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Muhammadiyah calls for stronger collaboration in counterterrorism with govt
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Stay alert -- Densus 88 personnel stand guard during a security operation against terrorists. (Persda Network/Bina Harnansa)
T
he youth wing of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second largest Muslim organization, has called on the government to strengthen collaboration with civil society organizations to counter terrorism.
Muhammadiyah argues that military and security operations carried out by security personnel cannot solve the root causes of terrorism.
Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, the youth wing’s chairman, said that because deradicalization required a more holistic approach, the government should provide more room for the participation of religious groups such as Muhammadiyah to help steer people away from terrorism.
"In most cases, counterterrorism operations in the country do not reduce the spread of radicalism, but instead trigger more radicalization because security authorities use violence in the operations. We want approaches to deradicalization that can address the root causes of the problem," Dahnil said on Friday.
He further said that “hard” approaches to counterterrorism were not effective and would likely result in legal violations such as what happened to Siyono. The terror suspect died while in the custody of counterterrorism unit Detachment 88 (Densus 88).
Dahnil said he had raised his concerns during his meeting with Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto. He said the minister had agreed to evaluate current counterterrorism mechanisms. (ebf)
