Denpasar: Indonesian police’s anti-terror chief has hailed the “reform” of Bali bomb maker Umar Patek as a success story in the country’s fight against Islamic extremism but concedes there is always a risk of militants returning to their old networks after being released from prison.
The prospect of the former explosives guru walking free only 11 years into his 20-year jail term prompted outrage from people who lost family members and friends in the 2002 Bali terror attack and brought objections from the Australian government.
Umar Patek.Credit:Lapassurabaya
Patek, who admitted mixing chemicals for devices that killed 202 people including 88 Australians, became eligible for parole in August after a series of reductions to his sentence and his release has been approved by Indonesia’s counter-terrorism forces.
He has remained in custody in East Java, with Indonesia’s ministry of law unwilling to issue a final sign-off in the lead-up to the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings on Wednesday.
But Jakarta’s top counter-terrorism police officer believes Patek can be an asset in combatting jihadism to such an extent he has been cast in an official anti-terror campaign video, along with convicted Bali bomber Ali Imron, to be released on YouTube this month.
“We should not hold grudges or [want] revenge. It has happened, it stays in the past,” said Inspector General Marthinus Hukom, the head of Indonesian police anti-terror squad Detachment 88.
“The most important thing now is to change the mindset of the perpetrators whom we arrested. It is the objective. We [hope] to reform people who see him because he [Patek] is the model.“
Authorities in Indonesia have weakened Jemaah Islamiyah, the organisation responsible for the Kuta nightclub bombings, and other groups inspired by Islamic State by making more than 1200 arrests in the past four years.
The crackdown has robbed them of their leaders and there has not been a major coordinated attack since suicide bombings of three churches in Surabaya in 2018 by IS-affiliated Jemaah Ansharut Daulah that left 28 people dead.
Umar Patek, the bombmaker of a 2002 Bali bombing, is escorted by prosecutors and plain-clothed police officers as he leaves the courtroom after his hearing at West Jakarta district court in Jakarta, Indonesia in May 2012. Credit:AP
As well as rounding up terror suspects, Indonesia has prioritised breaking down terror networks with deradicalisation programs the likes of which Patek has been involved in.
“We arrested many of them. Their seniors are now inside. I think, we are OK for the time being because we arrested many,” said Hukom, whose squad was established with Australian funding and training in the wake of the Kuta nightclub blasts two decades ago.
“Those who were not arrested, we helped them cancel their pledge of allegiance [to their terrorist leaders and group].
“It is like a spiritual pledge in which they believe that their group or movement walks on the path of truth. They pledged to their leaders to be loyal and obey. We tried to cut off this pledge.”
Hukom, however, admits that threats remain, including that so-called reformed extremists return to their former organisations.
“[The] risks are always out there,” he said. “”Every time a terror act breaks out at the global level, it will have an impact here. Therefore, Detachment 88 never sleeps whenever a bomb explodes somewhere out there.“
Deakin University terrorism expert Greg Barton believes Indonesia deserves credit for largely containing terror groups in the world’s largest Muslim majority nation.
But he warned there was capacity for regrowth, particularly as a result of the Taliban’s reclaiming of power in Afghanistan last year.
“A year on from the fall of Kabul is too early to see a direct link with south-east Asia. But give it three to five years I think we’re likely to see problems, if things carry on the way they are,” Barton said.
“If things don’t improve in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and at this stage there are no encouraging signs … then there will be a flow of people [towards south-east Asia]. The pattern we saw in the late 80s, early 90s might be repeated.”
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