Why Indonesia is a 'Difficult' Zone for ISIS to Expand

Liputan6.com, Jakarta Leader of Islamic organization in Indonesia Muhammadiyah, Haidar Nashir believes that ISIS and its religious dogma will not prevail in a country like Indonesia. According to him, such misleading credo will face difficulty in entering the archipelago state and spreading its influence.

The main reason to that is because that Indonesia already houses the largest Muslim population in the world and the teachings which have become so embedded into the society is the moderate kind and therefore it will likely to clash the ones brought by ISIS.

“I am sure that ISIS does not have that kind of power to infiltrate into our region that easily. Two main reasons govern this perception: first, the generally accepted form of Islam in Indonesia is the moderate kind, secondly, we are relatively strong in facing that kind of challenge,” Haidar shared on Tuesday 24 November 2015.

Despite such confidence, Haidar also believes that the Indonesian government ought to continually monitor every movement that the extremist group makes. This is especially necessitated following reports of likeliness of ISIS attacking the country though it was later denied by anti- ISIS anonymous hacker.

“Surely we will continue to be cautious over such likeliness. We should not miss out on anything, don’t let them take an opportunity when we’re not looking,” he continued.

Muhammadiyah secretary, Abdul Muti suggests for the government to actively communicate with Islamic figures in the country as to discuss preventive measures over the likeliness of radicalism from gaining power domestically.

“I think it is deemed important for law enforcers to continuously communicate with us and other leading religious figures from Islamic organizations to discuss such threats and potentiality,” he stated. (Akp/Ein)