Indonesia is Host for Terrorism in Southeast Asia, says Police
27 November 2015 11:40 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian said that Indonesia is the host or the capital of terrorism in Southeast Asia as the first radical group emerging was the Indonesian Islamic State, followed by Jamaah Islamiyah.
Tito said thousands of their followers are in Indonesia and many of them have been detained. “I told my friend in Singapore that you were just a small branch. Malaysia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka are also just small branches of Jamaah Islamiyah,” he said on Thursday.
In order to tackle those radical groups, Tito said Islamic countries must become leaders in cooperation against radicalism. The government also needs the people to identify terrorism networks. According to Tito, reporting radical groups using technology is a good mechanism.
“Internet is incredible, but the efforts to tackle radicalism on the Internet is still very lacking,” he said.
Detention system for members of radical groups must also be improved. Toto said when he was in Poso, some members of radical groups who were jailed in Poso were moved to Java because the prison in Poso or Ambon did not have special handling for radical groups. “If they were gathered there, they could secretly join again,” he said.
Tito said he had caught Santoso, a member of radical group, in a robber case. Santoso was sentenced for three years because there was no special handling. Santoso was detained in Palu but is now free and leading a radical group. Tito said the transfer of prisoners to Java would cut off network with other radical groups. “If they are not controlled, they could meet the big bosses here who are more radical,” said Tito.
DANANG FIRMANTO