TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The police have now determined that Abdurrahman played a signficant role in the tragic incident that left eight people dead five of them the attackers themselves and scores of police officers and bystanders hurt. Notably, Abdurrahman's involvement exposed, once again, the government's incompetence in monitoring terrorism inmates inside prisons.

Abdurrahman a.k.a. Abu Sulaiman is behind bars at Kembang Kuning prison on Nusakambangan, Central Java. He is the founder of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). A native of Sumedang, West Java, Abdurrahman is suspected of having communicated with the January 14 attackers on Jalan Thamrin.

Four of the attackers Dian Juni Kurniadi, Sunakim a.k.a. Afif, Muhammad Ali and Ahmad Muhazan reportedly met with Abdurrahman at Nusakambangan last December. They asked for his blessings to perform amaliyah a term understood by their group as 'performing attacks'. National Police Chief Gen.Badrodin Haiti even said that all ISIS terror networks in Indonesia were linked to Abdurrahman.

These are troubling signs because it merely proves that the government has failed in its object to punish and rehabilitate terrorists by incarcerating them in prisons. When they are released, they are expected to become good citizens and lead normal lives. Instead, prisons have become notorious nests of converting people to terrorism and plan terror attacks.

Clearly, the government is unable to tame terrorists, in or out of prison. Sunakim a.k.a. Afif, the attacker caught on camera by a Tempo photographer wearing a cap and backpack, for example, was released from prison last August. He was arrested at a paramilitary training camp at Bun mountain, Jantho, Aceh in 2010. It was also this case that tried and sentenced Abu Bakar Ba'asyir to 15 years in jail and Abdurrahman to nine years imprisonment. The two figures were convicted of funding the Aceh paramilitary training camp.

In fact, many terrorists became better trained and able to develop their networks while serving their time. This is a weakness that should have been addressed, given that some 250 people convicted terrorists are found in prisons all over the country.

Admittedly, it is not easy to convert terrorism inmates but the government should increase surveillance to make it difficult for the convicts to communicate among them, let alone plan attacks. Communication with the outside world should be totally banned so they cannot spread their terror teachings and receive pledges of allegience over the internet. It is obvious that deradicalization programs carried out by the National Counter Terrorism Agency and a number of ministries have proven to be ineffective. The government should make better use of this hundreds-of-billion-of-rupiah program by improving coordination with other related agencies.

Stricter surveillance on terrorist inmates can be done without gathering them in one location, but their daily activities need to be strictly monitored and they should properly prepared to lead 'normal' lives after prison. (*)

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