No. 05 / 3 December 2019 www.habibiecenter.or.id Refections on Addressing Terrorism Post-Medan Bombing By Nurina Vidya Hutagalung Researcher at The Habibie Center vidya@habibiecenter.or.id Introduction Last November 13, 2019, an act of terrorism once again took place. A suicide bomb exploded at the Medan Police precinct headquarters in North Sumatra. Aside from the perpetrator who died in the act, six police ofcers were injured as a result of the attack. The incident was the second bombing to have taken place in North Sumatra in 2019. Previously in Sibolga on March 12, 2019, the arrest of a terrorist network was also marked by a bomb explosion. The terrorist actors in North Sumatra are suspected to have originated from a pro-ISIS cell, Jamaah Ansarut Daulah (JAD). 1 The two terrorist acts have taken place amidst a wave of arrest and prevention measures that have been carried out extensively by the Government over the last two years. The defeat of ISIS in Syria and the death of Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi does not automatically mean the end of ISIS or the reduction of terrorist acts by its supporters. Instead, the defeat of ISIS has provoked its supporting cells to demonstrate their existence and loyalty towards the ideology it promotes and to the ISIS ideals of a caliphate. Less than a week after the death of Al-Baghdadi, ISIS announced its new leader, Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Quraishi. The Shift in the Terrorist Threat Following the emergence of ISIS, the characteristic of the terrorist threat has indeed experienced some changes. Prior, terrorist acts tended to be coordinated in terms of hierarchy and was based on a leader’s fatwa such as was the case with Al-Qaeda. Now, terrorist networks tend to be looser, where each mem- ber is encouraged to carry out terrorist acts even if there is no command from its leader.