Part 01; Media Release
The Indonesian government could reduce the circulation of illegal firearms by improving procedures for guarding and monitoring police and military armouries, conducting regular audits of gun importers and enforcing controls over the “airsoft” industry.
Illicit Arms in Indonesia , the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines four sources of illegal guns in Indonesia: theft or illegal purchase from the security forces, leftover stockpiles in conflict areas, manufacture by local gunsmiths and smuggling. The issue has come to public attention after a rash of high-profile robberies and the discovery in February that weapons used in a terrorist training camp came from old police stocks.
“The problem should be manageable because Indonesia has one of the lowest rates of civilian gun ownership in the world”, says Sidney Jones, Crisis Group’s Senior Adviser. “The problem is that corruption undermines what on paper is a tight system of regulation”.
There are several major gaps in the system of gun control now in place. While civilians were not supposed to own weapons for self-defence after 2005, enforcement of the new policy was decidedly lax and online sales of firearms continue. Procedures for storage of guns by military and police seem stringent but armouries in many areas are neither as well-guarded or inventoried as they should be, as evidenced by the trial that began last week of two police officers suspected of selling 28 guns to jihadis from a warehouse for outdated weapons. A homemade gun industry continues to produce illegal pistols that fire real bullets. While customs inspections have improved in recent years, smuggling of small quantities of weapons from abroad remains a problem, with some contractors operating in the gray area between legal imports and illegal sales.
One area that needs more attention is the regulation of the hugely popular “airsoft” guns that replicate trademark models of pistols and assault rifles but fire plastic pellets. Initially considered toys like paintball guns, they were included in 2004 regulations on civilian gun ownership after they began to be used in the commission of crimes. There is no enforcement, however, and stores in Jakarta sell them over the counter without permits. Terrorists are attracted to airsoft guns because they can hone their military skills on them, and some dealers advertise in Indonesian jihadi magazines and websites.
The briefing looks at smuggling routes from Thailand used in the past by the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) and from Mindanao used by Jemaah Islamiyah, KOMPAK and other extremist groups. While GAM is no longer in the gun-buying business, the routes and contacts are important to understand because they can be used by others, including drug dealers and jihadi groups.
Indonesia is in much better shape than most of its neighbours with respect to illegal guns. “Unlike Thailand or the Philippines, Indonesia has no ‘gun culture’, and the scale of the problem remains relatively small”, says Jim Della-Giacoma, Crisis Group’s South East Asia Project Director. “Addressing it has taken on a new urgency, however, as extremist groups, worried about Muslim casualties in bombings, have begun to discuss targeted killings as a preferred method of attack”.
A bloody bank robbery in Medan in August 2010 and the discovery in Aceh in February 2010 of a terrorist training camp using old police weapons have focused public attention on the circulation of illegal arms in Indonesia. These incidents raise questions about how firearms fall into criminal hands and what measures are in place to stop them. The issue has become more urgent as the small groups of Indonesian jihadis, concerned about Muslim casualties in bomb attacks, are starting to discuss targeted killings as a preferred method of operation.
The Indonesian government could begin to address the problem by reviewing and strengthening compliance with procedures for storage, inventory and disposal of firearms; improved vetting and monitoring of those guarding armouries; auditing of gun importers and gun shops, including those that sell weapons online; and paying more attention to the growing popularity of “airsoft” guns that look exactly like real ones but shoot plastic pellets.
The problem needs to be kept in perspective, however. It is worth addressing precisely because the scale is manageable. Indonesia does not have a “gun culture” like the Philippines or Thailand. The number of people killed by terrorist gunfire in Indonesia over the last decade is about twenty, more than half of them police, and most of the deaths took place in post-conflict central Sulawesi and Maluku. The nexus between terrorism and crime is not nearly as strong as in other countries. There have been a few cases of bartering ganja (marijuana) for guns – and one case of trading endangered anteaters – but in general, narco-terrorism is not a problem.
Jihadi use of armed robberies as a fund-raising method is a more serious issue, with banks, gold stores and ATMs the favourite targets. As of this writing it remained unclear who was behind the Medan robbery – although criminal thugs remain the strongest possibility – but jihadi groups have robbed Medan banks before, most notably the Lippo Bank in 2003. Such crimes constitute a miniscule proportion of the country’s robberies, but it is still worth looking at where the guns come from when they occur. The problem may increase as the larger jihadi groups weaken and split, particularly those that once depended on member contributions for financing day-to-day activities. Recruitment by jihadis of ordinary criminals in prisons may also strengthen the linkage between terrorism and crime in the future.
There are four main sources of illegal guns in Indonesia. They can be stolen or illegally purchased from security forces, taken from leftover stockpiles in former conflict areas, manufactured by local gunsmiths or smuggled from abroad. Thousands of guns acquired legally but later rendered illicit through lapsed permits have become a growing concern because no one has kept track of them. Throughout the country, corruption facilitates the circulation of illegal arms in different ways and undermines what on paper is a tight system of regulation. (ICG)
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