Antara/Ardi Kuncoro

The assault against Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto on Oct. 10 was truly shocking and hard to predict. Attacks targeting top officials were once designed in 2005 by Noordin M.Top, the killed Malaysian terrorist, when a member of his group at that time, Abdullah Umamity, intended to attack then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or his inner circle. The plan failed to materialize.

The stabbing of Wiranto by a man identified as Abu Rara and his wife FA is considered family terrorism as it involved members of a nuclear family. The suspects are linked to the Indonesian-based group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which leans toward the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

Although JAD leader Aman Abdurrahman has declared family terrorism a “forbidden jihad”, apparently Abu Rara and his wife followed the doctrine of Chalid Abubakar, the leader of JAD Surabaya, who motivated and convinced Abu Rara to carry out the attack, according to National Police chief Gen.Tito Karnavian.

In Surabaya last year, three families involved their children in attempted suicide attacks, killing dozens of innocent people, though two children survived. In Pandeglang, Banten, Abu Rara did not invite his daughter to take part in assaulting Wiranto. Initially in Syria and Iraq,

IS used women in the network of fundamentalist groups only as financial backers, propagators of propaganda and seekers of various forms of support for the male members.

However, over time and given the limited availability of men, IS began using women and children for war. Gradually more and more women were attracted and chose the “path of the sword” to become attackers.

Police have said Abu Rara and his wife were among nine terrorist suspects in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, who had been under surveillance and who were under the leadership of Abu Zee Ghurobah (Fazri Palawan), whose group is part of a militant group linked to the JAD. Fazri was arrested in a rented house in Tambun Sakti district, Bekasi regency, West Java, early Sept. 23.

 In addition to teaching martial arts every Sunday at a housing complex in Bekasi, Abu Zee also officiated the marriage of several couples in the group, including Abu Rara and FA.

For supporters of JAD-style family terrorism, wives must be invited to join an attack; they believe the couple could enter heaven together immediately, thus there would not be any widow left behind.

Following the Surabaya attacks by the families, family terrorism was repeated again in Sibolga in North Sumatra, when a woman blew herself up with her child, apparently rather than being arrested, and in the church bombings in Jolo, southern Philippines, in January 2019.

The involvement of mothers and children in such attacks is inspired by a distinct religious decision by a radical mufti or cleric such as Chalid who dares to sacrifice a family with children for a terror attack .

Such extremist clerics are intellectual actors who are often difficult to be snared by the current Indonesian penal system, as it is hard to prove who are the masterminds of violence and murder under the current Terrorism Law.

Apart from being a family-based terrorist attack, the assault on Wiranto notably also involved a relatively simple weapon, identified as a type of blade. This is in accordance with the fatwa declared by an Indonesian JAD leader known as Abu Abdullah al Filipin, who is believed to be hiding in Jolo, to use any ordinary weapons against the enemy. High-ranking officials have been identified as thoghut (apostate enemies) that are to be watched constantly and to be attacked at the right time.

The historian Eric J. Hobsbawm wrote in 1917 that people who feel oppressed ideologically will make primitive resistance by using simple tools as weapons.

The theological motives of terrorist groups everywhere, of any faith, are always full of messianic-like fervor. FA and Abu Rara apparently prepared primitive resistance without vigilant planning, just with simple weapons, in accordance with their apparently poor household.

In this case, the terrorist act of Abu Rara and his wife reflect the actions of Wahhabi jihadists who work in cells that are not easily monitored, and are usually surprising, both in terms of the mode and time of attack.

To anticipate and overcome such terrorist attacks, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the police must constantly monitor radical groups that have not yet moved and are looking for new ways to carry out acts of terror.

The police and BIN should strengthen supervision and prevention, and if necessary carry out a preemptive strike against suspected terrorists. This is important, considering Abu Rara was already under surveillance, but kept a clean record and thus was not arrested prior to the attack. 

The government and civil society also need to access sympathizers of IS, including the hundreds of deportees and returnees from IS camps, to communicate their disappointment in IS’ failure to lead them to an ideal Islamic state, and expose its cruelty.

Every method possible must be sought to at least limit and localize the movement of terrorists and extremist groups seeking more recruits, particularly among the marginalized, who may be vulnerable to appealing promises of heavenly rewards. After the attack on Wiranto, others are feared to follow, involving individuals who may be attracted to join family-based acts of terror.

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Al Chaidar is a lecturer at the University of Malikussaleh Aceh and PhD candidate at the Department of Anthropology, University of Indonesia (UI). Herdi Sahrasad is a lecturer at the University of Paramadina, and research fellow at Paramadina Institute for Ethics and Civilizations and Center for Strategic Studies, UI.

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