Pol. Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius Director, National Counterterrorism Agency
Radicalism grows during extracurricular activities

On July 20, President Joko Widodo appointed Pol. Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius to head the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) to replace Tito Karnavian, who was recently appointed as National Police chief. He flew straight to Poso in Central Sulawesi, following his swearing-in ceremony to observe the location where the Tinombala joint task force had shot and killed terrorist suspect Santoso on July 18.

Suhardi stressed that BNPT must always anticipate all forms of terrorism, including the new trend of crashing a car onto crowds of people, like what happened in Nice, France on July 14. "In the past, it was bombings. People hated bombs. Bombings meant failure," Suhardi said during a visit to the Tempo office last week.

August 9, 2016