How they propose to do this is unclear. Probably they think they will rehabilitate these jihadis by showing them that the tragically misunderstood Qur’an is actually a Book of Peace. Perhaps they will be able to get John Kerry or Pope Francis or David Cameron or some other world-class authority on Islamic teaching to go to Australia and Indonesia and explain to these jihadis how they are misunderstanding Islam.
Rehabilitation programs for jihadis have failed spectacularly in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. But that won’t stop Western authorities from throwing a few hundred million their way.
“Australia and Indonesia to work together to rehabilitate hundreds of convicted terrorists,” by Nick O’Malley, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28, 2015 (thanks to Kenneth):
Australia and Indonesia will work together to rehabilitate hundreds of convicted terrorists expected to be released from Indonesian prisons in the coming years.
Addressing a high level counter-terrorism meeting hosted by the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, on the sidelines United Nations General Assembly in New York, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said Australia and Indonesia would hold a conference next month on the threat posed by convicted terrorists who will soon finish their sentences.
“We are aware that in the coming years a significant number of prisoners in Indonesian prisons who have been convicted of terrorist related activities will be released, it runs to the hundreds, and of course if they have not been rehabilitated then they pose a serious risk, not only to our country but to our region,” Ms Bishop said after the meeting.
During the meeting of the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, both Mr Kerry and Ms Bishop urged the international community to step up its efforts against the threat of foreign fighters.
Mr Kerry said the number of foreign fighters engaged with ISIS in Syria and Iraq had increased by an estimated 3000 to up to 33,000, despite combat operations and efforts to stem the flow of foreign fighters in the region.
And he said that the successes the international community had enjoyed in preventing their citizens from travelling to the region to fight presented another problem – what to do with radicalised citizens now kept in their home countries, but still in online contact with terrorist organisations.
He said it was now necessary to deal with what he called the “lifecycle” of terrorism, from online radicalisation to the de-radicalisation and reintegration of returning fighters.
Speaking after the meeting Ms Bishop said the number of Australians thought to be engaged with terrorist organisations in Iraq in Syria had doubled to 120 over the past 12 months.
But she said she expected that trajectory to slow as efforts to prevent potential fighters from getting access to passports began to take affect.
“What we are seeking to do is preventing them from joining Daesh in Iraq and Syria to prevent them from becoming experienced terrorists… and then making their way back to Australia,” she said….