Kazakhstan expressed the interest when chairman of the Kazakh National Security Committee (NSC) Dauletbekovich Billsbekov had a working dinner with the BNPT chief in Astana on Wednesday (Jan 24).
Alius said his visit to the capital of Kazakhstan was aimed at following up on a cooperation agreement between Indonesia and Kazakhstan on combating terrorism.
During a meeting with Kazakh officials, he specifically explained what Indonesia has carried out to address terrorism, including making soft approaches by involving repented-former terrorist leaders to speak for the deradicalization program.
"This approach is quite effective because these former terrorists can share their experience and show their path of going back to the right direction," Alius noted.
The soft approaches, he added, also involve religious organizations such as the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah.
From his explanations, the Kazakh official learned that soft approaches are another big point to handle the common issue of terrorism, in addition to hard approaches that are more widely implemented in different countries.
As part of solution, BNPT also recruits a young generation of social media and internet activists to become ambassadors of peace in cyberspace. They are in charge of spreading the messages of peace and positive matters with such language and expression that are familiar to youths.
Both Indonesia and Kazakhstan are determined to exchange experiences especially in anticipating the return of the foreign terrorist fighters (FTF), Alius added.
Reporter: Sigit Pinardi
Editor: Ade P Marboen
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