Country Reports on Terrorism 2013 - Indonesia

Overview: Law enforcement officials successfully pursued terrorists and disrupted their networks, arresting at least 75 suspects in more than 40 separate raids. Indonesia cooperated on a range of counterterrorism issues with international partners, including the United States. On December 3, prosecutors at the South Jakarta District Court indicted three men on terrorism charges related to a planned attack on the Embassy of Burma in Jakarta in May. Three other suspects implicated in the case face related charges. The men claimed they plotted the attack in response to the violence against the minority Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Burma.

Violent extremists targeted police throughout the year. Most notably, in a series of separate high-profile attacks in August and September, four Indonesian law enforcement officials were killed and seven were wounded. In August, assailants also shot a prison official in the Central Javanese city of Jogjakarta near a corrections facility; he later died. Also in August, an assailant fired a gun at the house of a police officer in Tangerang, south of Jakarta. Authorities linked the perpetrators in the majority of attacks on police to existing terrorist groups. This continued a trend in which violent extremists focused on local law enforcement officials.

Small bands of terrorists were able to gather covertly in some areas, especially the mountainous area near Poso, Central Sulawesi. In addition, authorities have expressed concern about the smuggling of weapons into Indonesia from neighboring countries.

2013 Terrorist Incidents: In addition to the incidents mentioned above, there were a number of other attacks throughout the year:

• On February 1, residents near Poso, Central Sulawesi found 12 pipe bombs alongside a road. Authorities defused the bombs, noting similarities to explosives created by the Eastern Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT), a local terrorist network led by the fugitive Santoso. There were numerous other incidents where bombs were found in public places, and explosives and weapons were confiscated by police during raids.

• On May 13, two men on a motorcycle threw a pipe bomb at a police post in Tasikmalaya, West Java. One officer was injured in the ensuing chase, and one suspect killed.

• On June 3, in the first suicide bombing in Indonesia since 2011, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle targeted a police facility in Poso, Central Sulawesi. The bomb detonated about 30 feet from the main gate of the police station; the only fatality was the suicide bomber.

• On July 20, two men launched a homemade bomb at a police post in Tasikmalaya before escaping on a motorcycle. The device, a rice cooker filled with explosive material, nails, and ball bearings, exploded in a low-intensity blast. No one was injured, in part because of the faulty circuitry of the bomb, according to police.

• On August 4, a low-grade explosive device detonated in the Ekayana Buddhist Temple in Jakarta, injuring three and causing minor damage to the building. As in a plot against the Burmese Embassy in May, police suspect that the motivation for this attack was in retaliation for anti-Muslim sentiment in Burma. Authorities said there is no evidence the suspects are linked to established terrorist groups.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Law enforcement officials aggressively and successfully pursued terrorists and disrupted their networks, arresting at least 75 suspects in more than 40 separate raids. In addition, authorities increasingly prosecuted crimes of terrorism under the 2003 counterterrorism law, rather than trying terrorist suspects under other criminal statutes such as those for theft or possession of illegal weapons. In June, the Minister of Law and Human Rights issued a regulation (Number 21/2013) imposing stricter conditions on reductions in prison sentences for certain convicts, including terrorists. The Ministerial Regulation requires that all terrorist prisoners undergo a de-radicalization process before being eligible for a reduction in sentence. Furthermore, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) must approve the release of any terrorist prisoners.

Detachment 88, the elite counterterrorism unit of the Indonesian National Police, leads terrorism investigations and arrests, and is often able to disrupt attacks before they can be carried out. However, police have difficulty dislodging terrorists from hideouts in remote areas because of terrain and lack of familiarity with local conditions. The BNPT, created in 2010, has the responsibility for coordinating counterterrorism responses among relevant agencies and ministries, but has yet to implement this mandate fully. BNPT officials attributed the lack of progress in many of its plans, in part, to inadequate funding.

Indonesia remained an important partner in the Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) program and received significant capacity building training in counterterrorism tactical response and investigative skills. Participants included dozens of Indonesian National Police officers, including members of elite units that regularly conduct operations against terrorist groups in the region.

Although domestic counterterrorism efforts are civilian-led, the Indonesian military maintains counterterrorism units that could be mobilized to support domestic operations if needed. These units train regularly with law enforcement to ensure greater capability and coordination for potential domestic counterterrorism operations. However, the Indonesian military and its counterterrorism units are primarily responsible for external terrorist threats to the archipelago and in certain other specific situations.

Border security remained a challenge. Authorities have the ability to gather biometric data of travelers, but collection procedures vary widely at ports of entry, and it is not clear how data is coordinated and shared among stakeholder agencies. Indonesia has discussed sharing passenger name records with selected countries in the region, but resource constraints and a lack of training for law enforcement and border security officials hampered coordination.

Law enforcement authorities have had significant success in arresting violent extremists involved in terrorist activity, although terrorists' carrying of firearms and resisting arrest has resulted in casualties during arrest operations. In early January, during a series of separate raids in Central and South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara, police killed seven suspected terrorists and arrested more than a dozen suspects. Authorities believed the suspects had been involved in a combination of terrorist training and funding. On May 8, during a raid in Kendal, Central Java, Abu Roban was killed, and two suspects were arrested. Roban had a leading role in the Abu Omar terrorist group and also had affiliations with the fugitive Santoso's group, MIT, in Poso. Roban's group was suspected of participating in a series of bank robberies that helped fund terrorist activity. The group also possessed illegal weapons. In each case, suspects fired on or threw bombs at police officers.

On June 11, Detachment 88 conducted raids against suspected terrorists in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and Makassar, South Sulawesi. The arrest operation resulted in the at least one death and two arrests. On July 22, during a raid in Tulungagung, East Java, Detachment 88 made two arrests and killed two suspected terrorists.

The Attorney General's Office has a task force devoted to prosecuting transnational crimes, including terrorism. Specialized training for prosecutors who handle terrorism cases is relatively new, however. Ongoing personnel turnover among terrorism prosecutors limits the ability to develop institutional experience and expertise and dilutes the efficacy of training and capacity building efforts. Although Indonesia has a Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK), some trial witnesses complain of intimidation. The LPSK faced both resource and personnel constraints. The ability to testify in trials remotely via Digital Video Conference is not yet regularized. The provision of courtroom security varies from case to case. For example, police protection may be provided for high-profile terrorism cases but the majority of terrorism cases do not receive it. When protection is provided, it usually applies only to the court environs, not to the residences of police, prosecutors, and judges, nor to their transportation to and from their offices to the courtrooms. However, there were no attempted attacks on any prosecutors or judges involved in terrorist trials in 2013.

Through October, the Attorney General's Office handled 56 terrorism cases in 2013. One high-profile case involved Abu Hanifah, the leader of a variant of Harakah Sunni Masyarakat Indonesia (HASMI), who was sentenced in August to eight years in prison for violating Indonesia's 2003 counterterrorism law. Hanifah and nearly a dozen affiliated suspects were arrested in October 2012 for plotting to bomb up to 10 high-profile locations, including U.S. diplomatic facilities in Jakarta and Surabaya.

On December 3, prosecutors at the South Jakarta District Court indicted three men on terrorism charges related to a planned attack on the Embassy of Burma in Jakarta in May. Three other suspects implicated in the case face related charges. The men claimed they plotted the attack because they were incensed by the violence against the minority Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Burma.

The Ministry of Law and Human Rights faced challenges in overseeing overcrowded prisons that house more than 150,000 inmates, including an estimated 260 terrorist prisoners. A series of prison breaks highlighted weak correctional facility management and security. On July 11, in the most high-profile case, prisoners at the Tanjung Gusta Corrections Center in Medan, North Sumatra, set a fire that caused damage to the facilities and destroyed prison records, and killed two guards and three inmates in the chaos that ensued. At least nine terrorist prisoners were among the 212 who escaped during the July 11 riot, including Fadli Sadama, who was recaptured in late November in Malaysia and transferred to Indonesia, according to Indonesian authorities. Three terrorist prisoners involved in this escape were still at large at year's end. Nusakambangan, an island off the southern coast of Java that houses seven prisons, is considered to have the most secure corrections facilities in Indonesia, but at least three prisoners escaped in November in two separate incidents.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Indonesia is a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body. Indonesia's anti-money laundering framework has been significantly strengthened in recent years. However, gaps in the country's counterterrorist financing laws remain. In February, Indonesia's House of Representatives passed Law 9 of 2013, "the Bill on Prevention and Eradication of Crimes of Financing of Terrorism," which became effective in March. Eighteen Indonesian nationals and four entities were on the UNSC 1267/1989 (al-Qa'ida) sanctions list in 2013. Despite the law, and one known attempt to freeze the assets of a convicted terrorist, Indonesia has not frozen any terrorist assets in accordance with UNSCR 1267, 1373, and 1988. As a result, the FATF continued to include Indonesia on its Public Statement list, noting that Indonesia needs to address certain deficiencies in its terrorist finance law regarding identifying and freezing terrorist assets. For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2014 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Regional and International Cooperation: Indonesia actively participated in regional and international fora. A founding member of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), Indonesia co-chairs one of the GCTF's five working groups. Indonesian officials regularly participated in GCTF workshops and shared best practices to help build the capacities of other countries. In September, Indonesia hosted a workshop for first responders to victims of terrorism; and in November, hosted a workshop on "Modern Counterterrorism Policing: Challenges and Responses." As the 2010-2013 co-chair of the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts Working Group on Counterterrorism (EWG-CT), Indonesia conducted one of the largest-ever counterterrorism coordination and training exercises. Upwards of 900 military and security personnel from the 10 ASEAN countries and the eight non-ASEAN East Asia Summit nations participated in the exercise, held in West Java in September. Indonesia is an active member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Inter-Sessional Meetings on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC). In 2013, Indonesia began its term as Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Task Force of APEC, and will continue to chair the task force through 2014. Under Indonesian leadership, the task force has been upgraded to a working group and has generated a five-year plan that focuses on the security of supply chains, travel, finance, and infrastructure.

The Indonesian military regularly conducted counterterrorism training with its ASEAN regional counterparts, and occasional counterterrorism training with Australia, China, and the United States.

Countering Radicalization to Violence and Violent Extremism: At the end of 2013, BNPT, Indonesia's National Counterterrorism Agency, was in the process of developing a de-radicalization blueprint. As envisioned, de-radicalization efforts would include efforts of the Indonesian government in coordination with civil society organizations and selected academic institutions. In Sentul, near Jakarta, construction continued on a de-radicalization center that authorities expect to open in 2014.

The BNPT opened six additional branches of the Terrorism Prevention Communication Forum, which is now present in the capital cities of 21 of Indonesia's 34 provinces. Members of each Forum include civic and religious leaders who coordinate outreach, facilitate communication among key stakeholders at the local level, and work closely with communities and families on reintegration programs for released terrorist prisoners.

As part of efforts to counter violent extremist narratives, Indonesia continued to amplify the voices of victims of terrorism as well as former terrorists who have renounced violence. Numerous NGOs and religious organizations sponsored workshops and conferences, emphasizing the need to respect diversity and foster greater tolerance. Indonesia also invited religious leaders, in coordination with civil society and faith-based organizations, to be part of outreach efforts to violent extremists.