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Jakarta Post

Rules and exceptions in Indonesia’s counterterrorism

  • Ali Wibisono

Nottingham, UK   /   Mon, March 18 2013   /  10:47 am

Indonesia’s counterterrorism debate has taken an interesting turn lately as it examines the compliance (or noncompliance) of the police counterterrorist unit Densus 88 in the “fight against terrorism”.

The media reported that Densus 88 killed five suspected terrorists in the scarcely developed island of Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara as they were said to be resisting arrest with bombs strapped on their bodies. The following day, the head of the National Counterterrorism Body (BNPT) Ansyaad Mbai definitively stated that a network called Mujahidin Indonesia Timur was operating in Poso, Makassar and Bima, and that they trained in Poso and Bima.

Another report told how the people in Poso were terrorized by the state’s counterterrorism effort and came all the way to Jakarta to report their case to the National Commission on Human Rights and Nahdlatul Ulama. Muslim politic...