[Wahono/BenarNews]
Perhaps the only positive thing about the COVID-19 pandemic is that it led to a decline in politically motivated violence in South and Southeast Asia in 2020.
There were hardly any major terrorist attacks and most of the primary secessionist insurgencies were less violent than in years past. The notable exception was the Arakan Army in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
The disarray of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in the Middle East manifested itself in Southeast Asia. Armed with new legal authorities, Indonesian police arrested some 205 members of IS-affiliated groups and killed roughly 10 more.
The loss of IS-central media platforms diminished the Islamic State brand and recruitment fell. In particular, the Indonesian government’s ongoing crackdown on Telegram weakened IS’s primary tool for radicalization and organization. The majority of attacks by Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) militants were rudimentary stabbings.