REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo has urged the local governments to participate in monitoring Indonesian citizens returning from Syria.

"With regard to the request of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) Head Com. Gen. Suhardi Alius, I call on the local governments to monitor citizens returning from Syria," Kumolo noted here on Monday evening.

The Home Affairs Ministry had prepared a radiogram message and sent it to the heads of local government.

The minister urged the local governments to coordinate such monitoring requests at regional leader communication forums.

Alius had earlier said that Indonesian citizens returning from Syria should participate in the deradicalization program.

"They should follow the deradicalization program to prevent the spread of radical views," Alius remarked here on Monday evening.

The BNPT will verify the identity of nationals returning from Syria before they undergo the deradicalization program.

"We educate and enlighten them for a month. They are then allowed to go home," he pointed out.

Hundreds of Indonesians have reportedly entered Syria through Turkey's borders to join IS for the so-called jihad movement.

At least 100 Indonesians returned home to Indonesia last year after failing to enter Syria through Turkey.

He urged the local government to actively monitor the activities of citizens who have followed the deradicalization program.

"I urged the local government, through the Ministry of Home Affairs, to participate in monitoring activity," he added.

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