Zakiah Aini’s lone wolf attack on the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta last week highlights the growing role of youth in terrorism. Police shot dead the 25-year-old, who family and acquaintances said was “shy”, and who carried out the attack with an airsoft gun.

This is the latest in the police’s crackdown on suspected terrorists and terrorist activities, which has resulted in 1,773 arrests nationwide since 2018.

The involvement of youth in terror attacks around the world is not new. Young women in particular are often used to deliver secret messages and carry out violent attacks, including suicide bombings. It is believed they arouse less suspicion and so can get closer to their targets.

But any violence that involves youth rattles our conscience as to how youthful vibrancy and idealism could transform into unimaginable murderous acts, which could potentially shake up the establishment and threaten the public.

Youth groups often play important roles in turbulent times, as we can see from our own history: It was our youths who bravely changed the course of the archipelago toward Indonesian independence in 1945, and toward democracy in 1998. When they are part of a broader social movement, they can be very militant and strongly influence their age cohorts in the movement’s development.

Depending on the perspective, their actions can be deemed as either heroic or its opposite. But what Aini did was very far from a heroic act; it was gravely unacceptable from the perspective of basic humanity. She also destroyed her future and her family’s hopes.

Popular

Calls for reform grow ahead of Prabowo’s state address

Indonesia at 81: Whose sovereignty are we celebrating?

Indonesia’s rare earth push faces low-content, costly extraction hurdles