ABSTRACT
On 17 July 2009 bombs exploded at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, sounding the alarm signaling the continued threat of Islamist radicalism and terrorist violence in the Indonesian public sphere. Although the militant Islamist groups that engulfed the political arena of post-Suharto Indonesia by calling for jihad and other violent actions have lost their momentum as a consequence of the ongoing democratic consolidation and the global war on terror, the recent explosions serve as a reminder that anti-civilian violence is a recurrent phenomenon in Indonesia. The reality of this threat is fi rmly established by the fact that the perpetrators of the suicide bombing were relative newcomers in the terrorist network believed to have links with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the organization identifi ed as the hub of Al Qaeda operations throughout Southeast Asia and deemed responsible for a series of bombing attacks in Indonesia over the past few years. The message behind the act of violence is clear. Indonesia needs to take all necessary actions, both to cope with the resilience and degenerative capabilities of the terrorist network to sustain its operations and to curb room for manouevre and support for Islamist radicalism.
