SINGAPORE/JAKARTA, March 10 (Reuters) – When police detained an Indonesian teenager accused of bombing his high-school campus in Jakarta in November, he had a life-size toy rifle inscribed with “welcome to hell” and the names of white supremacist mass killers.
The November 7 attack, which injured 96 people, may have been the first in the country inspired by white supremacists but police fear it won’t be the last.
At least 97 youths – the youngest just 11 – are being monitored after coming under the influence of content glorifying mass violence and white supremacists spread largely on messaging app Telegram, Indonesian police told Reuters in March.
In every instance in Singapore and Indonesia reviewed by Reuters, the teenagers were alleged by authorities to have been radicalized through social media posts and communities.
Many of the young people who have been detained or placed under monitoring appear to be disillusioned and lonely individuals “turning towards a nihilistic worldview after being radicalized by far-right messaging”, said Pravin Prakash, who researches Southeast Asia at the Center for the Study of Organised Hate, a Washington think-tank.