TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) has decided to intensify cooperation with the National Police in an effort to eradicate terrorism. BNPT Chief Suhardi Alius said that the cooperation, which marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two institutions, serve as a commitment to eradicate terrorism.
"The MoU is to bind [cooperation] on preventing and eradicating threats of terrorism," Suhardi said on Tuesday, December 6, 2016.
Suhardi explained that the BNPT has limited capabilities to cover all Indonesian regions. Meanwhile, the MoU stated that BNPT and the Police will cooperate in the field of terrorism prevention, law enforcement and security. "BNPT will hand the prevention efforts to the Police, because they have a vast network, even to [remote] regions," Suhardi explained.
In terms of law enforcement, Suhardi said that the BNPT will cooperate with the Special Counter-Terrorism Detachment 88 (Densus 88).
National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said that the cooperation will serve as an inter-institution consolidation effort. Tito also confirmed that the Police have a better network compared to BNPT, and said that both institution should synergize with one another. "BNPT has ideas, the Police has networks," Tito said.
REZA SYAHPUTRA | ELIK S
