Cyber Provocation Polri`s Biggest Challenge: Kalla

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated that cyber provocation, through social media, is one of the biggest challenges that is being faced by the National Police (Polri) at the moment.

"We have to be ready to counter cyber provocation by forwarding various information that explains the actual event," Kalla stated in a public lecture given to participants of the Middle Leadership School (Sespimmen) of the National Police at the Vice Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He then cited an example of the provocation of extremist and radical groups, such as ISIS, that is spread among the Indonesian youth through social media, persuading them to falsely carry out Jihad, which is an act of fighting in the name of the religion, against the police. Such acts are revealed through the bombing incident in Jakartas Kampung Melayu area and the stabbing incident towards a police officer in the Police Headquarters area a while ago.

"I have read that the bomb makers in Bandung were never taught to create explosives and that they had only learned it through the internet. Hence, there is no need for lessons these days, and all they have to do is to access the internet to easily create a bomb. If you do not master these kinds of technologies, then it would be challenging for you to tackle issues in rural areas," he elaborated.

He believed that the Polri, as the front guard in maintaining security and public order, will be the first party sought when problems occur in an area, especially with the rapid spread of information through social media and instant messaging groups.

"If you do not move as fast as these information do, then peoples reliance on the false information that circulates on the social media applications will grow bigger. Your challenges today are rather different compared to the ones faced by police officers 20 years ago," he explained.

For that reason, Kalla expressed hope that the Academy would also strengthen their curriculum on information technology to be taught to potential squad leaders at all levels.

One of the biggest challenges these days is speed, and it can only be countered by speed as well. Once you snooze and fail to verify information to the public, there are risks of conflict happening, and it happens in all parts of the world," he stated.

The public lecture, given by Kalla, about overcoming social conflict was attended by 246 participants of the Polris Leadeship Program. The participants involve four foreigners, including two members of the Fiji police force, one from Singapore, and another one from Timor-Leste police department.(*)