Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesians who join Islamic State or sympathise with the terrorist group will face criminal sanctions for the first time under draft laws that will significantly harden the country's counter-terrorism legislation.
It follows consultations with Australia and other nations keen for Indonesia to strengthen its approach.
The proposed laws come as Indonesia grapples with a surge in its citizens travelling to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic State, with an estimated 500 there, most assigned to their own military unit alongside Malaysian and Singaporean recruits.
As Indonesia is failing to stem the outflow of jihadists, its judges have determined that being a member of Islamic State and undertaking paramilitary training with the militant jihadist group – also known as ISIS or ISIL – is not a crime.
"The revised anti-terrorism law will make those who join ISIS or show sympathy to it a crime," the spokesman for Indonesia's anti-terrorism agency, Irfan Idris, told Fairfax Media.
Mr Irfan confirmed his agency and other Indonesian officials had been receiving assistance from Australia.
Between 2002 and 2009, 95 Australians were killed in terrorist attacks in Indonesia. The Australian embassy in Jakarta was also bombed in 2004, causing nine deaths, all Indonesians.
Australia recently co-chaired a high level meeting examining options for Indonesia's counter-terrorism laws at the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation, an Indonesian police facility that was developed with Australian financial support.
As well as Indonesian and Australian intelligence analysts, police and officials, representatives from Britain, Jordan, the Netherlands and Denmark also participated.
Mr Irfan said the laws would punish those who pledged allegiance to IS, as well as those who promoted its ideology and "concepts".
"For instance, [that] one will go to heaven for killing somebody. It's a concept. But it's a totally wrong concept because it's against any teaching on good things, let alone religious teachings."
The new laws are being drafted by the anti-terrorism agency, known as the Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Terorisme (BNPT), and the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.
In an interview with Singapore's Straits Times newspaper published on Monday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said his government would work closely with other countries on terrorism.
"It is very important to improve our regulations on this," Mr Joko said. "We will put more provisions in our laws so we can prevent anyone planning to launch a terror attack."
Local authorities have faced a number of legal setbacks attempting to prosecute Indonesians who have joined terror groups in the Middle East. They failed, for example, to have cleric Afief Abdul Madjid found guilty of terrorism offences for joining IS and undergoing paramilitary training in Syria.
He was sentenced to four years in prison, half the penalty demanded by prosecutors, but only for his involvement in a terrorist training camp in Aceh five years ago.
Another Indonesian IS member, Muhammad Saifuddin Umar, captured entering Syria and extradited home, could only be prosecuted for hiding former terrorist bombmaker Noordin Muhammad Top, who created havoc across Indonesia for almost a decade before his death in 2009.
Meanwhile, other alleged IS members and recruiters have been brought to trial for passport violations. At least 12 upcoming court cases will further test the adequacy of Indonesia's anti-terrorism laws.
Adhe Bhakti, a researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Radicalism and Deradicalisation Study, said there was a real danger the alleged offenders will get off, or be given light sentences, due to flaws in the law.
Mr Irfan said the new laws would be presented to Indonesia's national parliament "as soon as possible". But Indonesia's parliament is notoriously fractious and inefficient and there is little evidence so far that its members see the counter-terrorism laws as a priority. (with Karuni Rompies)