By : Toni Ervianto *)

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, President Duterte claimed that the extremist Islamic State group would creep into Southeast Asia to establish a four-nation caliphate in the region. The president said the violent Islamic armed group might retreat to Southeast Asia if they were flushed out of Iraq and Syria, a distance of more than 8,000 kilometers. 

Duterte said the ISIS, these extremists, are fighting it out in Aleppo and Mosul. Once they run out of land base, they would retreat to the sea and escape. Its to be our problem now, because they have this dream of a caliphate kingdom that would be comprised of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. 

Duterte did not offer evidence for his claims, and he is known to have made outrageous statements in the past, but he raised the IS threat on the day The Jakarta Post reported the warning issued by the Indonesian Military (TNI) that the Islamic State (IS) group has been working to create a fully pledged wilayat (province) in the southern Philippines that would pose a serious security threat to Indonesia.

The report quoted TNI Commander General Gatot Nurmantyo as saying last Tuesday that the IS has been losing ground in Iraq and Syria to internationally backed anti-IS forces and has started building its base in Mindanao, which shares its borders with Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

Meanwhile, the United States is helping Southeast Asian allies do more to prevent the Islamic State group from gaining a greater foothold in the area. The IS has already established a presence in several countries across the region including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines, and authorities worry both about domestic attacks and nationals traveling to join the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. 

According to General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the United States is helping partners share intelligence and information on extremist groups.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, there has been a surge in attacks and attempted attacks this year due to the growing influence of IS. According to Dunford, more Indonesians have left to join IS in Iraq and Syria, and hundreds from the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said he was meeting with regional defense ministers next week at a summit in Hawaii and IS would be one subject of discussion. "Southeast Asia clearly is a place (IS aspires) to spreading," Carter said.

 Risk Assessment in the Regional Meeting on Terrorism Financing 2016 South East Asia and Australia in Bali, Indonesia has mentioned in the category of very threatened. The movement of ISIS is quite intense recently. It also develops in some regions in Asia such as in the Philippines and Indonesia. 

In general, those movement give their supports to the caliphate established by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In the development, ISIS’ supporters in Indonesia are not centralized in one area but spreading in several cities. This shows that ISIS’ influence in Indonesia is getting wider especially considering that effectively utilize social media to spread its influence.

Handling Terrorism Issue

Now, terrorism attacks is a specter for all of countries in the world specially for the United States and their allies, because a terror groups have a huge capacity to attacking the interest of United States through their “lone wolf" who was sworn to loyal to IS. A number of lone wolf which was happened in South Dakota, Colorado, Washington, New York, Burlington, Nice, Montplier in France and a number cities in Germany, Belgium, Turkey etc had been shown that the deadly attack of a terror groups were haunting the United States and their allies. 

Naturally, if then the United States and their allies are seeking a deep relationship with a number of Southeast Asia countries which has been decided as recruitment base of Islamic States. 

The United States and their allies are trying to work with them to develop a framework within which they can share information and share intelligence. They are absolutely working close with our partners, and frankly, the limit of the support we provide is often what they are willing to accept politically.

Cooperation to combat the threat of terrorism is a solution and the best strategy, but these activities should be done in mutual respect and not become an excuse for the United States to accuse as the hive of terrorists so legitimately taken "pre-emptive strikes" to countries that reject it.

*) The writer earned his master degree at the University of Indonesia (UI). Earned his bachelor degree on political sciences at the University of Jember

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