Peter Alford, Nusa Dua, Bali – Indonesia's military will be "activated" to support police fighting terrorism, says the chief of the government's new National Counter-Terrorism Agency.
"The military will assist when situations are beyond police capacity," Ansyaad Mbai said yesterday, confirming an important shift from the post-1999 policy of removing the army from direct involvement in fighting terrorism.
"That is a universal principle," he said outside a seminar launching the agency, BNPT. "In Britain, there is military involvement; in America, I don't have to tell you; and in Australia, they also have special forces for counter-terrorism.
We also have them, but all this time they have been passive – now we want to activate them. Co-operation with TNI (the armed forces) is in the form of training, intelligence-sharing and also co-operation with other government bodies, like immigration, and international agencies."
The policy change is controversial with civil society groups, given the Suharto-era army's brutal methods against secession movements in Aceh, East Timor and Papua, and particularly the activities of the Kopassus special forces.
An exercise in Bali last month between Kopassus and the Special Air Service Regiment served as an opportunity for the Indonesian regiment's commander to press for a role in terror suppression and to signal Australian authorities' comfort with that. Australia removed its ban on military co-operation and joint training with Kopassus in 2005 and the US has recently initiated steps to resume co-operation.
Lifting the embargo on direct military involvement accompanies BNPT's formation on the order of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to co-ordinate counter-terrorism activities across police and military security services and government agencies.
Mr Ansyaad, a former two-star police general, insisted police anti-terrorist squad Special Detachment 88 would stay as the frontline unit. His and the government's determination that police remain in charge is signalled by the pending transfer of Detachment 88 chief Tito Karnavian to BNPT as deputy director.
Commander Tito pointedly told the seminar that 75 per cent of counter-terrorist activity in Indonesia was "shaped" by intelligence operations, 20 per cent by crime scene investigation and only 5 per cent by tactical operations.
He claimed Indonesia's law enforcement-led strategy since the 2002 Bali bombings was one of the most successful in the world, with 563 arrests and prosecutions and at least nine terror strikes pre-empted.
However, he said, attacks and thwarted operations in 2009-10 showed terrorist networks had altered strategies and priorities and reconnected with international support.
"The networks are able to survive – not only to survive but revive and launch well-planned new attacks," Mr Tito said.