Top diplomat in city tells Post stopping Indonesians from being radicalised is an ‘everyday priority’

Hong Kong police are monitoring about 20 Indonesian domestic workers in the city out of a list of 43 that a think tank said were linked to terror group Islamic State, the Post has learned.

The rest left Hong Kong earlier, a source with knowledge of the police probe said. Indonesia’s top diplomat in the city, Tri Tharyat, said separately that his consulate had intensified efforts to stop Indonesians from becoming radicalised in the city.
The source said about 20 of the 43 had already left Hong Kong.

The police contacted most of those still in the city for interviews, the source added, and found they were IS sympathisers with no direct connection to the group. They supported certain IS religious ideologies, but had shown no violent intent.

“Even though they were only sympathisers, the police will still be keeping an eye on them,” the source said.

The workers’ placement on a watch list came as the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict released a report saying there were at least 50 female workers in East Asia who took part in extremist discussion groups – with 43 of them working in Hong Kong now or in the past.

The source said local police had exchanged intelligence with Indonesian law enforcers before launching their own investigations to track down the helpers.

The think tank study told the story of three workers in Hong Kong – one of whom was said to still be in the city – who competed to get recognition from IS militants in Indonesia and Syria. They provided money and arranged trips to Syria for Indonesian jihadis, sometimes via Hong Kong.

According to the report, out of the 50 domestic workers identified, four joined IS in Syria, 16 returned home and many married jihadis. Eight were deported from their host countries or from Turkey while trying to cross to Syria.

Separately, Tri asserted that his work to stop Indonesians from being radicalised was an “everyday priority”. He claimed his consulate had established a sound working mechanism with Hong Kong officials to fight terror.

“My part is to make the best efforts to minimise and if possible to make sure zero Indonesians are affiliated with and influenced by the [extremist] groups,” he said.

Tri explained the consulate had long been in close contact with city officials about combating terror, having met Commissioner of Police Stephen Lo Wai-chung last month to discuss the issue. Tri is due to meet Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu this month.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/l...ice-watch-list

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