What next after the bombing? By Noor Huda Ismail*
If one properly follows the Indonesian police forensic investigation procedures, it is clearly too early to conclude who was the main culprit behind the bombings of the JW Marriot and Ritz Carlton Hotels in Jakarta on Friday 17 July. However, looking back on the history of terrorism in Indonesia over the last seven years, the obvious targeting of two highly symbolic western iconic hotels and the method of deploying undeterred suicide bombers, security analysts strongly believe that only Noordin M. Tops group would have had the capacity to mount such an attack. Top is now leading his own pro-violence faction of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which is today no longer a cohesive organization with a clear, unified leadership structure. In fact, deep divisions have afflicted the group since the first bombing in Bali in 2002. Most of us were shocked to learn this appalling and heartbreaking attack. Conditions have been relatively peaceful and without terrorist incident since the last attack by Tops group in Bali in 2005. The Indonesian authorities have managed to arrest most of the senior members of the group and, more importantly, have succeeded in making them talk openly about the JI network and ideology. They have also successfully discovered the groups explosive materials and even thwarted some of their deadly plans, such as blowing up a café frequented by western tourists in Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra in 2008 and the planned assassination of a foreign national there. Having passed the counter-terror litmus test, the Indonesian police has received recognition worldwide for their work in tackling terrorism in Indonesia. It is only natural therefore that we should ask a number of significant questions regarding last Fridays attacks: How does Top manage to successively elude arrest (and has reportedly even been able to take time off from his deadly operations by marrying two times, by one of which he has a two year old child)? How does he manage to recruit new cadres in spite of the constant monitoring of his movements by the Indonesian authorities through advanced technology and intelligence operation, and lastly, how is he able to commit his carnage time and time again? Top has successfully eluded arrest for two important aspects. Firstly, he still enjoys protection from hard core member of the JI community and like-minded individuals who share the same ideology. That is to say: The Indonesian government is considered to be a secular government which has succumbed to the interests of the USA and its allies; it is therefore the enemy and may be engaged in combat. Although internal friction is apparent among JI members, this does not mean they will call the police and report the whereabouts of Top. Such individuals would be happy to provide sanctuary for Top and have even arranged for his nuptials with women who believe that marrying Top will increase their social status because he is considered a mujahid; a warrior of Islam. Top wins fresh recruits from among hard core members who idolize him and believe that the use of violence against the enemies of Islam is justified in any situation. One of Tops former right hand men told me in an interview concerning Top that: He is a very polite, soft spoken person and knows how to win your support with his eloquent arguments on the need to continue to wage Jihad against the enemies of Islam. They also consider many senior JI members to be NATO (No Action, Talk Only) and no longer passionate in their commitment to the Jihadi movement. This is because many of their number have matured, married and taken on family considerations. Members of this pro-violent faction are a fringe minority of JI. However, to carry out deadly attacks like last Fridays you do not need many people. Do you remember how many people from this faction wreaked the carnage of the second Bali bombing? Three, yes they only three committed individuals were required to blow themselves up for the cause. Therefore, it is important for us all to be constantly alert, especially considering that in the recent hotel bombings; Tops group has demonstrated an advanced level of efficiency, sophistication and novelty of method compared to their previous operations which relied on the use of vehicles and backpack bombs. Top now allegedly has his recruit stay overnight in luxurious hotels enjoying maximum security and it is here, inside the hotel room, that the recruit assembles his bomb. This indicates that Top understands that in carrying out such operations, he needs to deploy dedicated suicide bombers. We might consider that we could guess the profile of such an individual; that it might not be particularly complex: young, male (mostly), religiously devout, alienated, angry, disenfranchised, living on the edge of normal society, poorly integrated, and, as a result, a social and psychological outcast the typical profile for an individual vulnerable to violent, radical ideology. Wrong again. Once again, and with the revelations of the most recent attacks on the JW Marriot and Ritz Carlton hotels, we are forced to dismiss such simplistic assumptions as naive and misleading. Evidence from research tells us that not only has no terrorist profile been drawn, but is unlikely ever to be drawn. With this new understanding, we can now assume that Top will continue to engage "homegrown" terrorist recruits from various socio-economic backgrounds and professions, and with wildly different technical and operational competence. It is only by our experience of the end results of their work that we, as onlookers, and victims, have assumed that they must be somehow uniform in character and profile. Finally, the question is: how many young men out there in Indonesia are still being indoctrinated in these beliefs and how many are ready and willing to seek to be a suicide bomber?*** Noor Huda Ismail is Vice President of Sekurindo Gada Patria, a security company and consultant based in Jakarta (www.sekurindogroup.com Powered by Telkomsel BlackBerry®
