The failure of jihadism in Southeast Asia

DURING a busy lunch hour in downtown Jakarta on Thursday, seven gunmen attacked a police kiosk and a Starbucks coffee shop with small arms and explosives. The Indonesian police killed five of the attackers and captured two. This was the first major attack in Jakarta since the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah bombed the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton in 2009. True to form, the Islamic State quickly assumed credit — a claim not discounted by Jakarta’s police chief, who identified an Indonesian militant named Bahrun Naim as the main instigator. But Naim, it seems, is currently in Syria. The attack and the association with the would-be caliphate immediately stoked fears that the Islamic State is establishing a sustained and systemic presence in Southeast Asia.

Any armed assault taking place in a capital city is significant in isolation, but after the shock of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, simple acts of terrorism carry added weight. For Indonesia, however, fears that the Islamic State may be spreading its militant tendrils throughout the country are misplaced.