Hawzah News Agency (Jakarta, Indonesia) ISIS is seeking a foothold in the prisons of Indonesia, a country with the world’s largest Muslim population and significant poverty.
The Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict is warning in a report that the government’s attempt to stop in-prison radicalization is ineffective.
One example cited in the report: Prison authorities allowed the ISIS de facto Indonesia leader to operate a cellphone and website to disseminate terrorist propaganda. Those tools helped him do something else: remotely organize a deadly January 2016 attack in downtown Jakarta, authorities say.
With the ISIS, also known as ISIL and Daesh, operating a base in the Middle East and expanding into Afghanistan, and Europe, the U.S. military would be hard-pressed to stamp out yet another pop-up stronghold in the multiple islands of Indonesia.
“The obstacles to effective prison management remain overwhelming,” said Sidney Jones, IPAC director and an analyst on South Asia terrorism. “Prisons are overcrowded and understaffed, corruption is rife and inadequate budgets make it easier for well-funded extremists to recruit inmates when they can offer extra food. No deradicalization program is going to be effective unless some of these issues are addressed.”