Indonesian police nab suspected terrorists plotting to disrupt February 2024 elections
“Eight of them were ex-convicts who had also planned to attack the police. When they came out of prison, they had not yet repented and were happy to join Abu Umar, who motivated them to continue their struggle and resistance against the security forces and non-Muslims,” said Mr Taufiqurrohman.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, has witnessed a string of Islamist strikes in the years after the Sept 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States. The attacks included
bombings on the holiday island of Bali in 2002 that killed more than 200 people, many of them Australian tourists.
While the militant threat in Indonesia has diminished significantly, largely because of successful security force operations, security threats remain.
“Just like wild animals, being weakened does not mean safe. They can rise and then attack us at any time. Therefore, we must always be alert,” Mr Taufiqurrohman added.
Security analysts differed when asked if
Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza would galvanise recruitment for Muslim militant groups due to the perceived oppression of Palestinians. Israel has been on a retaliation campaign after militant group Hamas attacked the south of the country on Oct 7.
Terror analyst Noor Huda Ismail said the conflict in Palestine could drive radical recruitment by terror groups in Indonesia.
“This is already happening. While expressing our solidarity towards the Palestinian cause is very justified, sadly some supporters of radical groups are also there. This is like a deja vu moment,” said Dr Noor Huda, a visiting fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
But Pakar’s Mr Taufiqurrohman noted: “In a pro-ISIS Telegram group, pro-ISIS militants have expressed their interest in going to Palestine, but there was no recruitment – they only asked how to get to Palestine.”
On Tuesday, Indonesia’s anti-terror police warned the public against taking part in pro-Palestinian protests and fund-raising activities being staged by several terror groups.
“With several global conflicts happening around the world, we hope the public does not get carried away and support and give undirected funds, as well as participate in demonstrations which are actually staged by several terror groups to raise issues of solidarity, oppression, and humanitarian issues fanning passions to carry out terror acts,” said Mr Aswin from Detachment 88, without specifying the conflicts.
“We all hope for conducive domestic security conditions. Detachment 88 will never stop carrying out supervision and monitoring of the activities of these terror groups, both on a network or individual scale,” he added.
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