Surabaya and the ISIS family
After what appears to have been a lull in Islamist violence an Australian author @ Lowy Institute offers an explanation. He starts with:
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Indonesia has again exploded in a paroxysm of terrorist violence, but with a new twist: family suicide bombers. This may be the first time in the world that parents took their children on a family outing to blow themselves up.
(Ends with) If three families can be involved in two days’ worth of terrorist attacks in Surabaya, surely there are more ready to act.
Link:https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-in...nd-isis-family
The Surabaya Bombings and the Evolution of the Jihadi Threat in Indonesia
An article in the latest CTC's The Sentinel, which is detailed - even if the official investigations have not made comments.
Link:https://ctc.usma.edu/surabaya-bombin...eat-indonesia/
There are a few points of note, aside from the role families and women. This one struck me:
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Only 86 Indonesians have returned so far (from Middle East combat zones), and none of those who joined the Islamic State have been involved in violence in Indonesia. Only one of these 86 perpetrated an attack on a police officer at North Sumatra police headquarters in Medan in June 2017. And he had spent six months training in Syria with the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
Indonesia: releasing Abu Bakar Ba’asyir wrong on all counts
I did spot a BBC news item on this decision, but this is the first fuller commentary - from Australia. It starts with:
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President Joko (Jokowi) Widodo’s decision to release Abu Bakar Ba’asyir is misguided, legally questionable and politically inept.
It sends the message that if one defies the state long enough, it will eventually capitulate. It emboldens those who see democracy as incompatible with Islam, because that’s what Ba’asyir has been arguing all his life. It gives jihadists back their hero, his status elevated still more by apparently winning his freedom without having to accept Pancasila, the state ideology, or pledge loyalty to the Indonesian state.
Link:https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-in...ong-all-counts
Teleasing Abu Bakar Ba’asyir: cancelled
A very short article, which opens with:
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The State Palace has confirmed that the government decided to call off the plan to grant early release to radical Muslim cleric and terror convict Abu Bakar Ba'asyir due to his resistance to pledge loyalty to the state ideology, Pancasila, and the Republic of Indonesia.
Link:https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/01/23/baasyir-early-release-plan-cancelled-state-palace.html?