Terror tops Indonesia’s security agenda

Government also aim to close ranks in fight against social media hoaxes

JAKARTA: Terrorism, which is thought to have been one of the biggest threats confronting national security in 2016, will continue to threaten the country next year along with the distribution of fake news through social media, which the National Police said had the potential to create grassroots conflict.

National Police chief Gen Tito Karnavian said in his outlook on the country’s security situation in 2017 that the force would make combating terrorism and clamping down on individuals responsible for fake news and hoaxes a priority.

As part of efforts to deal with ter- rorism, the police, Tito said, would continue with Operation Tinambola in the restive region of Poso in Central Sulawesi to hunt down members of the terrorist group the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT).

The MIT was founded by Santoso, one of the country’s most infamous terrorists.

Santoso was shot dead in July this year after police ramped up their offensive operations in the area.

Tito also said the police would monitor people flying to and coming back from Syria to prevent the dissemination of the radical ideology espoused by the Islamic State (IS) group. In doing so, Indonesia expects to work with countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Turkey.

“Our priority is (to monitor) those returning to Indonesia. Once they are found (to have joined IS) we will name them suspects,” Tito said.

About 600 Indonesians are thought to have travelled to Syria to engage in militancy. Some have remained in the country while others have made their way home or have lost their lives in the war.

With regard to hoaxes, half-truths and fake news, which mainly circulate on the internet, Tito said they could grow into a severe security threat in 2017 and that the police were working to improve their capacity in dealing with threats coming from online sources.

The statement came as government officials scrambled to counter rumours that millions of Chinese workers have arrived in the country.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has insisted that the rumours claiming that more than 10 million Chinese nationals had been permitted to work in Indonesia were baseless and that in reality there were only 21,000 Chinese nationals legally working here.

National Police spokesman InspGen Boy Rafli Amar said rumours about millions of Chinese workers staying in the country had been spread to damage the government’s reputation.

The people will say the government has been doing this and that while in fact it is not true, he said.

Separately, Indonesian military commander Gen Gatot Nurmantyo said the rumours and hoaxes were planned and orchestrated by external parties that wanted to create unrest, which could eventually tear the nation apart. — The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network