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Terrorism index should highlight intra-religious conflict: Expert
The government’s plan to establish the Terrorism Risk Index, which aims to detect potential terrorism acts in regions across the country, should underline intra-religious conflict amid growing sectarian hate, an expert has said.
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Tight security -- Counterterrorism personnel are on guard during a search at a water filling kiosk near a grocery store belonging to terrorist suspect Nur Solihin, in Cemani, Sukoharjo, Central Java, on Dec. 13. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
T
he government’s plan to establish the Terrorism Risk Index, which aims to detect potential terrorism acts in regions across the country, should underline intra-religious conflict amid growing sectarian hate, an expert has said.
Terrorism analyst Al Chaidar said conflict within the same religion driven by different schools of thought should not be undermined because it often served as the primary cause that has led a person toward extremism.
“The inter-religious conflict between followers of different schools of thoughts can vastly influence the growth of intolerance,” he said on Wednesday.
He said that if the matter was overlooked, the government might fail to detect and identify the roots of radicalism in Indonesia. He said that, for example, many Indonesians aiming to join militants in war-torn Syria were propelled by the escalating Shiite-Sunni tensions.
“A comprehensive terrorism risk index that measures key and determining factors will eventually help regional governments to know better what has pushed the increase in terrorism activities in their respective areas. It’s important so that they will know how to deal with it,” he said.
On Tuesday, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) agreed to work on establishing the first ever Terrorism Risk Index in a bid to better identify the root of terrorism amid fear of growing radicalism in the country. The factors gauged will include, among others, ideology, economics, politics, social issues and culture. (fac/evi)
