The siege of Marawi, the city on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao that has been engulfed by conflict between military forces and ISIS militants for the past three weeks, rages on with an estimated 1,500 civilians still unable to flee the chaos.
Here in Indonesia, alarm bells were set off by news that numerous fighters from local Islamist terrorist group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), as well as others, had gone to Mindanao to support ISIS-backed forces. It’s not only a sign of the growing threat ISIS poses to Southeast Asia, but, according to the commander of the Indonesian military, General Gatot Nurmantyo, the conflict in the Philippines could easily spill into Indonesia.
“ISIS could leap from Marawi to Bitung, Morotai, etc. It would be an easy step for them and we have to be alert,” Gatot said while attending a fast breaking event with a number of leaders from the national mass media at Balai Sudirman in South Jakarta yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
Gatot told the media that Indonesia had received intelligence from Bahrain 1.5 years ago indicating that ISIS had plans to move their base of power to the Philippines and Southeast Asia. He also warned that an influx of Islamic militants to Indonesia could potentially awaken ISIS ‘sleeper cells’, which he claimed existed in nearly every province of Indonesia.
“In almost every province there are ISIS sleeper cells, except for Papua,” he said as quoted by RMOL.com.
The general’s overall message to the media was for them to help the military by avoiding coverage that could increase social conflict and reminding Indonesians to immediately report any suspicious activity that could be linked to terrorism to authorities.
