Don't miss out on the latest news and information. Indonesian extremists from different pro-ISIS groups were looking to join them.
To learn about our use of cookies and how you can manage your cookie settings, please see our Register to receive personalised research and resources by emailRadicalisation in the Philippines: The Cotabato Cell of the “East Asia Wilayah” Institute for the Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), Jakarta, Indonesia/doi/full/10.1080/09546553.2018.1481190?needAccess=true JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE: Security specialist Sidney Jones (ph) says there's not a terror law anywhere in the world that has struck the perfect balance between human rights protections and … Sidney Jones Moro Islamic Liberation Front Fighters guarding a bridge, Maguindanao Province, Mindanao, the Philippines, August 2017 (Photo: Getty Images/Jes Aznar) Published 29 Aug 2017 17:41 0 Comments June 4, 2017; A Filipino soldier in Marawi City on Mindanao Island in the Philippines last month. Sidney Jones Sidney Jones is the director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, based in Jakarta.
The battle for Marawi in the southern Philippines is likely to have long-term repercussions for extremism in Southeast Asia.
philippines map showing mindinao MANILA, Philippines — The new anti-terrorism law is “flawed” and the Supreme Court should strike down objectionable provisions but the Philippines still needs a law to intensify its fight against terrorism, an analyst said in an online forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Friday.Jakarta-based terrorism expert Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, said the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which will become effective on July 18, might be flawed but it doesn’t stand alone in the world.“There isn’t a single terror law anywhere in the world that is completely satisfactory, and there isn’t anyone that made a perfect balance between human rights protection and what you may call repressive measures,” said Jones, formerly of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.But the country needs the flawed law because “the Philippines remains the regional hot spot and continues to be a more dangerous terrorist center than anywhere else in the region,” she said.Jones did not explain why she thought the Philippines was a worse terrorist hot spot than Indonesia or Malaysia, the sources of Islamist recruiters and perpetrators of suicide bombings in the Philippines, but she insisted that “that is the context for the development of the new law, flawed as it is.”“At least this should help in trying to keep people in custody while the process of investigation can go forward without having to result in phony charges and fake evidence,” said the former rights advocate.Jones also claimed that the new terror law “replaces one of the worst antiterrorism laws that were ever passed,” referring to the Human Security Act of 2007.“This law replaces one of the worst antiterrorism laws that was ever passed [Human Security Act of 2007] because it had so many safeguards that [were] never used, or almost never used … particularly, that personal liability provision,” she said.Jones was referring to several provisions in the Human Security Act of 2007 that penalizes security forces, with imprisonment and monetary restitution, for making false or unproven accusations. I should say, with all modesty, that our AFP today is more professional and more mature,” he said.Aside from its perceived violation of human and civil rights and disregard for judicial processes, Jones said the new law also lacked provisions for the rehabilitation of terrorists.“There is basically no room for rehabilitation. I think there is a danger of Marawi or the areas, or the ungoverned spaces in Mindanao, becoming possible training centres, but I don't think you have the numbers to actually constitute a South-East Asian Raqqa.EMMA ALBERICI: The Jihadists in Marawi right now, are they local or have they come from Iraq and Syria?SIDNEY JONES: Most of them are local.
Jones has examined separatist conflicts (Aceh, Papua, Mindanao); communal conflicts (Poso, Moluccas); and ethnic conflict (Kalimantan). And we don't know the answer to that.
How disturbed should we be by what's going on there in terms of the threat to the region more broadly?SIDNEY JONES: Well, I think there is no question that it's a very serious threat. San Francisco, California. Those provisions were removed in the new anti-terrorism law.But Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, chief of the Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, allayed fears of the possible abuse of the terror law.The AFP would “make sure we will not lose sight [of] the three operational guidelines that we are following: follow the rule of law, respect for human rights and strictly adhere to international humanitarian law,” Sobejana pledged.“We should not compare our Armed Forces before to what we have right now. They want to be a province of Islamic State. “The risk of violence continues to be very high, more from local pro-Isis elements,” said Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict. From 2002 to 2013, Jones worked with the International Crisis Group, first as Southeast Asia project director, then from 2007 as senior adviser to the Asia program. From 2002 to 2013, Jones worked with the International Crisis Group, first as Southeast Asia project director, then from 2007 as senior adviser to the Asia program. The control of Marawi city in the southern Philippines by ISIS-linked militants was in its third month. I wouldn't take that analogy too far. I do think there is a serious risk of more fighters coming into Marawi, particularly from Indonesia and Malaysia.