TNI and counter-terrorism: Not a good mix

http://www.sr-indonesia.com/this-months-issue/point-of-view/125-tni-and-counter-terrorism-not-a-good-mix




Since 2009, there has been a concerted effort by the Indonesian government to give the country’s Armed Forces, or Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI), a larger role in counter-terrorism. This is not a good idea. However logical it may seem on the surface, the TNI is now almost 10 years out of date in understanding the nature of the terrorist threat. It prides itself on operational readiness, but it is readiness to confront a theoretical enemy. Without specialized knowledge of how extremist groups function in Indonesia today, the TNI’s involvement will bring no added value to the fight against terrorism: it is more likely to bring confusion, competition and duplication of effort.


Three developments have spurred the recent push for a TNI role, in addition to long-standing military resentment over access by the police to the flood of counter-terrorism funding that became available after the September 11 terrorist attacks. 


The first was the discovery of a plot to kill President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono by the same men who carried out the July 2009 bombings of the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta. Suddenly, the perception of terrorism shifted from a crime aimed at foreigners or local Christians to a major threat against state security, and the president himself wanted all hands on deck. 


Second was the debacle in Temanggung, Solo, Central Java province in August 2009 when hundreds of police were deployed against a lone suspect hiding in a farmhouse who was believed to be the region’s most wanted terrorist, Noordin M Top. After a 17-hour siege broadcast live on Indonesian television and the firing of thousands of rounds of ammunition in haphazard shooting at the house, the man in question was brought out dead – and turned out to be a terrorist involved in the hotel bombings, but not Noordin. The military’s contempt was palpable. One TNI officer said disparagingly: “We could have done it with six men and a dog – and brought him out alive.” The Temanggung siege was not the police’s finest hour, and more than any other incident, it reinforced a conviction among many in the military that they could do better.

Sidney Jones is a Senior Adviser at the International Crisis Group in Jakarta.