Countering Self-Radicalized Terrorists

Jakarta, July 12 (Antara Megapolitan) - The recent knife attacks on a policeman in Medan, North Sumatra, and on two members of the police's elite Mobile Brigade inside a house of worship in Jakarta have not just reaffirmed the danger of terrorism.

Those incidents have also shown that the police have become the prime targets of lone wolf terrorists. They are young individuals that may have been radicalized after intensively adopting extremists' ideology and preaching on Internet.

The phenomenon of these "self-radicalized lone wolves" has even been confirmed by Indonesian Police Chief General Tito Karnavian in response to the recent terror attacks on the ill-fated police officers.

Indonesia is not the only country facing the growing threats of these self-radicalized terrorists.

Instead, Kumar Ramakrishna's study (2014) revealed that the "internet-driven self-radicalization of the lone wolves is an increasing cause of concern for governments and societies everywhere."

To deal with the threats of these self-radicalized individuals, he suggested that the governments and communities should build a good collaboration and consider five dimensions comprising of "sender, message, recipient, mechanism, and context" in their counter-terrorism strategies (2014).  

The police investigators alleged that the Medan and Jakarta police attackers were ISIS sympathizers, but their acts of violence were definitely not justifiable by the mainstream ulemas (Islamic scholars) and Muslim communities.

The holy Qur'an itself has even revealed that "Who so ever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind" (5:32).

In response to the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington DC, Shaykh Muhammad Sayyid Thanthawy of Egypt, one of the many respected ulemas in the Islamic world, had condemned the killings of innocent civilians (Kurzman 2001).

According to Shaykh Thanthawy, "attacking innocent people is not courageous; it is stupid and will be punished on the Day of Judgment."

Despite the absence of easy solutions to tackle terrorism, saving as many young Indonesians as possible from being radicalized is important because they are vulnerable to radicalization.

A survey on the perception of senior high school students in Jakarta and Bandung on tolerance, which Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace had ever conducted, has supported this fact.

The survey, involving 684 students from 114 senior high schools that Setara Institute conducted from March 9 to 19, 2015, revealed that 49 respondents agreed with ISIS Movement.

"From 516 respondents who know what ISIS is, 49 agree with the ISIS movement. In other words, at least 1 out of 14 students agree with ISIS," the survey report revealed.

The outcome of this survey has raised concerns on the growing support for ISIS from young Indonesians amid the fact that a number of Indonesians have joined the ISIS battles in Iraq and Syria.

The ISIS supporters in Indonesia had even launched a suicide bombing and shooting attack in Jakarta on January 14, 2016, which led to the death of eight people, including three innocent civilians.

Following that deadly incident, several other attacks of the ISIS supporters and sympathizers by using pressure cooker bombs and knifes occurred in the West Java city of Bandung and Jakarta, which killed and wounded several people.

In the suicide bombings in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, on May 24, 2017, local media reported that the ISIS claimed to be responsible for the attacks, which killed three policemen and injured 10 people.

Despite the fact that terrorism is rooted in ideology, beliefs, and misconceptions about the goals the perpetrators of terror acts want to achieve in life, which are contradictory to that of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, the counter-terrorism efforts should not just be limited to "sharp bullets," "detention," and "law enforcement."

Therefore, as former chief of the National Counter-terrorism Agency (BNPT) Saud Usman Nasution had ever suggested, holding dialog was also necessary in the efforts to counter terrorism and curb the growth of radicalism among young people.

Moreover, treating convicted terrorists humanely during their prison terms and after their release by providing them with economic opportunities is also important.

According to Director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) Sidney Jones, the humane treatment may persuade them to refrain from the use of violence.