Bali bombings: 10 years later, progress and some bumps ahead

Groups are also using the Internet to tap new members, while poor prison management has created another type of breeding ground, allowing those convicted of terrorism to spread their messages to other inmates.

“The radical groups are smart,” says Bonar Tigor Naipospos, the vice chairman of the Setara Institute, which advocates for pluralism and defends the rights of groups like the Ahmadiyah. “They’re trying to gain influence through speaking in forums, in meeting places, in mosques.”

Despite success in arresting suspected militants and breaking up terror plots, Indonesia has long had trouble countering the ideologies that drive individuals to commit acts of violence, say analysts.

Prevention campaigns

Since 2002, nongovernmental organizations have led small-scale prevention campaigns, reaching out to youths through comics or social media. Some have helped find employment for individuals convicted of terrorism once they’re released from prison. The government has also run ad hoc de-radicalization programs that involve giving economic assistance to the families of convicted terrorists or bringing Islamic clerics into prisons to advocate for nonviolence and peaceful interpretations of the Quran.

Some who have participated in or monitored the programs, however, say it was a half-hearted effort, lacking wider government support.

Some officials recognize these shortcomings. They say the government has been “negligent” in preventing youth from being led astray, but also say they struggle with how to crack down on certain groups without infringing on religious freedoms.

Leaders of the country’s mainstream Islamic organizations have also played a small role, saying it’s the job of the police and the government to enforce the law.

“If religious freedom is given to the free market … tension and conflict are unavoidable,” says Din Syamsuddin, the head of Muhammadiyah, the second-largest Islamic group in Indonesia with about 30 million members out of a total population of 240 million.

Some Muslim scholars say the reluctance within the government to stand up against Islamic groups that preach hatred stems from a fear of appearing un-Islamic.

But as new, small plots have surfaced over the past year –  last month 10 suspected militants allegedly planning attacks on police and lawmakers were arrested – the government seems to have been forced into a corner. It recently announced plans to establish a widespread national counter-terrorism program that would bring together different government ministries focused on religion and education with civil society groups and Muslim organizations.

The national counter-terrorism agency will lead the program once it gets into full swing, but for now it’s still trying to determine how new suspects are tied to old networks. Some are related to militants who trained for jihad in Afghanistan back in the 1980s and ‘90s. A series of arrests last month in Central Java, for instance, drew attention to a group calling itself “Al Qaeda Indonesia.”

Ansyaad Mbai, the director of Indonesia's National Counter-terrorism Agency, says the group is not new, but “newly uncovered.” Many analysts believe it is merely using the Al Qaeda name as part of a global trend of franchising the Al Qaeda brand.

Since these groups are small and lack the skills of earlier cells, they pose little threat at present. "The name is not important, they are bound by their ideology," says Mr. Mbai.

That's why analysts worry about the government's unwillingness to crackdown on radical preachers and vigilante groups and not focus more attention on de-radicalization or rehabilitation. Indonesia has seen worse, but, says Mr. Della-Giacoma of the International Crisis Group, "there needs to be more evaluation on what's working and what's not." 

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