Setara Institute For Democracy and Peace
Jakarta. The Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace has urged the government to do more to prevent radicalization following a knife attack in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday (22/10) by a man believed to be an Islamic State sympathizer.
The 22-year-old man, reportedly acting alone, stabbed three police officers with a knife after applying an Islamic State sticker on their shelter.
The police are investigating if the man, who also carried explosives, had any links to the Islamic State. The organization’s sympathizers in Indonesia have been increasingly targeting the police.
According to Setara chairman Hendardi, counterterrorism officials should broaden and intensify their anti-radicalization programs.
“We have to up our game to deradicalize groups that promote intolerance, extremism and radicalism,” he said in a statement released on Thursday.
Counterterrorism officials have been carrying out deradicalization programs in more than 70 prisons across the country and engaged nearly 250 terror convicts and more than 450 former terrorists and their networks in 17 provinces.
Indonesia has been on heightened alert since January, when four people were killed in a terror attack allegedly carried out by Islamic State sympathizers in Central Jakarta.
Six months after the incident, a suicide bomber attacked the Solo Police headquarters in Central Java. In August, there was another failed suicide bomb attack at a church in Medan, North Sumatra.
“The police can’t be caught off guard. They should remain alert at all times, not just after an attack,” Hendardi said.
Thursday’s attack left three officers injured. The assailant died after he was shot by the police.
Source : Jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com
