by Mathias Hariyadi

According to the police chief at the time there are no specific ties that link Ridwan Agustin and Tommy Hendratno to the jihadist movement. An Australian police report stated that the two are in Raqqa, the capital of the Caliphate. In fact have both posted declarations of "support" for IS on social media.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – So far there is no specific evidence linking the two Indonesian Civil Aviation Pilots Ridwan Agustin and Tommy Hendratno (Tommy alias Abu Alfatih) to the militias of the Islamic State (IS).

The Indonesian chief of police, General Badrotin Haiti, has made a partial retraction on the case while announcing that investigations continue to clarify the position of the two suspects.

The duo made the news following an article published by The Intercept - citing a report by the Australian police - that they joined the jihadist movement.

From initial police inquires, the two pilots live in the district of Bogor, in West Java province. In an official statement the police chief clarified that, at least so far, Agustin and Hendratno "have posted messages of support" for IS "through social networks."

Investigators recorded messages that extol jihad; therefore while "there is no evidence" of acts to proceed with prosecution of the two officials, the alert remains high.

Augustin was a pilot of AirAsia, covering domestic and international routes before being fired in March 2015 by the company after the discovery of online messages and contacts with members of the Islamic State.

Hendratno instead is a former Air Force pilot in Jakarta, who gave up his uniform to work with a private jet company based in Indonesia.

In the report published by the Australian police, the two live in Raqqa - in Syria - the so-called capital of the Islamic state. In reality, the Indonesian police chief explained that the are in Bogor at the moment, where they are resident.

In an official statement the president of AirAsia Sunu Widiyanto said that "when the pilot [Augustin] was still working for us, everything was normal." Later the company found that he had had contact with Isis and "after that we told him to quit immediately."

The news of a possible link between two the two pilots and the Indonesian jihadi militias did raise alert levels in the government and among the intelligence services.

The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ensures that investigations are underway to gather more information. Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, Minister for Legal Affairs and Security, announced a meeting to brief the Security Committee followed by a note on the official government story.

As already reported by AsiaNews, Southeast Asian Islamic fundamentalist movements and leaders have found inspiration in the exploits of Mideast Sunni fighters and back their struggle for the creation of the Caliphate, which now branches out into various regions of Asia.

Extremist cells and recruiters are active as much in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, as in neighbouring Malaysia and the Philippines. Jihadists are operating in these countries, preparing attacks against pubs, discos and bars, dreaming of the Islamic caliphate.

So far, there are no official figures for the number of Indonesians in Jihadist ranks in Iraq and Syria. However, according to some police estimates at least 30 people are fighting with the terrorists, mostly "ex-convicts and criminals".

 

• INDONESIA
• islamic
• state
• pilots
• australia
• extremism