In Indonesia, rehabilitation is one of the processes that flows in the National Action Plan for the Prevention and Countering of Violent Extremism Leading to Terrorism (RAN PE), as stated by Sekretaris Kabinet (Setkab) Republik Indonesia (2021), which is complicated and complex to achieve as influenced by many factors, like stated by Juwana (2014). As one of the critical strategies to combat the threat of terrorism, terrorist rehabilitation may have its calculations and formulas that vary by case. Moreover, BNPT (2023) stated that rehabilitation, because of and related to violence and terrorism, is considered an effort to stop individuals involved in terrorist organisations or movements from understanding extreme ideologies.
Ansori et al. (2019) explained that at least 147 women from Indonesia changed into terrorists through the influence of radical ideas. They willingly travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State movement. This fact implies that women’s roles in terrorist organisations have become more prominent. Thus, needing a comprehensive approach to their rehabilitation and reintegration, as supported by Ismail (2023). While the reasons, experiences, and obstacles faced by women involved in terrorism vary greatly, some crucial elements affect their path to rehabilitation and societal reintegration.
Marcos (2021) argues that gender analysis in terrorism studies is imminent to advance prevention and rehabilitation-reintegration programs. This is aligned with what happened in the field. Women in terrorist rehabilitation face considerable hurdles, including stigma and discrimination. The public conception of women as victims or passive participants in terrorism might hide the nuances of their roles (OSCE, 2013; UNODC, 2019). Many people, including women, may have been pushed or tricked into joining terrorist organisations because of personal situations such as poverty, a lack of education, or family pressures, as stated in Barekba (2020) and USAID (2017). Addressing these underlying causes is critical to successful rehabilitation.
Another difficulty is women’s specific needs and experiences in terrorism. Many women confront gender-specific risks, such as sexual abuse, domestic violence, and discrimination within terrorist organisations, supported by arguments from UN Migration (IOM) (2024), UNFPA (2014), and Huckerby (2015). Taskarina (2024) addressed that the more active involvement of women in terrorist groups today leads to tactical and operational roles, such as suicide bombers, martyrs, recruiters, and donors, hence the effort to overcome this situation becoming more complex.
Women who have been involved in terrorism may find it difficult to reintegrate. These women face societal rejection, prejudice, and limited possibilities and may find it difficult to reintegrate into their communities. Moreover, not only women who are actively involved in terrorism but women who are victims of terrorist attacks also face difficulties that are hard and harsh. Therefore, it is imperative to design programs that give women the necessary skills, support, and resources to reconstruct their lives and participate effectively in society. Wardah (2024) argues that women who are victims psychologically include those who endure protracted trauma and suffer from reproductive issues. For instance, she stops having her period early when she goes through that experience, even if they shouldn’t be going through menopause yet. In addition, practically every victim lost their property and means of support or their jobs.
Along with the savings for memorial services and providing for the family’s necessities following job loss. Meanwhile, the social consequences include being asked to file for divorce, being viewed as a burden on the family, managing singlehood, sticking by a partner, and damaging family ties. Furthermore, fear of particular religions and their symbols, as well as hatred of specific communities, have an impact on social cohesiveness as a result of terrorist attacks. Thus, not only victims who are physically injured face challenges, but psychologically damaged also face the same challenges.
Then, how could a woman defend herself from radicalism and terrorism, further how to treat better rehabilitation-reintegration programs? Prabowo (2022) argues that, aside from natural order, ideological aspects and strategy are vital factors in how a woman can be a terrorist and also how it could be the answer to a better rehabilitation-reintegration program, such as a hotline program dedicated to women, like South Korea do since 1983 like Kering (2024) reported. The natural order for a woman is softness. As a mother, wife, and individual, these paths should be how a woman can thrive. Once these paths are damaged, for example, as a mother, they hurt because their children hurt, or as a wife, they have a terrible husband; of course, these paths could lead a woman into radicalism and even terrorism. On the other hand, these paths could also make up for it since no woman is an evil woman naturally.
Ideological aspects of the rehabilitation-reintegration program should be done gracefully to give an authentic view of the way of life, not the other way around. For example, anti-Pancasila should be educated without coercion, the actual Pancasila perspective, etc. Then, as for strategy, a rehabilitation-reintegration program should be done reverse strategy from how the strategy wraps the women into radicalism-terrorism. With all these complexities, is it a heaven’s touch for women to factor in this unbalanced way of radicalism-terrorism, as for the strategy of attacks and also the rehabilitation-reintegration efforts?
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