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Indonesian Army yet to decide on the next hunt of Santoso-led terrorist group
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Presiden Republik Indonesia Joko Widodo didampingi Ibu Iriana Joko Widodo tiba di Bandara Halim Perdanakusuma, Jakarta, dari kunjungan KTT Perubahan Iklim di Perancis, Rabu (2/12/2015). (the jakarta post/Wienda Parwitasari)
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ndonesian Army Information and Media Service Chief Brig. Gen. Muhammad Sabrar Fadhilah said the Army had still yet to decide its involvement in the next operation to catch Santoso-led terrorist group, East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT), in Central Sulawesi.
Fadhilah said that since the previous joint police military operation with "Camar Maleo Code" was to expire on Jan. 9, it would first enter evaluation process to find out whether the Army would re-join the operation or not. "We still don't know, but basically, we are ready to join the Police to assist them in the operation in near future. It is likely to continue," Fadhilah told thejakartapost.com on Friday.
According to Fadhilah, the three-month operation that involved 700 military and 1,000 police personnel had been effectively covering three main components to ensure that the operation would be inclusive to reach the target. First was combat operations that aimed to counter the MIT that performed their terrorist acts with arm weapons.
Second was territorial operations aimed to de-radicalize Indonesians who had been influenced by MIT to get them back to Indonesian side and third, was intelligence as one of main tool in gathering information. However, Fadhilah noted that the challenges in chasing terrorist leader Santoso lied on the difficult battlefield arena in Central Sulawesi town of Poso, as well as the struggle in countering radical ideas.
"Radicalization is important, but when the radicalization bring the name of religion, people are being so stubborn," Fadhilah said, adding that the Army and Police needed to formulate new strategy if the operation would to continue. Meanwhile, Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ronny Suseno said that as the follow-up of Camar Maleo IV, the Police would continue the next operation in maximum two weeks after Jan. 9 with new code name known as "Tinombala".
Ronny confirmed that the he still yet to know whether the Army would again participate since the policy on the terrorist-hunt operation in Poso was centered in National Police Headquarters (Mabes Polri), so Poso Police still waited for coordination until now. For years, the police have hunt down the group of terrorist leader Santoso, known also as Abu Wardah, through operations codenamed Camar Maleo I to Camar Maleo IV that had successfully captured numbers of suspected and hundreds of evidences that allegedly belonged to the group. However as the Camar Maleo IV expired and military personnel have started to withdrawn from Poso, leader Santoso remained as National Police's fugitive as he was still yet to be found out of his hideout in the forests of Central Sulawesi.
