By Ben Otto
Indonesia—Indonesia's incoming government
needs to develop a social-media strategy to counter the influence of
Islamic militants in the Southeast Asian nation, a new report says.
Indonesia's
counterterrorism forces have been weak in using social media to counter
extremism and they need to "rethink a strategy for
counter-radicalisation," the Jakarta-based research organization
Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict said in a report released
Wednesday on Islamic State's links to Indonesia, which is the world's
most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Earlier
this week, a convicted terrorist at a maximum-security prison off the
coast of Indonesia's main island of Java released an Indonesian-language
translation of an Islamic State call to kill Westerners and allies of
the U.S.-led coalition against the militant group, the institute said.
Supporters posted it on a local radical website within 24 hours, the institute said.
"Incendiary
teachings" and propaganda promoting Islamic State have been online for
more than a year, said the institute, a research organization based in
Jakarta. Radicals in Indonesia have been able to post writings on
websites and videos on YouTube, including one urging Indonesians to join
jihad in Syria.
Agus Rianto, a spokesman for the National
Police, said counterterrorism forces "continue to work with related
[institutions] to handle this, including with the ministries of
information and law, to stop this."
Indonesia,
a country of 250 million people where more than 85% of the population
identifies as Muslim, has long enjoyed a reputation as a stronghold for
moderate Islam. Both government and mainstream Islamic leaders have
denounced Islamic State and its sympathizers in Indonesia.
The
government of President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
this month called for a number of measures to fight Islamic
State's influence in Indonesia, including better monitoring of jailed
terrorists and heightened scrutiny of travel to the Mideast.
"The
Indonesian government has reacted more forcefully to the appearance of
Islamic State than to any other extremist movement in memory and so has
the mainstream Muslim community," the institute said.
Mr. Yudhoyono steps down next month and will be replaced by President-elect
Joko Widodo.
The latter has yet to lay out a detailed plan for counterterrorism efforts during his five-year term.
The institute said Indonesians continue to
leave for Syria, where they have in recent months considered creating a
fighting unit with counterparts from Malaysia. A union could create
better connections and a shared strategy among radicals in the
neighboring countries once they return home, the report said.
The
fighting unit "could become the vanguard for a fighting force that
would reach into Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines," it added.
Estimates
vary on the number of Indonesian extremists in Syria. Indonesian
antiterrorism forces put the number in the dozens, while the institute
suggests it is more than 100.
Islamic
State emerged from the Syrian civil war as the strongest extremist group
fighting the government regime. Over the past year, the group's
militants claimed control of patches of eastern Syria and then moved
into Iraq, where they have taken control of several cities, including
Mosul, the country's second largest.
The
group has long distinguished itself from other militant Islamist groups
in its pursuit of a statelike emirate—a caliphate—that would seek to
realize a unified Islamic nation.
Indonesia has waged a largely successful war on Islamic extremism in recent years. It shut down the most dangerous groups since
bombings on the island of Bali in 2002 killed more than 200 people, most
of them tourists.
The government
worries that remnants of those groups, which today wage limited
small-arms attacks on police forces, could find new inspiration and
funding in connection with Islamic State fighting overseas.
This article originally appeared 25 September in the Wall Street Journal.
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