of the day it’s concerning the neighborhood and household.”
In contrast to different extremist actions, he stated, ISIS put quite a lot of effort into radicalizing girls, who had been typically groomed by way of social media.
The terrorism professional stated the turmoil within the Center East, together with the Israel-Hamas warfare and the Syrian management modifications, might be a “catalyst” for radicalization. “I’m not positive if radicalization is the best phrase. However there might be a rising need for solidarity and belonging, notably among the many youth,” he stated, noting that particular non secular narratives and a scarcity of geopolitical understanding might amplify this danger. “And, after all, we can’t neglect the function of know-how with social media, AI, and deepfakes,” Ismail stated.
In 2021, Indonesia authorities said that 85% of the nation’s millennials had been uncovered to extremism by means of social media. Final yr alone, authorities businesses discovered about 180,994 on-line posts on platforms similar to Telegram associated to intolerance, extremism, and terrorism, which had been predominantly propaganda from terrorist networks affiliated with ISIS and different teams. In accordance with authorities, these had been taken down or entry was reduce off.
Up to now, Jones stated there have been “no indicators” of a rise in radicalism in Indonesia, the Philippines, or Malaysia as a direct results of latest occasions.
Again in Indonesia, the place there have been no terrorist assaults over the previous two years, Mawar has targeted on offering a steady atmosphere for her youngsters. “I wish to give them an Islamic schooling, however not an extremist one,” Mawar stated, including that she worries about their on-line publicity. She hopes they’ve sufficient instruments to assume critically about what is going on on this planet.
Generally, she additionally finds herself preoccupied by the prospect of her sons’ eventual marriages and the potential for pointed inquiries from her future in-laws. If requested, she intends to be candid about their background. “What I did was unsuitable, however my God is forgiving,” she stated.
As Mawar totally adjusts to her new actuality, she typically avoids revisiting the darkest chapters of her previous. As a substitute, she focuses on transferring ahead, dreaming of increasing her enterprise and opening a small stall to promote meatball soup.
“I don’t wish to simply generate income. I hope to have the ability to assist marginalized, beggars, victims, and different individuals who, like me, might face discrimination,” Mawar stated, as she shared her story with TIME. “I would love folks to know that even somebody with my previous can have a future.”
Raquel Carvalho was the winner of the Ladies’s Tales In The Highlight award about warfare and peace in Southeast Asia, issued by the World Community of Ladies Peacebuilders and U.N. Ladies in 2023. The prize lined her reporting bills for this story.
