The Comparative Study on the Role of Thai and Indonesian Police in Responding to Terrorism under ASEAN Community Framework

Abstract

This research exploredtwo main research questions: (1) How do Thailand and Indonesia adopt ASEAN counter-terrorism policy? (2) What should be effective guidelines for Thailand’s police in preventing and countering terrorism?  This qualitative study employed literature review and in-depth interviews of two groups of key informants: 1) Police officers on counter-terrorism and military intelligence officers and 2) security, legal and criminology experts. This study found that Thailand and Indonesia employed hard and soft measures in terrorism preventions. Problems and obstacles in those efforts lie on the content in legal measures which are needed to adjust to respond with the current types of emerging terrorism. Both Thailand and Indonesia adopt ASEAN counter-terrorism policy to many areas of cooperation with the different degree. It is recommended that the guidelines or Thailand’s police in preventing and countering terrorism consist of supporting sharing of intelligence, effective de-radicalization strategies, interoperability approach for coordination and operation in cross-borders detection, and forensic sciences.