Having unwittingly become the victim of terror several times, the country should remain alert to the possibility of future attack, especially since the latest terror incident in Jakarta is believed to have involved an Islamic State (IS) terror group.

'€œIf the rumored contest between Islamic State (IS) militant groups is true, attacks are likely to expand in the future,'€ said the president of the Indonesian Institute of Maritime Studies and military analyst Connie Rahakundini on Tuesday.

The government should immediately step up preparations to prevent any future attacks that may follow in the wake of the recent attack that killed four innocent civilians and four alleged terrorists, said Connie.

Despite its low scale, the government should take note that the blasts and shootout at Jl. MH Thamrin on Thursday, Jan. 14, occurred within the first ring of national security and represented a fatal blow to the security of the capital, she added.

The attack occurred 2.5-kilometers away from the State Palace, in proximity to the United Nations office building, foreign embassies, Indonesian ministerial offices and City Hall.

"The attack might have been small, but it occurred in the 'holy area' of the Indonesian government. We should not underestimate the threat," Connie told thejakartapost.com.

Connie underlined the importance of stepping up security measures in cyberspace and intensifying information sharing with other friendly countries, those that would be important to track terrorist networks and prevent further attacks in the future, especially in Southeast Asia where the movement of people has now been made easier due to the introduction of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) earlier this year.

In response to the Jakarta attack, the government needs to intensify both its national security policy and its foreign policy and all government agencies should do their part in accordance with their respective roles, Connie said. "The leading actors in this regard are always the President, foreign minister, and defense minister," Connie added.

Meanwhile, commenting on the recent handling of the terror attack, former chief of the Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS), Soleman Ponto, said that the measures taken by security officials following the attack showed a lack of coordination among Indonesia's top leading security agencies such as the National Intelligent Body (BIN), the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), the police and the military.

Soleman does not agree with BIN head Sutiyoso, who asked for a revision of the law on terrorism so that the agency could have a wider role in counter-terrorism, particularly the authority to arrest the suspects.

Acting in accordance with their respective roles, security agencies should synergize with each other, according to Soleman. For BIN, the task is to collect information from behind the scenes and therefore, it should cooperate with the police to arrest the suspects, he said.

"We have to play by the rules, not by changing rules," emphasized Soleman. (bbn)

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