Indonesia's deradicalization program under fire

Not long ago, Abdullah Sunata was a poster child for Indonesia's efforts to persuade jailed terrorists to give up their violent ways. He was given furloughs to attend lawn parties and police helped pay for mounting hospital bills when his wife gave birth.

But immediately after his release on good behavior one year ago, Sunata allegedly returned to his old ways, catapulting to the top of the country's most-wanted list.

He was arrested Wednesday for suspected involvement in a plot to carry out a Mumbai-style attack in the capital, Jakarta, and several high-profile assassinations, including one on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Sunata's turnaround, experts say, highlights weaknesses in the predominantly Muslim country's deradicalization program.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Singapore, efforts here have been largely police-led, focusing on getting prisoners to renounce violence and co-opting informers. While officers provide financial help to reformed inmates and their families, and sometimes help negotiate early releases, little is done to challenge radical religious tenets, such as the goal of imposing Islamic rule.

"Many of those who are supposedly deradicalized remain committed to those goals," said John Horgan, director of the International Center for the Study of Terrorism at Pennsylvania State University.

Indonesia, the world's most populace Muslim nation, is a secular democracy. It was thrust into the front lines of the battle against terrorism in 2002, when al-Qaida-linked nightclub bombings on the resort island of Bali killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.
There have been several attacks on Western targets since then, but all have been far less deadly - and the most recent was a year ago.

Analysts credit a security crackdown that has netted nearly 600 militants. Of those, about 20 are considered reformed and actively working with police.

But many others join the list of disappointments.