Terrorism in Indonesia

Presented by: Warda Akhtar, Rukha Salman and Maryam Bokhari

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 Location

• Located in Southeast Asia between the Indian and Pacific

Ocean. Its capital, Jakarta, is located near northwestern
coast of Java.
• Islam most followed religion in Indonesia with 87.2% of
Indonesian population identifies themselves as Muslims
according to 2010 estimates.
• It has the largest Muslim population in the world with
about 225 million Muslims.
• Today, although it consists of Muslim majority, it is not an
Islamic state, but constitutionally a secular state whose
government officially recognizes six formal religions i.e.
Islam, Roman Catholic Christianity, Protestant Christianity,
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism.

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Origins of terrorism in Indonesia
• In 16th century Muslims residing in province of Aceh (North-Sumatra)
challenged the Portuguese. Dutch had officially settled in the country by
1800s.
• Their resistance was based upon the narrative of jihad
• In 1873, their struggle reached a climax when Aceh war was fought and
lost to Dutch.
• Chief leader of Acehnese declared large scale jihad, non resistance, but
since Dutch army had modern weaponry transformed into individual Jihad
• Seeds of venom were sown against non-muslims motivated with
nationalism

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Contd.
• Kartosuwiryo actively took part in Islamic politics since the age of 22;
became a member of Young Muslims Association
• member of party with the name ‘Sarekat Islam Indonesia (PSII)’. Aim
to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia.
• The Indonesian government suppressed extremist movements started
by Islamic terror groups such as Darul Islam, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)
• Anti-West ideology of extremist organizations, glorified martyrdom.

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Terrorist attacks in Indonesia
• October 2002 and October 2005 Bali Bombings by JI
• Paddy’s Irish Bar and Sari Club, - Bomb was hidden inside the backpack and there was
another one in a car which had exploded
• 200 injured and 202 people lost their lives.
• Oct, 2005, Four Seasons hotel and a famous shopping square attacked
• In 2014, security establishment and the Indonesian government remained on the hit
list of terrorist attacks launched by Mujahidin Indonesia Timur (MIT)
• Jan 2016, Jakarta Bombings. 5 attackers linked with ISIS has attacked the ‘Thamrin’
business district of Jakarta.
• The deadly shooting had killed four innocent civillians and 25 were critically injured.
• May 2018, Surbaya bombings church attacked

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Bali Bombing 2002 ‘Indonesia’s 9/11’

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Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD)
• Involved in a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia.
• JAD’s first terrorist attacks started bombing of three churches and a
police station in Surabaya.
• This terrorist group is allegedly operated by ISIS and has merged with
it due to the common goal they share: to establish an Indonesian
Caliphate in the country that answers to one of the biggest terrorist
organizations in the country

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• The emergence of JAD on the surface began with the suicide bombing
that happened at a bus station in Jakarta .
• One of the jihadists that allegedly operates JAD is Aman and he is
notoriously famous in Indonesia as “a spiritual leader amongst
Indonesian terrorists, a man who advocates takfiri

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Takfiri
• The controversial practice of claiming that Muslims who don't share
their radical views aren't actual Muslims. It's worth noting here that
ISIS shares these same interpretations of Islam and that it uses takfiri
to justify attacks on other Muslims in countries like Iraq.

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Who leads JAD?
• A Nationalist named Aman leads JAD
• He wrote a book “Seri Metri” which talked about how democracy and
Islam cannot co-exist in a society.
• Aman was caught in the year 2002 and sentenced for nine year in
prisons for being an accomplice in the bombings at Bali

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Signs of ISIS operating in Indonesia
• There has been an increased amount of chatter on Indonesian and
Malay websites where there has been support for ISIS
• A steady stream of Southeast Asians departing for conflict zones in
Syria and Iraq.
• The arrest of ISIS sympathizers in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore

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Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)
• JI is an Indonesian terrorist organization that was founded in the year
1993 and has around 5000 members that are working as an ally with
Al-Qaeda.
• JI is a militant, Islamic group that aims to establish a pan-Islamic state
across Indonesia.
• It is believed that the most renowned terrorist leaders, Azhari Husin
and Mohammad Noordin Top, led many terrorist attacks in Indonesia
from 2003 to 2004.

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Darul Islam
• An Islamist Group went by the name of “Darul Islam” in Indonesia and
it was founded by Sekarmadji Maridjan in the year 1942.
• This terrorist group is engaged in a war with the Islamic State of
Indonesia from 1949 to 1962.
• This rebellion commenced when the leader of the organization,
Sekarmadji Maridjan, refused to identify the new Republic of
Indonesia.

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Hard Approach
• In response to Bali bombings two laws were passed i.e. Law No. 15/2003 and
Law No.16/2003.
• Presidential Instruction No. 4 sanctioned the creation of Terrorism Eradication
Coordinating Desk (TECD).
• Special Detachment 88 was established in June 2003.
• Questions were raised by the humanitarian organizations as it had arrested 404
pupil and killed 40 during 2004-09 and 30 people were arrested without proper
legal procedure.
• In 2006, Terrorism and the Transnational Crime Task Force (TTCTD) was
established.
• The government also made progress on regional and universal level.
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Contd.
• Police cooperated with the Financial Transaction Analysis Centre
(PPATK) to trace the funding of suspects.
• Despite such achievements, many problems undermined its fight
against terrorism.

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Soft Approach
• It emphasizes the importance of persuasive methods.
• Revisionism: Change of ideas of a detainee.
• Community Policing Program: Trust and mutual understanding
between police and society.
• Coordinating Counter-Terrorism
• Population-Centric Strategy: Counter violent groups strategy of
infecting people.
• The government benefitted from the involvement of civil society at
grass root level.

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• Nahdatul Ulama is known as a traditional Muslim organization whereas
Muhammadiyah is a modernist Muslim organization.
• NU has conducted campaigns through talk shows on different mediums.
• Muhammadiyah Young Intellectual Network (JIMM)
• Centre for Moderate Muslims (CMM)
• The Majlis-e-Ulama Indonesia issued a fatwa distinguishing jihad and
terrorism.
• The Centre for Human Rights of the UII developed economic
empowerment programs.

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