Indonesian police kill 5 terrorists
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/...li-raid/505683
Quote:
Hariadi said that police suspected the group was plotting a robbery to finance a terrorism act. Police, the spokesman said, also confiscated firearms and several rounds of ammunition from both locations but declined to divulge further details. “All information will be revealed [on Monday morning],” he said.
Supports the trend of the growing convergence between criminality and terrorism, especially since other sources of funding for these clowns have been cut off by good police work. Admittedly terrorists have used crime since the beginning of crime to fund their activities, but the Islamist groups were fairly funded by wealthy donors from the Middle East in recent years, so hopefully this is a positive trend.
http://news.yahoo.com/indonesia-poli...004247418.html
Quote:
Two FN-45 rifles and masks were seized from the scene, Amar said. He said the men had been planning to rob a currency exchange, a jewelry shop and a cafe near Kuta and Jimbaran, two of the Bali beaches most popular with tourists.
Quote:
Amar said the suspects killed Sunday were allegedly part of a terror group wanted for a series of armed robberies in Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra province in 2010. Police are investigating whether the suspects were connected to Jemaah Islamiyah or another larger terror group.
Indonesia: Suspects planned attack on U.S. Embassy
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-...n-u.s-embassy/
Quote:
He said the suspects belonged to a new group called the Harakah Sunni for Indonesian Society, or HASMI.
"From evidence found at the scene, we believe that this group was well prepared for serious terror attacks," Alius said.
Sticking with the theme of trends, what we seem to be seeing in Indonesia is the result of effective security operations that forces an enduring threat to continuously morph into new terrorist cells and organizations. Defeat of the idea and the strategic logic of terrorism is no where in sight. The terrorists like most adversaries have a political objective that won't be countered by population centric operations that focus on economic development and the rule of law. It may be we just have to accept this as the new norm until their is (if there is) an evolution in their underlying ideology and political goals. I think that means our security forces (the US and all its partners) need to focus our main effort on intelligence and disruption from a security aspect. Individual governments will have to wage the political competition within in their own borders.
Quote:
Last month, police arrested 10 Islamist militants and seized a dozen homemade bombs from a group suspected of planning suicide attacks against security forces and plotting to blow up the Parliament building. The alleged bomb maker turned himself in to police while wearing an empty suicide vest.
Recent terror attacks in the country have been carried out by individuals or small groups and have targeted security forces and local "infidels" instead of Westerners, with less deadly results. The arrests announced Saturday appear to be the first in recent years to involve a group that allegedly planned to target foreign facilities.
Different groups experimenting with different approaches to achieve a common political objective.
Acceptable to the public enables CT?
An article by an Indian friend, on a quite different topic, has this aspect of countering terrorism CT:
Quote:
It recommends the present Indonesian model of policing, which could transform from a repressive paramilitary force into an acceptable civilian police department in 13 years and where an April 2007 Gallup Poll found 81% of the public having confidence in the reformed police.
Link:http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analy...india-pakistan
I have read that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have played a role in supporting the reforms.
An active public: what terrorists hate
Rarely reported, but IMHO a good sign:
Quote:
A man threw a pipe bomb at the South Sulawesi governor while he was on a stage but the device packed with nails failed to explode, police said Monday after arresting the suspect and a second man. No one was injured...
The suspect, Awaluddin Nasir, 25, was beaten up by the crowd and arrested just after allegedly tossing the device.
Link:http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2...mb-attack.html
Starts well, then goes bizarre
A very short review by a Singapore think tank of recent developments:
Quote:
The recent killings of militants belonging to the so-called East Indonesia Mujahidin Commandos point not to the rise of a brand new militant network, but rather, yet another “mutation” of the old Darul Islam separatist movement or “super-organism.”
Link:http://www.rsis.edu.sg/publications/...SIS0082013.pdf
One does wonder how they reached this conclusion, first the apparent situation, followed by a frankly bizarre suggestion (edited citation):
Quote:
Finally, the Indonesian police must recognise that excessive use of force actually strengthens the hand of Santoso and his ilk. Granted, the police have suffered casualties themselves at the hands of the militants in recent years. Thus some police officers apparently maintain that “the best kind of deradicalisation is through killing (such) people”. Such an attitude however is counter-productive: worryingly, human rights observers complain that heavy-handed Densus 88 tactics are “driving militancy”.
Perhaps all police units should explore more systematically the calibrated use of so-called less-lethal weaponry, such as for instance acoustic and directed energy weapons, with Western assistance.
To understand terrorism, understand history
My title will be a familiar theme to SWC, the focus of a new book probably not - Indonesia, a key nation, partly due to its majority Muslim character.
This week the Australian think tank, the Lowy Institute launched a new book, The Roots of Terrorism in Indonesia: from Darul Islam to Jema'ah Islamiyah, by a leading authority on Islamic extremism in Indonesia, Solahudin:
Quote:
Based on a remarkable bredth of original material, Solahudin's book shows how the ideas and form of activism that lead to the Bali Bombings in 2002 have a long and complex history in Indonesia, stretching back to Darul Islam revolt in the 1940s. Solahudin argues that 'al Qaeda-style ideology has been present in Indonesia for decades, long before al Qaeda itself emerged in the 1980s.
There are a small number of links to reviews, a podcast etc on:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...Solahudin.aspx
In a longer Lowy comment 'Is the 'far enemy' off the agenda for Indonesian terrorists?' the author explains how terrorism has shifted to the 'near enemy', notably the police, from the 'far enemy', usually the Western presence. He refers to the impact since 2006 of a Jordanian theologian's writings - a new name for me, Muhammad Al Maqdisi and jihad tamkin. Ideology is in constant flux, so the target can change.
It ends with:
Quote:
Consequently, a key to understanding terrorism in Indonesia, including whether or not terrorists will again attack the far enemy, is to have knowledge of the local and international political situation and of ideological changes in terrorist circles.
Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...errorists.aspx
The book is not (yet) on Amazon, it is available from the Australian publisher:http://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/book...aah-islamiyah/
I placed this thread here instead of the Asia-Pacific forum as the book and comments apply far beyond Indonesia. There is a long running thread 'Mainly terrorism in Indonesia; catch all':http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...read.php?t=737
Mainly terrorism in Indonesia: catch all
My title will be a familiar theme to SWC, the focus of a new book probably not - Indonesia, a key nation, partly due to its majority Muslim character.
This week the Australian think tank, the Lowy Institute launched a new book, The Roots of Terrorism in Indonesia: from Darul Islam to Jema'ah Islamiyah, by a leading authority on Islamic extremism in Indonesia, Solahudin:
Quote:
Based on a remarkable bredth of original material, Solahudin's book shows how the ideas and form of activism that lead to the Bali Bombings in 2002 have a long and complex history in Indonesia, stretching back to Darul Islam revolt in the 1940s. Solahudin argues that 'al Qaeda-style ideology has been present in Indonesia for decades, long before al Qaeda itself emerged in the 1980s.
There are a small number of links to reviews, a podcast etc on:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...Solahudin.aspx
In a longer Lowy comment 'Is the 'far enemy' off the agenda for Indonesian terrorists?' the author explains how terrorism has shifted to the 'near enemy', notably the police, from the 'far enemy', usually the Western presence. He refers to the impact since 2006 of a Jordanian theologian's writings - a new name for me, Muhammad Al Maqdisi and jihad tamkin. Ideology is in constant flux, so the target can change.
It ends with:
Quote:
Consequently, a key to understanding terrorism in Indonesia, including whether or not terrorists will again attack the far enemy, is to have knowledge of the local and international political situation and of ideological changes in terrorist circles.
Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...errorists.aspx
The book is not (yet) on Amazon, it is available from the Australian publisher:http://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/book...aah-islamiyah/
I placed this thread here instead of the Asia-Pacific forum as the book and comments apply far beyond Indonesia.
Soapbox (partially) averted.
First, I'm very excited this book was translated into English. Solahudin has a reputation for doing solid work, and I can't wait to get my hands on this.
Second:
Quote:
Indonesia, a key nation, partly due to its majority Muslim character.
Indonesia isn't just a Muslim majority. It is the world's most populous Muslim country, even beating out Pakistan. I think just under 13% of the world's Muslims live in Indonesia, yet only 83% or so of the population is Muslim. Let's sit and think about that for a second. They are the most populous Muslim nation on Earth, and while they're a majority, they have more religious diversity there than any other Muslim country. Pretty neat! Okay, enough of me geeking out.
Third:
David, you summed this up nicely.
Quote:
Ideology is in constant flux, so the target can change.
I think there is a tendency for people to look at a group, analyze them, and say "Okay. We know them." This is dead wrong. They change. Frequently. Much the same way grad students vie to study under a particular professor, so too, do they. They have conferences, publish, and talk about how to further their field. Furthermore, I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say it's dangerous to look at one of these groups and assume because we aren't on their list now, we won't be in the future.
Fourth:
I've spent a lot of time thinking about how the non-Arab Muslim world (aside from Iran and Pakistan) largely floats under the radar. This isn't good. Yes, it is important to know what is going on in the Middle East, but to focus on one area to the detriment of the others is short sighted. Case in point: Finding programs to study Arabic required some thinking and planning before 9/11. After that fateful day, they popped up everywhere. Arabic was the 'it' language. Outside of the government, do you know how hard it is to find Urdu? Hell, even Farsi is hard to come by.
Before I get on my soapbox, I'll stop myself and say it takes years to develop any sort of meaningful understanding these cultures. Do yourself a favor and pick a country in Africa or South Asia/Southeast Asia, and learn everything you can about it. If you want to pick a topic- extremism/religious violence, gender issues, development/reconstruction, globalization, whatever- wonderful. But pick a country.
Soapbox (partially) averted.
First, I'm very excited this book was translated into English. Solahudin has a reputation for doing solid work, and I can't wait to get my hands on this.
Second:
Quote:
Indonesia, a key nation, partly due to its majority Muslim character.
Indonesia isn't just a Muslim majority. It is the world's most populous Muslim country, even beating out Pakistan. I think just under 13% of the world's Muslims live in Indonesia, yet only 83% or so of the population is Muslim. Let's sit and think about that for a second. They are the most populous Muslim nation on Earth, and while they're a majority, they have more religious diversity there than any other Muslim country. Pretty neat! Okay, enough of me geeking out.
Third:
David, you summed this up nicely.
Quote:
Ideology is in constant flux, so the target can change.
I think there is a tendency for people to look at a group, analyze them, and say "Okay. We know them." This is dead wrong. They change. Frequently. Much the same way grad students vie to study under a particular professor, so too, do they. They have conferences, publish, and talk about how to further their field. Furthermore, I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say it's dangerous to look at one of these groups and assume because we aren't on their list now, we won't be in the future.
Fourth:
I've spent a lot of time thinking about how the non-Arab Muslim world (aside from Iran and Pakistan) largely floats under the radar. This isn't good. Yes, it is important to know what is going on in the Middle East, but to focus on one area to the detriment of the others is short sighted. Case in point: Finding programs to study Arabic required some thinking and planning before 9/11. After that fateful day, they popped up everywhere. Arabic was the 'it' language. Outside of the government, do you know how hard it is to find Urdu? Hell, even Farsi is hard to come by.
Before I get on my soapbox, I'll stop myself and say it takes years to develop any sort of meaningful understanding these cultures. Do yourself a favor and pick a country in Africa or South Asia/Southeast Asia, and learn everything you can about it. If you want to pick a topic- extremism/religious violence, gender issues, development/reconstruction, globalization, whatever- wonderful. But pick a country.