No leader, no ideology: Indonesia’s new terror threat
Indonesia spent 20 years mastering the art of dismantling terrorist organizations. Its next threat will not have an organization to dismantle.
Indonesia has spent two decades dismantling terrorist organizations, but its next threat is unique. Within months, police intercepted bomb plots at three state schools, involving teenagers who are not terrorists on paper. The bombs were genuine, but the cases did not meet the legal definition of terrorism. There was no network, leader, group membership, or co-conspirators behind the plots.
The teenagers were influenced by gaming chatrooms, meme boards, and radical content through algorithms. They gravitated toward violence like wandering into a dangerous neighborhood guided by a navigation app. Indonesia's counterterrorism unit, Densus 88, has excelled in dismantling structured networks like Jamaah Islamiyah (JI). However, the current threat is decentralized, spreading similarly to weeds.
Written by urgent.news from The Jakarta Post Academia's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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