“Moderate” Indonesia: Islamic State cells in nearly all provinces

Indonesia is constantly held up as an example of “moderate Islam.” If that is true, how did these Islamic State cells grow? Why didn’t the Indonesians reject this “perversion of Islam”?

“Islamic State cells in nearly all Indonesian provinces: military chief,” Reuters, June 13, 2017:

The Islamic State militant group has a presence in nearly all provinces across Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, the military chief in Jakarta has said.

General Gatot Nurmantyo’s comments late on Monday that there are clandestine “sleeper” cells across the sprawling Indonesian archipelago underscored concerns about Islamic State’s growing influence in Southeast Asia.

“After observation, we see that in almost every province … there are already IS cells, but they are sleeper cells,” Nurmantyo told reporters in the capital, Jakarta.

He singled out the predominantly Christian province of Papua as one of the few exceptions.

“These sleeper cells can easily join up with other radical cells,” he said….

“It’s easy to jump from Marawi to Indonesia and we must all beware of sleeper cells being activated in Indonesia,” Nurmantyo said….