Indonesia, Australia worry about online radicalisation targeting youths
They're also concerned about terror groups and terrorist financing.
CANBERRA: Indonesian and Australian counterterrorism authorities have expressed concern over the threat of online radicalisation targeting young people during a bilateral meeting between the two nations in Australia’s capital Canberra recently.
Indonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency ((BNPT) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade held a bilateral consultation meeting on Tuesday (Sept. 14), the BNPT said in a statement Saturday (Sept. 16).
The meeting focused on terrorism threat assessments and priorities for countering terrorism in the future, said the BNPT.
This meeting also emphasised the importance of cooperation and collaboration in overcoming terrorism.
“From this meeting, both parties had the same concern about the threat of online radicalisation targeting young people, terrorist groups and terrorist financing,” said the BNPT.
“Both of them are also committed to continuing cooperation through dialogue at the bilateral level, regional and multilateral forums as well as various technical cooperation.”
BNPT chief Rycko Amelza Dahniel said the 9th bilateral consultation meeting was a routine annual meeting in order to strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation as agreed in an MoU between the Australian and Indonesian governments on countering terrorism and violent extremism.
“The agenda of the multidisciplinary bilateral consultation meeting shows the close cooperation between the two countries and the importance of stakeholder collaboration in overcoming terrorism," explained Rycko.
Australia’s ambassador for counterterrorism, Richard Feakes, also appreciated the various counterterrorism collaborations that have been established so far.
"Indonesia is an important partner for Australia in countering terrorism and I appreciate the various collaborations that have been established so far," he said.
Both nations have forged especially strong cooperation in counterterrorism after the 2002 Bali bombings -- which killed 202 people, mostly Australians -- perpetrated by the al-Qaeda-linked, Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah terror group.