Posted on 01/22/2016 9:18:58 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Late last week, ISIS claimed its first attack in Indonesia, which might be a signal that the group is seeking to expand its reach in southeast Asia, according to The New York Times and other news outlets.
Though the attack on a shopping center in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, is the first for which the terrorist group ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, and Daesh) has claimed responsibility in the country, smaller-scale attacks have been carried out by self-identified ISIS sympathizers in the region over the past year.
And it appears that ISIS didn't just take credit for the Jakarta attack after the fact. There's evidence that the group actually funded it, as The Associated Press reported last Friday.
Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian man who spent a year in jail in 2011 for weapons possession and is now allegedly fighting for ISIS in Syria, was reportedly the point of contact.
Only a very small percentage of the population in Indonesia is thought to be radicalized, but even a tiny percentage could lead to significant ramifications.
"In the last six months, we've seen a spike of planning for violence in Indonesia," Sidney Jones, a terrorism expert and the director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict in Jakarta, told The Times. "It's a desire to prove that jihadi groups are still alive and well in Indonesia and are committed to carrying out the ISIS agenda."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“JV”
“Contained”
B0 Stevedunhambarrysoetorobathhousebarrysoebarkah grew up in tolerant, moderate Islamic Indonesia. He has continued to become radicalized ever since.
Destroying ISIS may be time dependent. Unless we start the destruction process immediately, it may be too late if we wait too long because ISIS may have expanded its territory to a size that is too widespread for our Armed Forces to handle, effectively.
Several years ago a friend of mine on arrival in Indonesia got thrown in jail for having what they though was a tattoo of a mosque on his arm.
It was actually an unfinished tattoo of a castle and because it was unfinished it had no windows and because it had no windows they thought it looked like a mosque so into jail you go.
I flew into Indonesia to visit some friends and a few missionaries. Some friends of the missionaries asked if I could deliver some Christian educational materials to the missionaries. I accepted, but I did know the risks involved and the books were wrapped and sealed. At customs in Bali, I got randomly selected for bag inspection. Three Indonesian boys (between 18-25) with AK-47s opened my bag and searched my suitcase. One of them picked up the wrapped up books and asked me what the package was. Without hesitation I looked him square in the eye and I answered “reading material”. He stared at me for a bit and then put the books back in the suitcase and told me to move along.
That’s about as close as it has gotten for me.
Indonesia is a hodgepodge of cultures and variations of Islamic militancy. Following the Starbucks attack in Jakarta, there have been very serious threats against the very existence of Bali. ISIS may well be an intensification of Islamist threats but it is not without a long history of fundamental Islam.
The mohammedans have been active in SouthEast Asia, and I witnessed them, since 1970. I am sure they have been doing such before i got there, too!
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