REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SYDNEY -- Australian Attorney-General, George Brandis, has no doubt at all that Islamic State (ISIS) is seeking to establish a distant caliphate in Indonesia, either directly or through surrogates. In comments made to Australian newspaper during high-level security meetings in Jakarta between Australian and Indonesian ministers and security officials, Brandis said ISIS has identified Indonesia as a location of its ambitions.

“ISIS has ambitions to elevate its presence and level of activity in Indonesia, either directly or through surrogates. You’ve heard the expression the ‘distant caliphate’? ISIS has a declared intention to establish caliphates beyond the Middle East, provincial caliphates in effect," he said, as quoted from The Guardian.

In further remarks, he warned Australia and Indonesia were very vulnerable to terrorism, particularly ISIS-inspired terrorism.

But Greg Fealey, an expert in Islamism and Indonesian politics from the Australian National University, said ISIS was not the major Islamist risk in Indonesia, despite comprising the larger part of the approximately 300 foreign fighters who have left the country for the middle east.

“I’m a bit skeptical, most scholars looking at ISIS in south-east Asia and particularly in Indonesia are not convinced that ISIS has big plans for Indonesia,” Fealey stated.

He added, he has not seen ISIS sending fighters back to Indonesia or Malaysia to undertake terrorist operations. There has not been a statement from ISIS centrally, indicating they would seek to establish a caliphate in south-east Asia or Indonesia.

Australian Justice Minister, Michael Keenan, said sharing intelligence and policing resources were how the two countries could work together to counter the virulent and violent message that is put out by ISIS in the Middle East, particularly over social media. Aside from foreign fighters, the two governments identified cyber-security as a future area of co-operation.

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