Joint efforts to stem flow of militants
Print Edition
INDONESIAN authorities are working with their counterparts in China to stem a flow of ethnic Uygur militants seeking to join Islamist jihadists in the world’s most populous Muslim country, Indonesia’s counter-terrorism chief said.
Saud Usman Nasution’s comments come amid mounting concern in Indonesia about possible attacks by sympathizers of the Islamic State group and follow the arrest of 13 men across the island of Java, including a Muslim Uygur with a suicide vest.
The appearance among Indonesian militant networks of Uygurs, who come from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, is likely to add to China’s concerns that exiles will return to their homeland as experienced and trained jihadists.
China says Islamist militants and separatists operate in energy-rich Xinjiang on the borders of central Asia, where terror violence has killed hundreds in recent years.
Nasution, who heads the National Counter-Terrorism Agency, said several Uygurs had responded to a call last year by Santoso, Indonesia’s most high-profile backer of IS, to join his band of fighters.
IS and human trafficking networks helped them travel via Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia to Santoso’s jungle hideout in eastern Indonesia, he said.
However, the would-be suicide bomber arrested on December 23 was hiding in a house just outside the capital, Jakarta.
“We are cooperating with China and investigating evidence such as ATM cards and cellphones,” Nasution said, adding that a team went to China to interview the man’s family, who would not confirm they were related to him.
There was no immediate comment from China’s foreign ministry on whether Beijing is collaborating with Indonesia.
“As far as China is concerned, these people are running off, some of them taking part in jihad and planning to strike back,” said Pan Zhiping, a terrorism expert at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences.
“Of course we must stop them. I believe, in terms of jointly guarding against extremism, it is necessary that we cooperate.”
Indonesia’s security forces have given Santoso, who styles himself the commander of the Islamic State army in Indonesia, until January 9 to surrender along with his force of about 40 men on the far-flung island of Sulawesi.
However, security analysts believe a larger threat is emerging across Java as networks of support for IS grow.
Indonesia has been largely successful in disrupting domestic militant cells since the bombing of two nightclubs on the resort island of Bali in 2002, and sporadic attacks have been mainly targeted at the police.
The government is now worried that the influence of IS, whose fighters hold swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, could bring a return of jihadi violence and strikes against foreigners and soft targets.
Officials believe there are more than 1,000 IS supporters in Indonesia and say between 100 and 300 have returned from Syria, though this includes women and children.
Nasution said that monitoring had revealed plans to launch attacks on Christmas Eve and around the New Year holiday but the situation was now under control.
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