REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- President Joko Widodo said that the reestablishment of "Koopsusgab" (Joint Special Forces Operations Command) was aimed at giving security to the community. it would act only in a situation beyond the police's capacity, he assured.

He made the statement at a fast-breaking gathering with heads of state institutions, cabinet ministers, Islamic leaders, members of the boards of Kadin (chamber of commerce and industry) and Hipmi (young entrepreneurs association) at the state palace.

According to Jokowi, the establishment of the command of joint special forces from Kopassus (the army's special unit), Paskhas (the air force's special unit) and the marine forces is aimed at giving a sense of security to the people. They will only act in a situation beyond the police's capacity.

"It means preventive measure would be more important than repressive action," he said here on Friday.

Preventive measures would aim to protect educational institutions and the public domain from the misleading ideology that was terrorism. Jokowi said right now the government was seeking to frame the bill on terrorism to crush the ideology.

On Wednesday, the chief of presidential staff, General (ret) Moeldoko, had said he wished to revive the Koopsusgab, which consisted of special forces from the army, the navy and the air force, to deal with terrorism crimes. "I reported it to President Joko Widodo and he was interested in it. Later we will talk about it with the commander of the defence forces (Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto)," he had said.

Koopsusgab was first established by Moeldoko when he was commander of the defence forces (TNI) in 2015 to deal with terrorism problems. Koopsusgab consists of the 90 best soldiers from Kopassus, Denjaka (the navy's special forces) and Paskhas.

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The Koopsusgab forces were trained in formulating a doctrine and mapping terrorism threats so that they were ready to be deployed swiftly.At the time, Koopsusgab was headquartered in Sentul, West Java.

Moeldoko had said the joint forces had been frozen and so a presidential approval was needed to revive it.

The Koopsusgab was reestablished following recent terrorist attacks in Surabaya, East Java. Thirteen people were killed and 43 others injured in attacks on three churches in Surabaya.

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