Indonesian terrorists still hellbent on suicide bombings
This despite zero terrorist attacks in 2023, say counterterrorism officials.
SABAH (Malaysia): Commitments to carry out terrorist suicide bombings still exist in Indonesia, a counterterrorism official said, amid a lull in terror attacks in the Southeast Asian nation.
The National Counterterrorism Agency’s (BNPT) Deputy for International Cooperation, Andhika Chrisnayudhanto, said the activities of radical groups can be seen from the results of research and the types of cases that occurred related to Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong.
"There are activities on social media, funding and even commitments to carry out suicide bombings in Indonesia," said Andhika according to a statement released Monday (March 11) without giving further details.
The BNPT official said this during an antiterrorism talk for Indonesian workers in Hong Kong on Saturday (March 9).
Indonesian maids in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore have been arrested a few years back for terrorism-related activities, with many of them radicalised online.
"The search for a sense of community in an unfamiliar environment may have been more important," a report by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict said about radicalised Indonesian workers abroad.
"The growth of the Muslim community was accompanied by a rise in religious outreach [dakwah] activities by Indonesian clerics, starting with moderates but gradually coming to include the full ideological spectrum including Salafi and jihadi.
"Indonesian women found friends in these dakwah groups that often acted as surrogate families. When one was drawn into a radical circle, others followed."
Indonesia just a few years ago saw a spate of suicide bombings by members of the Jemaah Ansharud Dawlah or JAD, a local terror network aligned with the Islamic State.
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Meanwhile, BNPT chief Rycko Amelza Dahniel called on Indonesian migrant workers to increase their resilience against terrorist radicalism by inculcating national values and unity among fellow Indonesian citizens abroad.
"It is necessary to strengthen the concept of nationality, unity and oneness and protect the people closest to them so that they are not easily incited by the teachings of hatred," he said at the same Hong Kong event according to the statement.
Dahniel said strengthening resilience is necessary because currently there are still activities of groups adhering to violent ideologies abroad.
The official said they do this by fundraising and radicalising women, children and teenagers, although there were no terror attacks in 2023.
"There were no terrorist attacks in Indonesia in 2023, but there were still a number of arrests of terrorist perpetrators, efforts to raise funds for network operations and increasing radicalisation of women, children and teenagers," he said.
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Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Consul General to Hong Kong Yul Edison welcomed BNPT's efforts to implement a terrorism-prevention programme to increase the resilience of Indonesian workers against radicalisation in Hong Kong.
Currently, he said, there are hundreds of thousands of Indonesian citizens in Hong Kong, with the majority being migrant workers, who have received appreciation from the Hong Kong government for their good work.
"We support terrorism prevention programmes, both offline and hybrid, for example, welcoming activities for Indonesians who have just arrived in Hong Kong," he said.
At the end of the meeting in Hong Kong, “Pilihan” (Choices), a film about female migrant workers and the trap of terrorism on social media, was screened for the audience.
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