Anti-Terrorism Policy Reform in Indonesia: Consequences and Implications for Internal and External Counterterrorism Cooperation

Abstract

This thesis investigates the implications and consequences for Indonesia's counterterrorism efforts should its military succeed in carving out a greater internal security role through the passage of the proposed revision of Anti-Terrorism Law (No. 15/2003). This research project used a mixed-methods approach that employed quantitative and qualitative analysis of three of Indonesia's existing anti-terrorism policies (i.e., 2002 Defence Law (No. 3/2002), Armed Forces Law (No. 34/2004), Presidential Regulation (No. 46)) in conjunction with one counterterrorism case study (i.e., Counterterrorism Operations in Poso) in order to determine what effects the policies had on the country's civil-military relations, outcome effectiveness of counterterrorism operations, and regional counterterrorism cooperation. The research findings demonstrated that when taken as a whole, the three existing anti-terrorism policies had a significant effect on Indonesia's civil-military relations, outcome effectiveness of counterterrorism operations, and regional counterterrorism cooperation. From our findings, we drew conclusions about what potential effects the proposed revision of Anti-Terrorism Law (No. 15/2003) would likely have on Indonesia's future counterterrorism efforts should the revision be implemented. The research concludes that should Indonesia pass the revision to Anti-Terrorism Law (No. 15/2003), there would likely be a worsening of Indonesia's civil-military relations, increased outcome effectiveness of Indonesia's counterterrorism operations, and increased counterterrorism cooperation between Indonesia and its regional counterterrorism partners.