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Experts warn of risks of using anti-IS groups to fight IS
Making a point: Students from the Indonesia Youth Concern Council perform a theatrical rally in opposition to Islamic State (IS) doctrine in Central Jakarta last year
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Making a point: Students from the Indonesia Youth Concern Council perform a theatrical rally in opposition to Islamic State (IS) doctrine in Central Jakarta last year.(Kompas) (IS) doctrine in Central Jakarta last year.(Kompas)
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span class="caption">Making a point: Students from the Indonesia Youth Concern Council perform a theatrical rally in opposition to Islamic State (IS) doctrine in Central Jakarta last year.(Kompas)
The government and security apparatus, particularly the police, could use groups opposed to the Islamic State (IS) movement to counter IS in Indonesia, but doing so would be risky, terrorist experts say.
Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) director Sidney Jones said certain Indonesian extremist groups, such as Jamaah Ansharusy Syariah (JAS) and the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI), opposed IS.
Jones added that senior leaders of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) who support Al-Qaeda and the Al-Nusra Front ' enemies of IS ' could be very useful for the police to counter the group's supporters on Indonesian soil.
However, the security apparatus was loath to encourage supporters of Al-Qaeda, and this created a dilemma, Jones said.
"So the question for the police is can you use the [anti-IS] groups tactically as a tool against IS without encouraging their growth and creating problems for Indonesia in the future," Jones told thejakartapost.com recently.
The main priorities for the police were to stop IS from recruiting, to uncover its network and to understand its dynamics, he added, noting, however, that these were only short-term priorities.
No one knew at what point JI and other anti-IS extremist groups would decide to return to violence, he went on.
If they decided that the political situation was in their favor, then their calculations might change, Jones added.
"I think that in the long-term, JI [and other anti-IS extremist groups] is the real problem for Indonesia that the police should keep their eyes on," he said.
Separately, an expert staff at the House of Representatives Rakyan Adibrata said the government could indeed use anti-IS extremist groups' power to create effective counternarratives to IS propaganda in Indonesia, but the stakes were too high.
The government should not attempt to apply a divide and conquer strategy by using the anti-IS extremist groups to fight against pro-IS groups as it could spill over, potentially leading to greater conflict, like the bloody clash between IS and the Al-Nusra Front in Syria, Rakyan said.
"The consequences that the government will face are not only in terms of religious debate, but a potential turf war," he warned.
Recently in Syria, he said, one Al-Nusra Front leader was captured and beheaded by a young member of IS, showing that the use of humiliation had reached a critical stage in the conflict.
If such conflict were to spread to Indonesia, Rakyan said, the government could lose control of the clash as in fact, anti-IS groups had more capability in terms of war tactics and weaponry than IS supporters in Indonesia, or, in other words, were stronger, Rakyan said.
"In terms of counter-narrative, the government should involve all anti-IS groups, but it should ensure there is no spill-over. We don't want what's happening in Syria to happen in Indonesia," Rakyan asserted. (dan)(+)
