Why are more Indonesian women taking part in the bomb attacks? | Armed Groups News

Medan, Indonesia – Zakiah Aini, who dropped out of university at the age of 25, entered the headquarters of the Indonesian National Police in Jakarta on the last day of March, when he was venting a gun, was initially widespread, and perhaps allegedly a man.

But in recent years, more and more Indonesian women have been involved in violent attacks across the archipelago, especially people trained in ISIL in Syria (ISIS) to return to Syria and form Jamail Ansharut Daulah (a group linked to ISILs like JAD). ).

“ISIS created a permitting structure for women to enter more front-line roles,” terrorism and security analyst Judith Jacob of the London School of Economics told Al Jazeera. “By encouraging general calls for opportunistic attacks and followers to do what they can, it opens the door for women to eventually participate more easily in previous command and control structures that promote formal hierarchies that exclude women.”

As well as the attack on Ainik’s police headquarters, where he was shot dead by police, was the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Makassar in Sulawesi. He attacked Easter last week two suicide bombings less than seven months ago.

2018, A church in Surabaya on the island of Java was also attacked by a couple and four children., and another group of couples attacked a cathedral in Jolo, Philippines in 2019. At least 20 people were killed in that attack and dozens injured.

All the women involved in the attacks were believed to be linked to the JAD, sometimes referred to as the “ISIL of Southeast Asia”.

According to Jacob, it is important not to rule out or speculate on such attacks as the women involved were following men’s orders.

“Of course, this has many dimensions, but the first thing to get out of the way is the sexist and horrible idea that attracts or forces these women to participate,” she told Al Jazeera. “These women are active and willing participants in themselves and have always been a component of Indonesian Islamist militancy. The difference now is to move to a more active role or front lines.”

Continuing attack on the police headquarters, National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said Aini was a “lone wolf,” even though in a letter to his parents and siblings, he included a brief illustrated manifesto in which he was outraged by organizations like the perceived “free” Islamists. elections, banks and officials who do not comply with Syariah, including Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok jailed for blasphemy in 2017.

He also put up the ISIL flag before the attack on Instagram and was a member of the JAD in Aceh province and bought a used weapon from a man convicted of terrorism.

Noor Huda Ismail, a former member of the hard-working Darul Islam group that has since founded the International Institute for Peacebuilding and leads radicalization programs and workshops across Indonesia, told Al Jazeera that social media has involved direct violence against women.

“Historically in Indonesia, women had more support and were not directly involved in terrorism, even if they were part of terrorist families,” she said.

“There is no single reason for women to be involved in terrorism, but it is mostly driven by very private and emotional reasons.”

These may include revenge, amortization, or some relationship factors, such as the possibility of finding a partner in the case of a trip to Syria.

“Radicalization is not gender neutral and men and women experience it differently. We need to look at gender as a social construct and not in terms of biology. For example, the idea that men are inherently violent and women are peaceful. “

But, he warns, the study of gender in tough groups continues unabated.

“More research is needed to identify the drivers of women’s participation in violence. The government needs to work closely with civil society and the private sector to work on online and offline interventions. ”

Even within radical groups, there are discussions about the role of women.

A sign of despair?

A former male member of the JAD, speaking to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said that in ISIL circles it is permissible for women to take part in an attack on a party they consider hostile to “decide whether or not to participate” usually depends on the group planning such attacks.

Her part was that the JAD group “did not want to involve women in front-line attacks as part of the Surabaya JAD group’s strategy to attack women in the 2018 church bombings.”

Police dog officials examined the site of the May 2018 attack outside the Surabaya Center Pentecostal Church when at least nine people were killed. [File: Juni Kriswanto/AFP]

He adds that in addition to the psychological impact these attacks have on people, female aggressors are also used as a propaganda tool.

“Women are allowed to take part in front-line attacks in ISIS circles and it is used to stir up morale,” she said. “The intention is to spread the story: if women also dare to sacrifice their lives, what happens to men?”

However, there may also be more common and practical reasons for women to play a more active role.

“In 2017 we saw a more explicit call for women to participate in jihad against the enemy. You can see that ISIS is less feminist progress, but it is more necessary that they were on the back foot and needed to mobilize. All sectors called the caliphate to survive,” Jacob said.

Since the beginning of the year, the Densus 88 terrorist unit against Indonesia’s elites has carried out dozens of raids across Indonesia and arrested more than 100 suspects, including Munarman, the former secretary general. in the face of hard-line advocacy groups (FPI), and three other senior FPI officials in April and May, respectively.

Local authorities have also stepped up security throughout the archipelago since the bombing of Makassa in March, and since the Jakarta bombing, Ainik was thought to have entered the National Police headquarters more easily because she was a woman.

“The call from ISIS came at a good time and the security forces slowly took on the potential for women to plan and participate in attacks,” Jacob said.

“In the Indonesian context, these messages find a receptive audience with those who work with a relatively controversial network after relatively controversial repression and surveillance.”