FEATURE: Fighting terrorism in Indonesia

Countering terrorism is a never-ending battle of wits, and nowhere moreso than Indonesia, where security and intelligence forces are now confronting new extremist tactics.

Instead of cadres acting under instruction from a centralist jihadist command small cells have taken to operating independently, as Asia Pacific Focus reports.

Helen Brown, Indonesia correspondent

Last Updated: Mon, 23 May 2011 14:17:00 +1000

JIM MIDDLETON, PRESENTER:

Indonesian police have arrested more than 20 people over the past couple of months connected to several bomb plots including one to bomb a church on Good Friday.

The irony is that these cells have sprung up because the authorities have been so successful in shutting down the larger groups responsible for previous acts of violence.

Indonesia correspondent Helen Brown reports from Jakarta.

HELEN BROWN, INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT: Indonesia's police have been busy in the last few months and this is the result of their efforts - a cache of materials used to create bombs.

BOY RAFLI AMAR, NATIONAL POLICE SPOKESMAN: This is the new generation. They make idea by themselves, they create the bomb by themselves, they learn how to make the bomb by the internet.

HELEN BROWN: Police have arrested around 20 people in relation to several alleged bomb plots.

One of those is a TV news camera man. Imam Firdaus was taken from his home by officers from the anti-terrorist unit Detachment 88 while his wife looked on.

NUR SHABAH, WIFE (translated): I didn't know where to go and what to do. I stared blankly.

I read the news. How come it all turned out to be like this?

Nothing's changed in his attitude recently. Nothing suspicious. There's no way he could become a terrorist.

HELEN BROWN: Indonesia had become known as a country where radical Islamic groups used bombs to create large scale fear and destruction.

The 2002 Bali bombings by South East Asian organisation Jemaah Islamiah had the most devastating impact. And terrorists have claimed lives with attacks on international hotels and the Australian Embassy.

But this year a new trend has emerged. This new version of terrorism came to the public's attention via book bombs.

Several were sent to prominent people around Jakarta. A policeman lost a hand trying to defuse one and the rest were safely disabled.

ULIL ABSHAR ABDALLA, LIBERAL ISLAM NETWORK: I am shocked learning that a mail bomb was sent to my office.

Even though the minute I learned about suspicious package or mail sent to my office, I never thought, I never expected that it was a real bomb.

Even the police handling the package didn't expect that it was a real bomb until it exploded.

ANSYAAD MBAI, INDONESIA COUNTER-TERRORISM AGENCY (translated): No matter how small a bomb is, it's still our concern. We all knew that the book bomb was a low explosive one but the concern was the same as with the big one.

HELEN BROWN: Ansyaad Mbai is the head of Indonesia's anti-terrorist operations.

And as his team was collecting evidence of the parcel bombs they uncovered a plot to blow up a church on Easter Good Friday in Serpong, just out of Jakarta.

Police say this woman's husband was recruited to film the explosion but didn't alert police.

NUR SHABAH (translated): "I didn't realise; I was offered to interview the bomber and I think it was a good opportunity," he said.

Maybe his journalist spirit thought it was a good chance to get an exclusive.

HELEN BROWN: This is the first one on one interview for Nur Shabah who had the media camping outside her home after her husband's arrest.

The possibility that a 31 year old cameraman and father of three was part of a new, small terrorist group surprised the nation.

His lawyer says Imam Firdaus was offered a chance to speak to a bomber and he didn't realise the man making the suggestion was allegedly the same man plotting the attack.

FERRY JUAN, LAWYER: In this situation it's hard to say that Imam was involved in this because Imam didn't know the bomber until he get arrested.

HELEN BROWN: Pepi Fernando has been arrested, accused of being the mastermind behind the Jakarta bombings.

Police say the agents of terrorism may be small-scale and independent compared to the past but they are driven by the same ideology.

IAN BETTS, HILL AND ASSOCIATES: The more organised, more sophisticated networks have been diminished by the impact of government clampdowns on terrorists.

Therefore we're likely to see individuals acting almost like lone wolves as they've been described by some analysts.

HELEN BROWN: Early last year police detected and broke up a military style training camp in Aceh.

Several men have been killed or captured as a result.
And radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is on trial, accused of helping to fund the camp.

The newest breed of terrorists isn't considered to have the same direct links to the large radical organisations as in the past. But authorities say their inspiration is from a similar source.

ANSYAAD MBAI: For example when we ask him questions he admits that he got his inspiration by reading books - books that are published by Al Qaeda bookstore, including Osama's book.

HELEN BROWN: The police and authorities are now more likely to be targets than foreigners.

This man blew himself up by walking into a mosque in a police station and detonating a bomb.

Since last year 10 police officers have been killed in the line of duty. They're targeted because of their success in finding and dismantling terrorist networks.

Police say they're not intimidated by the tactic. However they do need the public's help.

BOY RAFLI AMAR: When they going into a community they try to get some support from the community. This is very dangerous.

HELEN BROWN: Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on the community to act, saying radicalisation is a threat to the nation and its youth and stamping it out is everyone's responsibility.

JIM MIDDLETON: Indonesia correspondent Helen Brown.

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