Indonesia helps convicted militants turn away from extremism and begin new lives
The need for rehabilitation is great in Indonesia, where several hundred men imprisoned for terrorism offences have been paroled in recent years.
In the heart of Solo city, not far from the Islamic boarding school founded by the radical cleric who inspired the 2002 Bali bombings, the staff of an unremarkable-looking restaurant prepare for another day serving the humble staples of the Indonesian diet to hungry locals.
The manager, a slightly built man with quick lively gestures, darts about the narrow kitchen, dropping ingredients into sizzling hot pans to make the bistik and other fare that customers including the local police crave. With a wife and two children to support, he also runs a car hire business and a laundry service on the side.
One of the millions of small-time business owners that keep the world’s most populous Muslim nation ticking, 40-year-old Mahmudi Haryono is also a poster boy for the transformation of a bomb maker and jihadi into a productive member of society.
To be sure, his extensive jihadi history does not inspire easy trust. It includes being a combatant with the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines for three years, where he honed bomb making skills, and fighting in sectarian conflicts between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia. He was arrested less than a year after the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people and convicted of hiding materials used to make the bombs.
“The fact is that I trained in the Philippines as a jihadi fighter to defend Muslims and I did jihad only when Muslims were oppressed in conflict regions. It was part of my past,” Haryono said . “Today, my priority in life is taking care of my family and business and preaching a path to help reform radical inmates.”
A private foundation has worked intensively with Haryono since his release from prison in 2009, and holds him up as an example of how hardened militants can be reformed. The need for such success stories is great in Indonesia, where several hundred men imprisoned for terrorism offences have been paroled in the past several years, including 97 last year alone.