Indonesia looks to joint patrols with Malaysia and Philippines to fight extremists

Jakarta wants to prevent ISIL militants who have laid siege to a city in the southern Philippines from entering its territorial waters.

JAKARTA // Indonesia is looking to set up joint patrols with the Philippines and Malaysia to prevent ISIL militants who have laid siege to a city in the southern Philippines from entering its territorial waters.

Indonesia’s military chief, Gen Gatot Nurmantyo said he and Ryamizard Ryacudu, the defence minister, would meet next week with their counterparts from Malaysia and the Philippines on Indonesia’s Tarakan island in northern Borneo, just across the border from Sabah, Malaysia.

He said they will discuss increasing security and signing an agreement to step up joint patrols.

The siege of Marawi has raised fears that ISIL’s violent ideology is gaining a foothold in the Philippines’ restive south, where Muslim separatists have fought for greater autonomy for decades.

Gen Nurmantyo said Indonesia needs to be aware of the movement of ISIL-aligned militants in the Philippines who assaulted Marawi three weeks ago because Indonesia already has sleeping cells that most likely have been long embedded in the country.

Authorities in Indonesia have carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since the 2002 bombings by Al Qaeda-affiliated radicals that killed 202 people in Bali. In recent years, it has faced a new threat as the rise of ISIL in the Middle East has breathed new life into South East Asian militant networks and raised concerns about the risk of Indonesian fighters returning home.

Marawi is located about 500 kilometres north of Sangihe island in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province.

Maj Gen Ganip Warsito, the regional military chief overseeing the closest areas to neighbouring Philippines said Indonesian army, navy and air force have deployed extra troops to boost security in the region.

“So far, we have not found any indication of Islamic militants infiltrating from the Philippines to our territory,” Maj Gen Warsito said. “We have conducted intelligence, territorial and combat operations to anticipate it.”

* Associated Press