Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Just one month before his mandate ends, the incumbent Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is cracking down on Islamic terrorism - perhaps for the first time - announcing "deterrent" measures against those who want to join the jihadist cause. The warning from the head of state is particularly aimed at those who want to join the militias of the Islamic State in the Middle East, or attempt to create local cells. The President has prepared and distributed a seven-point plan, based on the constant "monitoring" of suspicious persons, to prevent them joining the local IS and block the flow of Indonesian recruits to Syria and Iraq.
The outgoing administration's latest crackdown on Islamic terrorism is underscored by the recent arrest in Poso of four Turkish citizens and some Indonesians for "links" with the local extremist fringe of the Islamic state. "We sent a clear signal - said the Minister Djoko Suyanto - that issuing pasports will be more seriously montiroed". And the same goes for the issue of visas in third countries, including Turkey.
President Yudhoyono also announced swift operations and determined action against foreign nationals who are terror suspects; the major controls will also cover the prisons in which fundamentalist leaders and their followers are kept. The government also announced a more constant monitoring in sensitive areas of the country like Ambon and Poso, theater in the past of violent sectarian clashes between extremist Muslims and Protestant Christiansor the city of Solo in central Java and other areas of East Java.
Analysts and local political experts emphasize Yudhoyono's impressive u-turn in the fight against Islamic terrorism, a few weeks ahead of his end of term which lasted a decade and during which was lackluster in the fight against domestic extremism and confessional violence. Perhaps, some warn, the change is also due to the increased pressure exerted by the international community, in particular the United States, determined to eradicate the threat of an Islamic state.
As AsiaNews recently reported, fundamentalist movements and local Muslim leaders been inspired by the exploits of the Sunni fighters and intend to support the struggle for the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate, which has now been extended also to Asia. Extremist cells and members active in recruitment are present as much in Indonesia, as in neighboring Malaysia; its members are already operating in the area in preparation for attacks and targeted attacks against pubs, discos and bars "dreaming of the Islamic caliphate."
