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Philippine soldiers escort a hearse during the funeral procession of a victim killed in the Jan. 27 cathedral bombing in Jolo, Sulu province, on the southern island of Mindanao, on Jan. 30. Investigators probing the Catholic cathedral bombing that killed 21 people in the Philippines' restive south said Jan. 29 a group tied to notorious Islamists Abu Sayyaf was the prime suspect. (AFP/Nickee Butlangan)
T
he recent police disclosure about the involvement of Indonesians in the Jolo cathedral suicide bombings in the Philippines has raised concerns over the need for information sharing on extremist networks between police forces in the region, as well as Indonesia’s failure to monitor radicals in the country.
January's twin blasts, which killed at least 23 people and injured 100 others in the place of worship, was allegedly committed by five people, according to the National Police, which had helped the Philippine authorities in the identification process.
Two of them were a husband and wife, identified as Rullie Rian Zeke and Ulfah Handayani Saleh, the National Police told a press briefing on Tuesday. They were previously known to be among Indonesians deported by the Turkish authorities in 2017 after they tried to reach Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) movement through Turkey's border.
"[Such] deportees have been involved in terrorist plots but this is the first suicide bombing we know of, and certainly the first terrorist act by Indonesian deportees outside Indonesian borders," Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) director Sidney Jones told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Such a fact underlined the need for “intensive” information sharing about extremist cells between police forces in the region, with a potential partnership done under a scheme of a joint task force to trace fugitive extremists, she said.
"So, each force has a better understanding of extremist networks operating in the region; and so the police can work together to arrest fugitives believed to be living outside their own country," Sidney said.
Terrorism expert Al Chaidar said after the deportation, Rullie and Ulfah – like other IS-militant deportees -- must have undergone a deradicalization program by the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) -- which was supposed to also closely monitor these deportees.
