Jail to jihad: Prisons a breeding ground for militancy

President Joko Widodo is considering a regulation that would prohibit Indonesians from joining radical groups overseas, in an effort to prevent attacks such as last week’s militant assault on Jakarta.

Mr Sutiyoso has proposed that intelligence officers also be given the authority to make arrests before an attack happens.

Security forces fear that returning jihadis may launch a much more calculated attack than Thursday’s amateurish assault using two pistols and 11 low-yield homemade bombs.

But critics have said that the new laws could be used as a tool of repression.

Senior officials in Jakarta said about 500 Indonesians have travelled to the conflict regions in Middle East to join militant groups. Almost 100 are believed to have returned to the Southeast Asian country in recent months. All of the major parties, however, have expressed at least some support for the measures, meaning they will most likely be approved by the Indonesian parliament. “Many people have left for Syria or returned”, he said, but did not say when a decision would be made.

The attack took place on a busy street in front of the Sarinah shopping complex, an aging mall that was once popular with the tourists looking for batik shirts or cheap Indonesian knick knacks. Its suspected mastermind, Indonesian national Bahrun Naim, is now thought to be in Syria with IS.

They urged the authorities to “show mercy” to him.

Hasan asserted the terrorism laws in Indonesia need to be broadened, because “there is nothing now covering people going overseas (to join radical groups) and returning”.

There is particular concern over the situation in Papua province, where the government is fighting a low-level separatist movement.

However, the planned laws have faced opposition from human rights organisations, some political figures and Islamic groups who argue that they are too authoritarian in nature and would mark a step back towards the powers that the police held under the brutal dictatorship of General Suharto.

Indonesia parliamentary speaker Zulkifli Hasan told Reuters that President Jokowi and other officials have agreed to review the anti-terrorism law to focus on prevention.

But another Islamic party, the PKS, said it would support the revisions as long as there were checks and balances.