When Terrorism Targeted Women

A few days ago, the public was shocked by two terror incidents, namely the bombing of a Catholic church in Makassar, South Sulawesi, by a married couple, and a terror attempt by a woman armed with an air gun at the Indonesian National Police Headquarters in Jakarta.

Although women have been involved in acts of terrorism in Indonesia since 2010, their involvement has always been a surprise. The question is, do women really play a role as the main perpetrators of acts of terror?

The dynamics of terrorism in Indonesia have always been closely correlated with the development of global terrorism, including in terms of the involvement of women. In general, the Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) groups only give women indirect or involuntarily roles, for example, by giving assistance, logistics, finding hiding places, among other things.

The question is, do women really play a role as the main perpetrators of acts of terror?

Meanwhile, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) ignores status and structure, and even provides opportunities for women to join (voluntarily). The ISIS propaganda provides space for women to be at the forefront of the "struggle".

An upward trend

If you look at the trend each year, the involvement of women in terrorism activities in Indonesia is increasing. Based on the most recent data from the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), from 2010 to 2019, 20 women were convicted of terrorism.

Also read: The Issue of Radicalism

Meanwhile in 2020, there are five women suspected of terrorism who are still undergoing due process of law and 12 female terrorism convicts who are still serving sentences in nine women-only prisons in Indonesia.

AFP/INDRA ABRIYANTO

Indonesian police carry a bag with the remains of a suspected suicide bomber after an explosion outside a church in Makassar on March 28, 2021.

The trend of women\'s involvement in terrorism is inseparable from the narrative and amplification of violence that has been echoing in the public sphere. This, for example, is reflected in the letters left by the perpetrators before launching their actions, which contain glorifications of narratives of hatred against the government and fanaticism in religious texts.

What is meant by amplification is the expansion of the message in terms of quantity, importance and so on. In the context of violence, amplification refers to actions that originate from an idea of hatred which is then facilitated by certain mediums, such as religious texts, exclusive groups that have similar goals, all of which become a link for violent acts.

Some of those who played a role in the amplification of violence were intolerant groups. Although an investigation is still ongoing, there are indications that intolerant groups have been involved in amplifying violence, based on a number of arrests made by the National Police’s Densus 88 antiterrorism squad.

Also read: Sharp Bend in Religious Moderation

In this context, the amplification of violence involving intolerant groups has led to a larger pattern of violence that resembles a terrorist group.

Violence is a crucial instrument of terrorism. It can start from the seeds of hatred that previously were only in one person\'s mind, then it gains legitimacy to execute it in an act of terror. This act of terror can then endanger others because it justifies any means to achieve the desired goal.

The narratives that justify violence to achieve a goal have become the starting point for acts of terrorism. The important note is that intolerant groups, radicals, extremists and terror groups all use similar narratives and instigate aggression among their audiences.

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

Participants in the solidarity action between religious believers distributed flowers and black ribbons to the Catholic congregation at the Makassar Cathedral, South Sulawesi, on Easter Sunday (4/4/2021). The action was in response to a suicide bombing terror attack at the location last week.

It is in this case that women become the target audience for the narrative and amplification of violence.

Among the narratives include: "Marrying a mujahid as the beginning of the struggle", "becoming a mujahidah [female mujahid], your past sins will be forgiven". Such narratives justify that women also have the obligation to fight and commit violence, as well as bonuses for the elimination of past sins.

The narratives then cause women to experience what is called self-radicalization, regardless of the narrative obtained directly from groups or social media. Moreover, after seeing women commit acts of terrorism, other radicalized women will take this as normal and imitate it (Shapiro & Maras, 2019).

Also read: Religious Moderation

In terms of receiving information or regulation, women\'s emotion, according to Crawford, Kippax, Onyx, Gault and Benton (1992), tends to be more expressive when their emotions are unstable and in situations they do not expect.

Thus, the narratives they read, hear, and their understanding of texts that are rigid in a long intensity and are constructed with political and economic situations, can create a more active expression in women.

"Designated victim"

Several studies have stated that terror groups always benefit from the involvement of women. Not only serving as cell recruiters, but also as free propaganda cells that can develop a network without being suspected of being a terrorist like male members are. This is referred to by Cragin and Daly (2009) as “feminine wiles”, as they are not easily suspected (of doing bad things) and bypass security officers more easily.

Also read: Weak Ideological Resilience Acts as Trigger

Therefore, it is easier to involve women in acts of terrorism as an object of camouflage to carry out their actions.

In addition, single acts of terrorism (lone wolf) that involve women are also difficult to prevent considering their anonymity, their limited relationships, their personal goals and are more difficult to detect by the intelligence because of the perpetrator’s limited communication with other people.

KOMPAS/ MELATI MEWANGI

A book launch and discussion event entitled Women and Terrorism by Leebarty Taskarina at Gramedia Matraman, Jakarta, Saturday (12/1/2019).

Strategically, the involvement of women in terrorism can be reviewed from the perspective of designated victims, a term taken from the title of the 1971 Italian thriller film by director Maurizio Lucidi.

The term designated victim or "designed victim" is similar to the study of non-conventional victimology, which is about unequal power relations and victimization, which can be non-physical, even tangible.

One example is the case involving YSF, the female suicide bomber at the church in Makassar. YSF committed the suicide bombing with L, her husband, who had just married her six months earlier. It is considered that the marriage made YSF more obedient to her husband and more receptive to indoctrination in order to strengthen the desire to be martyred in acts of terrorism.

Also read: Operating in ‘Two Legs’

The marriage was designed deliberately to unite YSF and L so that their coordination and the terror network that held control over them would be safer.

Likewise with ZA in the case of the terror attempt at the National Police Headquarters. Although it looks random, the narrative being distributed is aimed at designing the next victim. So it is not just showing her action as a perpetrator.

Women in the context of terrorism have been designated deliberately and placed in such a way as to become actors or on the frontline in terrorist activities (designated victims). Thus, they are actually victims of the amplification of violent narratives that have been packaged in deviant religious texts.

THECONVERSATION.COM

Leebarty Taskarina

A narrative that seems to provide space for women to actualize themselves as "ideal women who are involved in the struggle against injustice in the name of religion".

Leebarty Taskarina, Doctoral student in the University of Indonesia’s Criminology Program.

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswoko.