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Tag: radicals

  • MHA: Five Maids Worked In Singapore Radicalised But Did Not Pose Imminent Security Threat

    MHA: Five Maids Worked In Singapore Radicalised But Did Not Pose Imminent Security Threat

    In the past two years, five maids working in Singapore were radicalised, although they “did not pose an imminent security threat” at the time, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

    The maids were among some 70 foreigners investigated during that period, and had been radicalised through social media. Some of the foreigners were later deported after the authorities in their home countries were informed of their cases.

    The statement yesterday came after Indonesia’s anti-terror police commandos rounded up four women in the past week on suspicion of terrorism. Among them was Dian Yulia Novi, 27. She had worked in Singapore between 2008 and 2009, said an MHA spokesman.

    Dian had allegedly been planning to mount a suicide bomb attack on the presidential palace in Jakarta. In a television interview broadcast last Tuesday, she said she was first exposed to radical Islam through Facebook by opening profiles of extremists while working as a maid abroad.

    She worked for a family with three children here, and as a maid for three years in Taiwan.

    But Dian did not show signs of being radicalised during her time in Singapore, said the MHA spokesman, who added: “Our security agencies are in contact with their counterparts regarding her case.”

    Most of the 70 foreigners investigated in the past two years “were radicalised through their exposure to radical propaganda on social media”, said MHA. Some then radicalised others using radical propaganda from online sources.

    The Straits Times understands that the five maids were among those radicalised via social media.

    While they did not plan to carry out acts of violence in Singapore at the time they were investigated, their presence posed a security concern for Singapore, MHA said.

    Six Bangladeshis charged with offences under the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act are serving their sentences here.

    With radicalisation through the Internet being a worldwide phenomenon, MHA said social media platform owners have to ensure “their platforms are not used to promote radicalism and terrorism”.

    A more effective approach in the longer term may be sensitising the public to the dangers of extremist rhetoric and equipping them with social media literacy so they will not be vulnerable to terrorist propaganda online, added the ministry. Those who notice people showing signs of radicalisation should inform the authorities.

    “The security agencies meanwhile continue to work closely with their foreign counterparts to share intelligence on terrorism activities,” said MHA.

    Dian was a member of a cell based in Solo, Central Java. She had hidden a “rice cooker” bomb in her room, where she was arrested on Dec 10.

    The arrests of Dian and three other women mark a shift in strategy, with Indonesian militants recruiting women instead of men to mount attacks, national police chief Tito Karnavian has said.

    Maids from Indonesia said they were worried about being typecast after the news.

    “It affects us too because people will think other Indonesians will end up the same way,” said Ms Sri Hartatik, 35, who has worked here for 11 years. “It is common for Muslims, including domestic workers here, to read about religion on social media,” she said. But not everyone does so, she added, and neither does she.

    Mr Gary Chin, chief executive of maid agency Nation Employment, said that employers should watch out for sudden changes in their helpers’ behaviour, show them concern and take an interest in who their friends are.

    “If they sense anything amiss, they should inform the agency as well, so that we can arrange for counsellors or family members to speak to the domestic helper.”

    Dr Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, noted that militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is investing heavily in recruiting in cyber space.

    While Singapore has secured its physical space, it “now needs to better protect its citizens and residents, including the labour population, from cyber radicalisation”.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Indonesia Police Chief Warns Of Growing Role Of Women In Terrorism

    Indonesia Police Chief Warns Of Growing Role Of Women In Terrorism

    National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said Friday that terrorist groups have developed a new trend of recruiting women to launch attacks in the country.

    “Using women to carry out acts of terror is becoming increasingly more popular with terror groups because women are seen as less suspicious,” Tito told the press on the sidelines of a ceremony at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta, adding that recruiting women for terrorism was not new in other parts of the world.

    The National Police have arrested three women that have been implicated in a foiled plot to bomb the State Palace. The women include Dian Yulia Novi, Tutin, alias Ummu Abza, and Arinda Putri. They are suspects for their roles in planning and preparing for the thwarted attack.

    The three women are affiliated with the Surakarta terrorist cell, which was reportedly planning to attack the State Palace under the guidance of Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian jihadist who is currently fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.

    National Police Spokesperson Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said that the police had anticipated involvement of women in terrorist groups in the the country but did not expect that women would take on direct and core roles in planning attacks.

    “Terrorist groups here are recruiting women to avoid suspicion when carrying out attacks. It’s a new strategy to deceive the targets,” Boy said.

     

    Source:www.thejakartapost.com

  • Study: Indonesian Jails Are Breeding Grounds For Terrorists

    Study: Indonesian Jails Are Breeding Grounds For Terrorists

    Prisons in Indonesia, notorious for being overpopulated and under- staffed, remain a fertile breeding ground for pro-ISIS militants, according to a new study.

    These structural problems within the prison system will continue to defeat efforts in deradicalisation, disengagement and rehabilitation, say analysts from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (Ipac) in a report released yesterday.

    As a result, inmates loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are able to recruit and radicalise fellow prisoners with impunity, as well as direct attacks from behind bars, says the study by the Jakarta-based think-tank.

    “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,” Ipac director Sidney Jones said yesterday.

    “No deradicalisation programme is going to be effective unless some of these issues are addressed.”

    There are more than 200,000 inmates in 477 correctional facilities across Indonesia, of which some 300 or more prisons and detention centres are overcrowded.

    The worst is a facility in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, which has more than six times its capacity, leading the warden to turn toilet areas into holding cells.

    Indonesia has about 16,500 prison officers, most of whom have not been adequately trained in areas including the handling of high-risk inmates. With these officers on different shifts in a day, only some 3,650 staff are on duty at any one time.

    This represents a ratio of about one officer to 55 inmates, making it almost impossible to closely monitor all prisoners, including 220 terrorist convicts.

    While the number of inmates in jail for terrorism-related activities is low relative to the total prison population, the stakes are far higher with these “high-risk” offenders.

    The risk is exacerbated with the rising number of terrorist convicts, with more than 120 jailed this year.

    The radicalisation of common criminals by pro-ISIS inmates in prison continues to be a nightmare for both the police and prison officials, according to Ipac.

    At least 18 former criminal offenders have been involved in terrorism cases in Indonesia since 2010, and most were radicalised in prison.

    In one case, an inmate was recruited after he was involved in fights. Two others were recruited because they wanted better food, or had found the tight-knit community of terrorist inmates appealing.

    Another factor in the radicalisation of inmates is the presence of jailed ideologues such as Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of the old Jemaah Islamiah terror network, and Aman Abdurrahman, who is said to have ordered the Jan 14 attack in Jakarta which killed eight people, including the four perpetrators.

    Both Bashir and Aman are known to have followers in and out of prison, and have played active roles in the radicalisation of inmates.

    Efforts have since been made to isolate the militant leaders to prevent the spread of violent ideology.

    The Ipac report also says there is “probably no alternative to isolating the most hardline extremist prisoners in one or two facilities with specially trained staff so that controls on visitors, communications and outside donations can be strictly enforced”.

    Meanwhile, lawmakers on Tuesday asked Parliament for more time to deliberate on proposed legislative changes to beef up the country’s anti-terrorism laws.

    These include allowing the police to hold suspects involved in terror attack plots for up to six months, instead of a week, as well as making it an offence for citizens to join militant groups such as ISIS overseas.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Jakarta Terror Suspect Worked As Maid In Singapore

    Jakarta Terror Suspect Worked As Maid In Singapore

    JAKARTA: A woman who was planning to be a suicide bomber had worked in Singapore as a maid.

    Dian Yulia Novi was arrested in an anti-terror raid last week for plotting to attack the Presidential Palace in the capital.

    The 27-year-old was arrested minutes after two men who delivered the bomb were ambushed by Densus 88, a counter-terrorism squad, in east Jakarta on Saturday.

    A fourth man, who made the rice cooker bomb, was later caught in Karanganyar, Central Java.

    In an interview with TVOne news channel broadcasted on Tuesday, Dian, who is from Cirebon in West Java, said she had worked in Singapore for 1½ years for a household with three children, aged five, nine and 11.

    Indonesian media said she had worked here in 2014.

    Dian was interviewed while in custody. She said she was “active” on social media and spoke in English while in Singapore.

    While working as a maid, she wore a headscarf but not a veil, and she never took a day off, she said.

    She had also worked as a maid in Taiwan for three years.

    Dian said she was first exposed to radical Islam through Facebook while working as a maid abroad.

    Said Dian: “On Facebook, I opened profiles of extremists, who had inspired me. I did not join any groups, just looked through but became more curious.”

    She also collected articles and audio clips of religious teachings on the Internet.

    When asked whether she feared God’s wrath for wanting to hurt people on a massive scale, she said: “This suicide bombing is not about me feeling hopeless and wanting to end my life but to get the blessing from God and get priority in jihad ‘fisabilillah’.

    “It is an Arabic expression which means ‘struggle for the sake of Allah’.”

    She said she was introduced to her husband, Nur Solihin, one of the three arrested in the raid, by somebody on social media, and she communicated with him on Telegram, an instant messaging service.

    They got married three months ago, despite Dian knowing he was already married and has children.

    The couple had not even exchanged photographs or met each other.

    Dian did not turn up for her wedding, sending a representative for the marriage solemnisation, she said.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • 253 Individu Disyaki Terlibat ISIS Ditahan Di Malaysia Sejak 2013

    253 Individu Disyaki Terlibat ISIS Ditahan Di Malaysia Sejak 2013

    KUALA LUMPUR: Seramai 34 wanita yang disyaki mempunyai kaitan dengan kumpulan militan ISIS ditahan di Malaysia sejak 2013 hingga 7 Oktober lalu.

    Keseluruhannya, 255 individu termasuk 221 lelaki ditahan dalam tempoh itu.

    Kementerian Dalam Negeri menyatakan demikian dalam jawapan bertulis yang diedarkan di Dewan Rakyat hari ini (17 Nov).

    Sebanyak 140 daripada individu yang ditahan itu berumur kurang 30 tahun dan selebihnya berumur 30 tahun dan ke atas, menurut kementerian itu bagi menjawab soalan Er Teck Hwa (DAP-Bakri) berhubung jumlah individu yang ditangkap kerana terlibat gerakan militan ISIS.

    Kementerian itu menjelaskan, 121 individu sudah dikenakan tindakan di bawah Akta Kesalahan Keselamatan (Langkah-Langkah Khas) 2012 manakala 36 individu diambil tindakan mengikut Akta Pencegahan Jenayah 1959 dan 13 lagi mengikut Akta Pencegahan Keganasan 2015.

    “Sebanyak 21 warga asing sudah diusir dari Malaysia manakala 64 individu telah dibebaskan,” menurutnya.

    Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg