The Rebounding Terrorist Threat in Indonesia

Hosted by: Australian Institute of International Affairs & the Australian Strategic Policy Institute

The event will start on: Wednesday, 08 June 2011 6:00 PM

And will end on: Wednesday, 08 June 2011 7:30 PM

At The Glover Cottages, Sydney

124 Kent Street , Sydney NSW

02 9247 8504     nswexec@aiia.asn.au

Posted by: nsw   

Terrorism in Indonesia has as of recent dropped off the radar—in Australia at least—given the lack of recent high profile incidents. But what goes largely unnoticed by the public  are the comprehensive counter-terrorism efforts conducted by the Indonesian authorities—with assistance from the Australian Federal Police—and which have met with considerable success to date. The Indonesian government’s prime policy for suspected and prosecuted terrorists is one of de-radicalisation. As such, many arrested terrorists have been given long-term prison sentences during which they undergo extensive counselling aimed at the de-radicalisation of these often young men, whom the Indonesian government describes as confused; a necessity in a Muslim-majority country in which the government aims to garner support, rather than alienate the populace. To do this, the Indonesian authorities have engaged psychologists and coopted main-stream Islamic scholars to convince these ‘confused’ souls that their reading of Islam is misguided. Governments from around the world have expressed interest in the Indonesian approach, which appeared to be on the road to success.

Our guest on Wednesday, June 8^th, tells a different story. Significant (former) Jemaah Islamiyah members are due to be released from custody – having served their terrorism sentences. According to our guest, who has been interviewing these JI-members in custody, many of them openly admit they will return to old habits; expressing their intent to rejoin JI and carry out further attacks.

Please note that our next meeting will take place on a Wednesday, rather than Tuesday, our regular event date.

 Meet Dr Carl Ungerer

 Dr. Carl Ungerer is the Program Direction for the National Security Program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). He recently led a joint ASPI study with a the Centre of Excellence for National Security ( a constituent research unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore) to conduct personal interviews with members of Jemaah Islamiyah who have served, or are serving prison sentences in Indonesia. He will report on the alarming conclusions of this report