NCJ Number
219457
Date Published
March 2007
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This paper highlights Indonesia's efforts so far to create a foundation on which it continues to build its resources and capacity to counter terrorism.
Abstract
Indonesia recognizes the urgent need to mount a universal and concerted response to prevent and respond to criminal acts of terrorism. Indonesia has adopted antiterrorist laws that target terrorists and their activities with specific investigative and prosecutorial powers. This criminal justice strategy has been combined with an intense effort to counter the misguided beliefs of Islamic terrorists. Terrorists have attempted to hijack the Islamic doctrine of "jihad" as a religious mandate to attack all persons who are representatives of nations they perceive as antagonistic toward or in violation of Islamic law. In its Islamic curriculum, Indonesia is emphasizing that the classical Islamic jihad can only be declared by a ruler or head of state and only uses violence when Muslims are being violently attacked, and then only in proportion to the threat. Innocent civilians should never be targeted. As the world's fourth largest country and the most populous Muslim nation on earth, Indonesia has an array of Muslin groups that range from traditional to liberal in their beliefs and practices. Although the vast majority of Indonesian Muslims are moderate and tolerant toward non-Muslims, several radical groups have emerged, largely under the influence of al-Qaeda, which was introduced to the region by Abdullah Sungkar. One year after the al-Qaeda-sponsored attacks in the United States on September 11, Indonesia was victimized by the Bali suicide bombing of October 12, 2003, the JJ Marriott Hotel bombing of August 5, 2005, and a second Bali suicide bombing on October 1, 2005. 9 notes