Five Junior High School Students in Makassar Exposed to Radicalism Through Online Games

Five junior high school students in Makassar, South Sulawesi, have been identified as being involved with extremist and radical networks since last year. This phenomenon serves as a stark warning to parents, given that these teenagers were exposed through digital platforms that are familiar to them, namely online games and social media.

The Head of the Makassar City Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Agency (DP3A), Ita Isdiana Anwar, revealed that the five children are on average 14 years old or in the second year of junior high school. Surprisingly, the majority come from middle-to-upper class families, have above-average intelligence, and do not exhibit any conspicuous or suspicious behaviour.

“We see that on average, the junior high school students are smart, from middle-to-upper class families, and have calm personalities, spending their time in front of laptops. It turns out they have already joined this network,” said Ita, Friday (15/5).

Based on the results of the current context analysis, the children are known to have joined 28 WhatsApp groups that spread terrorist ideologies. Their involvement began by clicking on links from digital content that appeared ordinary while playing games or browsing social media.

The outreach conducted by the DP3A together with the Densus 88 since early last year revealed that both the children and their parents were unaware that they had been exposed to radical ideologies. “When we visited their homes, the children and their parents were shocked. They did not realise that they had already been involved in the network,” said Ita.

Currently, the five children are committed to gradually withdrawing from the radical network. The DP3A together with the Densus 88 continue to provide intensive psychological support, recovery counselling, and strengthening of thought patterns, both for the children and their parents.

As a preventive measure, the DP3A is now intensifying education to the public through roadshows to various sub-districts, schools, and PKK groups. Ita reminded parents to be more vigilant and closely monitor their children’s digital activities.

Some of the indications that parents need to be aware of include:

“I have been authorised to convey this to the public. So that they know, be careful with our children. Protect our children,” said Ita. To date, the DP3A and Densus 88 continue to monitor the development of the five children to ensure that the deradicalization process runs optimally. (I-2)