REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Internet has become the main vehicle for terrorists to plan out their actions as well as recruit members for their radical groups, First Deputy of the National Agency for Combating Terrorism's Prevention, Protection and De-radicalization division, Major General Abdul Rahman Kadir, stated.
"The virtual world is easily accessible; there are no solid controls, regulation, and rules. The audience within it can be very broad, even anonymous at times; the communication can be done instantly, and it is cheap and has multimedia features. In the bigger picture, the internet has become our source of misery, but fulfilling our needs at the same time," he said, as cited in a press statement received here on Wednesday.
The varying facilities and ease of accessing them have become the reasons for the rapid spread of radicalism through the virtual world. Terrorists are taking advantage of the social networking platforms and targeting the youth who spend a lot of time browsing through social media, he added, during the Public Lecture on Radical Terrorism Prevention in the Jogjakarta Air Force Academy that took place on Wednesday.
The forum was attended by approximately 700 participants, who are students of local universities and schools, air force, navy, and army, as well as police academies, community figures, and mass organizations members.
Also present was the Main Secretary of the Agency, Major General Gautama Wiranegara, who represented the Head of the Agency Commissioner General Suhardi Alius.
The advancement of information technology has also altered the radical group's propaganda pattern from conventional means to more modern means that they are using today, which are through media and cyberspace.
"Previously, recruitment measures for terrorism groups were done through kinship, friendship, and religious institutions. They had to carry out face-to-face indoctrination and recruitment. It is different now, as terrorism now spread through websites, social media, and instant messenger applications," he revealed.
One of the examples of the pattern is when a perpetrator was caught in the Bintara area of Bekasi while preparing to commit suicide bombing at the State Palace in Bintara, Bekasi. The perpetrator, who is a woman, was recruited through the internet after the online marriage with a member of a radical group.
Initially, radical groups would use websites to carry out their propaganda, but once instant messaging applications emerged, they switched over to the applications, even to online gaming sites, Rahman continued.
"All in all, terrorist groups use the internet to engage in psychological warfare, propaganda, fundraising, and data. They also use it to carry out discussions among themselves," he explained.
He believed that terrorism has become an international issue rather than a local one.
"No nation in this world is immune to the threats of radical influences. Previously, terrorism used to exist only in certain parts of the world, but now, it has spread all around the globe," he concluded.
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