As I chose my fruit and vegetables at the street market this afternoon, I was listening to Australia’s Radio National podcast – Background Briefing. I’m a longtime listener of BB, and every now and then they cover a topic that makes me stop what I’m doing, rewind, and listen again to every detail.
Today’s topic was one of those, focusing on Indonesia’s tactics to prevent acts of terrorism. According to the report, which includes a very eye opening interview with the nation’s anti-terrorism director, Indonesian police make it a priority to treat suspects with respect and not break laws in the name of obtaining information. Meaning no torture. No secret prisons. Due process for all suspects.
There must be American military and CIA listening and thinking it is either a lie or the worst tactic ever, since it is basically the opposite of theirs.
At some point in the program they go into detail about how police make sure that convicted terrorists are visited by their families. They talk to children and spouses, and provide money for the family to live on or pay tuition for children to stay in school. During the broadcast you hear from convicts who actually cooperate with the police to tell them about tactics. You hear how some of them have changed their minds about means of fighting for what they believe in, especially when it comes to taking the lives of innocent people.
My summary, is of course, not enough to understand what is discussed in the program. You really must hear it in it’s entirety. I’m sure critics will denounce it as lies. But even if its only 50% true… it is still a very impressive outlook on how to treat the issue of terrorism, and one that I think the world could learn alot from.