Terror Act in Samarinda is not Diversion of Issue
Anytime an act of terror occurs in Indonesia; there are always people who create conspiracy theories related to the action. In the end, the act of terror was dubbed as the Intel’s scenario, issues diverter, or anything that would obscure the true intentions and motives. This was what happened with GerejaOikumene terror act located in RT 003 No. 32 JalanCiptoMangunKusumo, Sengkotek, District Loa JananIlir, Samarinda, East Kalimantan on Sunday (13/11/2016) at around 10:00 pm. The action that made four under-five y.o children victims, in which one of them died, was regarded by certain parties as an act of issue diverter.
The perpetrator of this Samarinda attack, J, was caught by local people after trying to escape. He was once sentenced due to the trial bombing in Serpong and book bombing in 2011 on 4 May 2011 and was released on 28 July 2014. It turned out that this sentence did not make J be a deterrent. Once being freed, J went to Samarinda. Based on the evidence, J’s motorbike with Police No. H 2372 PE turned out to belong to a Demak residence who had been killed in Syria in 2015. He went to Samarinda earlier in 2011.
The Police moved quickly, some people were secured for questioning related to terrorism in Samarinda. The police investigations will prove whether J works alone (lone wolf) or controlled by a group, given J has a history of joining radical groups and had held a similar action several times.
From the facts above, it would be rash to mention that the terrorist acts in Samarinda was an issue diverter. The terrorists apparently have repeatedly committed acts of terror, have specific targets, and a network. The police, of course, is also looking for J’s intention and motivation in doing the terror acts.
The assumption that the terrorist act in Samarinda is an issue diverter, especially for Ahok’s blasphemy case, is too superficial. To create a diversion of an issue, one only has to make a small action with significant impact, especially publicly. The risk of the action in Samarinda was classified as Very High, especially after the perpetrator was successfully arrested by people. The police successfully secured some people related to the case. Of course, this was not something that is expected if they only want a diversion.
Diversion of an issue can be accepted if the situation is the same as the situation that happened in Budi Dharma Vihara located at Jalan GM Situt, Singkawang, West Kalimantan at 3:00 pm (11/14/2016) in which there were no casualties and significant damage. Perpetrators fleed after doing the action. Acts of terror in places of worship can be considered issue diverters, conditioning or anything as long as the motive, intention and motivation of the actors are yet unknown.
Series of terrorist acts often occur in Indonesia. Radical groups and perpetrators have been mapped out by the Police and BNPT. These groups have high adaptability; they have the ability to instantly join any group or move alone. They also can stay silent while living as ordinary people. One thing that they cannot change is their belief in certain things, so they use terror as their way to achieve their vision.
Right now, Indonesia must be wary of sleeping cells. Foreign fighters that come back from Syria after ISIS was pushed by multinational forces and the completion of sentence period of terrorist prisoners will become dangerous sleeping cells. They will live in the community while maintaining communication with their group.
Prison sentence can not eliminate this strong belief. In the prison, terrorist inmates are, in fact, establishing networks and recruiting people. One being released, they will dwell for a moment (Sleep cells) and wait for a right momentum to come back and commit acts of terror according to their beliefs. Certainly, not all terroris inmates would be like this. Few of terrorist inmates helped the government in de-radicalization program.
Terrorist sleeping cells have to be watched closely. Government needs to synergize its institutions such as the BNPT, police, BIN and BAIS to conduct surveillance of terrorist sleeping cells. Society as a place where terrorist mingle and hide should be involved in its role as the front-line prevention of terrorism, and not support radical groups instead. If the surveillance of terrorist sleeping cells is well done, Samarinda terror act should not have happened. This supervision will prevent an action before it occurs. Without supervision, then this kind of terror acts will continue to happen.
Strong belief as the push factor to conduct terrorist act is hard to eliminate or weaken. Yet, with continuous personal approach involving religion leaders, family, and society, it is hoped to be able to change the belief.
*) Stanislaus Riyanta, Intelligence and Terrorism Analyst, an alumnus of Strategic Intelligence Post-graduate program, University of Indonesia
