JAKARTA
Indonesia has banned membership of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, its security forces taking preventative measures by removing material promoting allegiance to the al-Qaeda splinter group.
Sukoharjo Regency Public Order Chief Sutarmo – many Indonesians use only one name - told the Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that officers in Central Java had removed the symbol of the ISIL - which has seized parts of Syria and Iraq - from walls and public spaces since the government announced a ban on supporting the group Monday.
"This image is disturbing citizens," he said. "Residents suddenly saw the mural in the morning without knowing who was responsible."
The measures come in the wake of the release of a "Join the Ranks" video by Indonesian fugitive Abu Muhammad al-Indonesia. In it he exhorts Indonesians to join ISIL from what appears to be a training camp, while others stand around in military gear holding rifles.
"We ask you, where's your faith?" he says in Bahasa Indonesia. "Why are you worried? What's the reason for your fear? Are your wives and children the reason that you're prevented from jihad? Are your homes, businesses, and wealth more beloved to you than Allah, His Messenger, and jihad in His path?"
The video concludes with a call from Abu Muhammad - one of 56 Indonesians to become ISIL fighters - to sign up and pledge allegiance to leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, aka Caliph Ibrahim.
The East Indonesia Mujahidin group – which is believed to have 150 members across Indonesia - has already expressed its support for ISIL while its leader Santoso - the country’s most wanted terrorist leader – has pledged allegiance to Bakr al-Baghdadi.
In July, a radical preacher convicted of terrorism, Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, declared his support at a penitentiary on Nusakambangan Island, and said he wanted to recruit prisoners as fighters for the group.
The government has since been tightening security in the country's prisons, police on Tuesday forcing around 36 people visiting prisoners jailed on terror charges at Kedungpane Prison in Semarang city to leave on suspicion they may have been trying to get the prisoners to pledge allegiance.
A member of the group who refused to provide his name for reasons of personal safety expressed his surprise to AA at the large quantity of guards during what he said was a casual visit.
"We are not ISIL at all, we have different thoughts," he stressed.
Indonesia’s Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs minister announced at a press conference Monday that the government would monitor all developments regarding ISIL in the country.
"ISIL has no formal or informal representation in Indonesia," Djoko Suyanto said, adding that the government would take precautions against the establishment of such representation as the group posed a serious threat to the country's cultural and religious diversity.
"ISIL is not in line with state ideology… or the philosophy of kebhinekaan [diversity] under the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia,” he stressed.
Several ministries, intelligence agencies and the National Counterterrorism Agency have been instructed to work together to detect and prevent would-be fighters from traveling to conflict areas like the Middle East and south Asia.
The Islamic State has overrun large parts of western and northern Iraq and western and northern Syria, where it has been engaged in fierce battles with the armies of both countries.
The group claims it wants to establish a caliphate (Islamic state) in place of current Arab states in North Africa, the Levant and the Arab Peninsula.
