Official Linked to ISIS Has Already Resigned Since August 2016, Says MoF

Building of the Indonesian Finance Ministry in Jakarta.

Jakarta, 28 Rabiul Akhir 1438/27 January 2017 (MINA) – The Indonesian Ministry of Finance (MoF) has confirmed that the man named Triyono Utomo who had been deported from Turkey for attempting illegal entry into Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), is a former employee in the ministry with the rank of IIIC.

However, he has resigned at his own request.

“In February 2016 he submitted his resignation as a Civil Servant (PNS) of the ministry with a reason to manage an Islamic boarding school for orphans in Bogor. Since then Triyono could not be contacted,” said Head of Communications and Information Services, Ministry of Finance, Nufransa Wira Sakti, in a press release on Friday (27/1) morning.

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According Nufransa, based on the Decree of the Minister of Finance Number: 759/KM.1/UP.72/2016, 2016 he was dismissed as a civil servant at his own request beginning from August 2016.

“As from the dismissal, all his activities could no longer be linked to the ministry and it will be under the responsibility of the individual concerned,” said Nufransa.

The ministry, said Nufransa, does not provide legal assistance to the person concerned and the ministry will stick to the principle of the presumption of innocence, and respect the law enforcement carried out by the Police.

Triyono with his wife and three children aged between 3-12 years landed in Bali with Emirates flight from Istanbul on Tuesday (24/1).

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Together with him also there were dozens of Indonesian citizens who were returned by the Turkish Government as they are planning to join ISIS in Syria.

On arrival at the Nurah Rai Airport, Bali, they were immediately detained by local police for questioning.

An example of many being radicalized

An official at the Finance Ministry who asked to be anonymous said Triyono is only “one example” of many officials at ministries and government institutions who have been radicalized.

The latest data of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) said that 496 Indonesians have become Islamic State foreign fighters, with 70 of them having been killed and 53 returning to Indonesia.

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The official said Triyono was about to be promoted to the head of a section at the ministry’s Fiscal Policy Directorate General when he quited his job. (T/RS05/RS01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)