Surprised Fadli Zon, Kompolnas: The Best Indonesian Detachment 88 In The World

JAKARTA - Member of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) Poengky Indarti appreciates the performance of the Special Detachment 88 Anti-terror Team (Densus) of the Indonesian National Police which is considered effective and professional, even being one of the best anti-terror detachments in the world.

Poengky said that he was surprised and regretted if there was a statement from members of the DPR stating that Densus 88 should be disbanded because of Islamophobia and making terrorists a commodity.

"Densus 88 since its establishment until now has succeeded in enforcing the law against terrorists in Indonesia, and even with its achievements, Densus 88 is one of the best anti-terror detachments in the world," said Poengky, quoted by Antara, Friday, October 8.

Kompolnas as the functional supervision of the National Police, including Densus 88 in it, said Poengky, highly appreciates the performance of Densus 88 which is very effective and professional.

Not only Kompolnas, the international community has also highlighted the professionalism of the performance of Densus 88. Poengky also shared several articles containing narratives about Densus 88 Anti-terror. As in 2016, Reuters wrote an article entitled "Fighting back: How Indonesia's elite police turned the tide on militarism".

In the article, Greg Barton, Professor of Research and Export of Terrorism at Global Islamic Politics at Melbourne's Alfred Deakin Institute, said Densus 88 had become better than any other counterterrorism group in the world.

The next article in 2018 was written by The Conversation with the title "How Indonesia's counter-terrorism a model for the region".

Poengky also shared an article on the statement of Sidney Jones, an observer on terrorism issues from the International Crisis Group published by Republik.co.id entitled "Sidney Jones: The Best Terrorist Eradication in Indonesia", an article published in November 2011.

Regarding the statement by DPR member Fadli Zon who stated that Densus 88 should be disbanded because of Islamophobia and making terrorists a commodity, according to Poengky, the statement was unfounded, not supported by data, not supported by research and the history of the establishment of Densus 88.

In addition, said Poengky, the party that issued the statement that Densus 88 was disbanded was not included in the commission that was the partner or guard of the National Police.

"So far, the narratives that say Densus 88 must be disbanded are narratives from terrorism groups and radical groups, so it is misleading and very dangerous if a member of the council supports the narrative," said Poengky.

Poengky added that in interviews with terrorism convicts, they considered the police a 'thogut' (demon worshiped by humans). So several times they tried to attack and kill the police," said Poengky.

Member of the Indonesian House of Representatives from the Gerindra faction, Fadli Zon, on Wednesday (6/10) tweeted "This kind of narrative will no longer be trusted, it smells Islamiphobic. The world has changed, it is better if Detachment 88 should be disbanded".

In his tweet, Fadli Zon also tweeted a news item entitled "Densus 88 Claims of the Taliban Inspired Indonesian Terrorists".

In addition, Fadli also said that terrorists must continue to be eradicated, but they should not be made into commodities.