THE EVOLUTION OF THE INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT’S APPROACHES TO THE THREAT OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Indonesia suffered a major terrorist attack on October 22, 2002, in what would be known as the Bali Bombings. Further investigation revealed that there was a significant threat in the form of a transnational terrorist network operating in the country. Indonesia was poorly equipped and unprepared to respond to terrorism in Indonesia. The government responded by reforming governmental institutions, allowing international assistance, and creating a counterterrorism unit. Through the framework of Countering Violent Extremism theories, this thesis aims to analyse the Indonesian government’s counterterrorism strategies. This thesis explores the government’s approaches from 2002 – 2010 and from 2010 – 2018. This thesis examines and identifies the usage of hard and soft approaches in the government’s counterterrorism strategies across the two timeframes. This thesis found that there were a shift and variations in the government’s approaches, particularly after the establishment of BNPT in 2010. Before the establishment of BNPT, the government put great emphasis on the harder approach, lacked centralisation, and relied heavily on the Polri to spearhead the efforts. After BNPT was established, there was an increase in softer approaches in the government’s efforts. The Polri was no longer the mainstay of the efforts, and BNPT became the central figure in coordinating nationwide counter-terrorism programmes. The shift was prevalent between pre-BNPT and BNPT eras.