Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a terrorist organisation with cadres all over Southeast Asia has been facing strong anti-terror measures from Indonesia. The Indonesian police have arrested more than 200 terror suspects in the last two years and have been successful in killing or arresting major leaders. The most important arrest was that of Abu Dujana, the head of JI, who was arrested on 10 June 2007 along with six other terrorists. The arrests were a major achievement by Detachment 88, an Indonesian anti-terror taskforce trained by the US and Australian police after the Bali bomb blasts by the JI. While not banned in Indonesia, the JI has been proscribed in Australia and the US. The Indonesian government has not banned the organisation due to lack of any apparent organisational structure but has been taking stringent action against the outfit. The Al Qaeda-linked group has been blamed for a series of bloody bombings in Indonesia since 2000.

The success against the JI has been possible due to the adoption of a two pronged strategy of involving clerics in conjunction with the security forces. The religious leaders declared jihad as un-islamic and a sin. Meanwhile, the police took a strong stance against the perpetrators of terrorism. These steps forced JI leaders like Noordin Top and Abu Dujana to either go to safe places or move to southern Philippines. Due to links between Abu Sayyaf (the Philippines-based terrorist group with links to Al Qaeda) and JI, southern Philippines became the rendezvous for JI. The problem started when Philippines also undertook concerted action against Abu Sayyaf group with logistical assistance from US forces. The results were comprehensive - including dismantling of the organisation structure of Abu Sayyaf and killing of their leader Khadafy Janjalani and his senior aide Jainal Antel Sali - alias Abu Solaiman and some other prominent leaders. This led to fleeing of the JI terrorists who had sought refuge in the area. Owing to a very strong stance taken by governments in Southeast Asia and intelligence and information sharing among various police organisations in the region, assisted by US and Australian agencies, JI leaders found it difficult to hide and regroup. The arrest of Abu Dujana was a classic example of organised efforts of police backed with support from civil society.

Abu Dujana, an Afghan-trained terrorist, rose to higher ranks in the JI owing to his young age and fluency in Arabic, which made him a link between the JI and Al Qaeda. Abu Dujana had replaced Abu Rusdan alias Hambali as the head and military commander of the JI four years ago and is the most important catch for Detachment 88 to date. Abu Dujana had a reward of Rupiah 500 million announced by Indonesian authorities and his capture could lead to an unraveling of JI networks in and around Indonesia.

The recent turn of events put a question mark on the likely fallout of Abu Dujana's arrest. Indonesia would be trying hard to keep the terrorist leader at a safe place while other JI leaders would be seeking ways to install a new JI head in place of Abu Dujana. But these events also have repercussions like the formation of new splinter groups as has happened following the arrest of Abu Rusdan. Umar Patek, the JI bomb maker had tried to float a new terror outfit while Noordin Top, the JI fund manager had also nurtured an outfit named Tanzim Qaedat Al Jihad. JI has also tried to show its youthful character by forming a specialized attack group of 200 cadres to launch attacks on important targets. JI has time and again launched attacks whenever their important leaders have been caught or killed, so as to prove their strength and support. Since Australia has been at the forefront of providing assistance to Indonesian police in the arrests of JI leaders, it might be possible that JI will launch attacks either in Australia, where it has an operating unit (Mantiqui) or attack Australian citizens as has happened during the first Bali bombings. JI might have been at the receiving end but it will likely continue trying to incite Muslim-Christian clashes in Sulawesi in Indonesia in order to find a safe haven.

Indonesia has also been trying to introduce a counter-radicalisation bill so as to thwart any jihadist groups attempting to enroll new cadres through the pesantrens and also to monitor radical Islamic elements in the society. The Indonesian government which has been facing problems while countering radicals in society has tried hard not to allow rifts between its various ethnic groups, which could be exploited by Muslim extremists, as well as to not tow the US line with regard to war on terror.