Civil societies discuss ways to combat terrorism in Southeast Asia
By Channel NewsAsia's Indonesia Bureau Chief Sujadi Siswo | Posted: 20 November 2009 0048 hrs

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JAKARTA: Indonesia's anti-terrorism chief has warned that there are many terror cells still active in the country. With dozens of bomb-makers still on the run, the situation is potentially explosive.

To combat this threat, Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation has been roped in to complement the country's security agencies.

Close to a hundred members from civil societies across Southeast Asia gathered in Jakarta on Thursday to share ideas on their role in combating terrorism. The meeting comes at a time when authorities and experts are warning that the threat of terrorist attacks is still imminent.

Indonesia's chief anti-terrorism officer, Usman Nasution, explained the need for vigilance. "There are many expert bomb-makers and dangerous terrorists who have not been arrested. They have not reached their objective to set up an Islamic state and the caliphate in several countries. So, it is not over," he said.

Indonesia arrested more than 400 terrorists over the past nine years, with the latest 12 arrests linked to July's twin hotel attacks in Jakarta. In spite of that, active terror cells are still operating in the country.

The two-day workshop was organised by the US-based Centre on Global Counter-Terrorism Cooperation, and it has picked Nahdatul Ulama as a partner to tackle terrorism.

Nahdatul Ulama is Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation with some 4 million members. The choice signals the critical role that the group will play in Indonesia's counter-terrorism strategy.

Associate Professor Leonard Sebastian, Singapore's S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said: "They actually become an important early warning mechanism for the government. The issue now is not so much what the role of CSO like Nahdatul Ulama is, but how the role can be brought more prominently into the scheme of things.

"Right now, it is a peripheral issue. But what we must try to do is to move it front and centre so that they are working in tandem with the government, as well as the security agencies."

Noor Huda Ismail, executive director of the International Institute for Peacebuilding, said: "The specific role that they can do is to give a better understanding of the meaning of jihad; the concept of fardhu ain – moral obligation – or fardhu kifayah – because those jihadists exploit the meaning for their own purposes."

Most of the 15,000 religious boarding schools or pesantrens across Indonesia are managed by the Nahdatul Ulama. Over the years, it has played a moderating role by maintaining a traditional brand of Islam with a vibrant local cultural context.

Terrorism experts agreed the pesantrens do not teach terrorism in their curriculum, but extremists' ideologies have penetrated their walls and influenced some of their teachers and students.

Many agree that it is high time that organisations like the Nahdatul Ulama be given a central role in combating terrorism.

The issue now will be how their capacity can be better developed in dealing with the problems of terrorism at the grassroots level, particularly the manner in which people are indoctrinated.


- CNA/so