The country’s
counterterrorism agency has detected continuing activity by terrorist
organisations despite the fact that many terrorist suspects have either been
jailed or killed since the first Bali bombing in 2002.
Based on its surveillance, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT)
said terrorist networks within the country remained intact.
"Terrorist activity in Indonesia has not stopped yet. Jamaah
Islamiyah [JI] has reemerged through new channels. There has been a wave of
[terror suspects] released since 2007, also their international connections
have been reestablished,” BNPT operations deputy Brig. Gen. Tito Karnavian said
during the Jakarta International Defence Dialogue late Wednesday.
Tito said that terrorist groups in Indonesia could be divided into
several mainstream groups namely JI, the Islamic State of Indonesia (NII), the
Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) and Angkatan Muda Islam Nusantara (Al-Amin).
The Indonesian government has launched full-scale investigations and
prioritised law enforcement to curb the activities of those terrorist
organisations especially following the devastating Bali bombing in 2002 which
killed more than 200 people mostly foreigners.
According to BNPT data, more than 400 terrorists were successfully
prosecuted in the period between 2002 and 2009. Since 2010, however, a number
of terror attacks have occurred. Tito said that the quantity of attacks was
higher than the country had experienced before.
Although JI, as an organisation, had been inactive since 2002, Tito
said, its network remained intact.
"JI is quite a well-structured organisation. In terms of overseas
connections, it has many relationships with Pakistan and Afghanistan networks,”
he said.
"So who were the groups involved in the attacks? Basically they
are from the same group,” he said. “We notice at least three JI splinter groups
including the JAT, the organisation cofounded by the former JI leader Abu Bakar
Ba’asyir, the Hisbah which is based in Solo and then the Al-Tawhid wal-Jihad.”
Last year, a series of mail bomb attacks and a planned bombing of a
church occurred in Tangerang, Banten. Several suspects have been brought to
court.
Also last year, a suicide bomb was targeted at the Cirebon Police
office in West Java. The bomber detonated the bomb inside a mosque at a police
compound in Cirebon on April 15 that year.
Tito said some of those attacks were linked to paramilitary activities
in Aceh and North Sumatra, where there were strong indications that the JAT or
its elements were involved in the activities.
Recently, the National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism unit killed
five suspected terrorists in a raid in Bali. The suspected terrorists
reportedly had links to the JAT network.
Meanwhile, BNPT chief Ansyaad Mbai said that the suspected terrorists
had planned to launch an attack in parts of Bali, as well as other areas in the
country.
Separately on Thursday afternoon, the Densus 88 arrested a suspect
identified as Catur P, 40, as they raided a cell phone store in Sumedang, West
Java.
The police have been successful in hunting and bringing terrorist
suspects to court as with Umar Patek, the man allegedly responsible for the 2002
Bali bombing.
Patek, nicknamed “The Demolition Man”, is standing trial at the West
Jakarta District court. He is accused of masterminding the 2002 Bali bombing
and assembling explosives that were used in bombings in nine cities on
Christmas Eve in 2000.
Patek was captured on Jan. 25, 2011, in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after
previously hiding in the Philippines. Tito said the arrest of Patek showed that
Indonesia’s terror networks were linked with Pakistan and the Philippines.
Based on these conditions, Tito said that the terrorist threat remained
real; the JI network had survived and had created new “vehicles”. There has
also been a wave of releases of terror suspects who have promptly reactivated
terror activities.
He said these conditions were a challenge for Indonesia in finding an
effective way to contain the growth of terror networks, “We have legal
constraints here.”
"We also need to strengthen interorganisational coordination,
including with the military,” he said.
Rabby Pramudatama
The Jakarta Post
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