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Coordinating stakeholders to prevent violent extremism
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Fight against terror: Police and military personnel attend an anti-terror training jointly held by the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and the Indonesian Military and the National Police at the East Java Police’s Mobile Brigade headquarters in Malang, East Java. (Antara/Ari Bowo Sucipto)
I
ndonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency’s (BNPT) intention to establish links with its counterpart in Denmark is a promising step toward robust terrorism prevention initiatives in Indonesia.
BNPT undersecretary for international cooperation Andhika Chrisnayudhanto said the “cooperation may include information or intelligence sharing, the handling of [terrorist] returnees and law enforcement training”.
This all sounds constructive, but the primary reason Denmark is seen as a global leader in preventing violent extremism is the nation’s well-established structures and processes for coordinating the diverse stakeholders required to address different aspects of the problem.
While such logistics are clearly easier to organize in a country of 5 million people than a vast nation of 265 million, Indonesian counterterrorism officials might do well to observe the benefits of closer cooperation with various domestic partners, from state to civil society and security to social service providers.
Preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) is generally defined as a range of nonpunitive initiatives aimed at diverting people from pathways to terrorist activity, or managing the risk of reoffending among those who have already committed crimes.
Sometimes law enforcement officers are directly involved in programs, but mostly intervention is outsourced to more appropriate community actors.
One of the key challenges to achieving positive outcomes is managing the relationship between state security authorities and organizations working on the ground, often with experience in alleviating problems, such as gang membership, drug abuse or homelessness.
