Indonesian mobile game to combat terrorism

A new smartphone game that encourages children to repeatedly kill one of the men behind the recent Jakarta attacks has been launched by Indonesian police in a bid to inspire youth to "hate terrorism".

But a terrorism expert says the game sends the wrong message.

The game, called Tumpas Teroris or Destroy Terrorists, was launched in partnership with Indonesia National Police this week.

It features the 32-year-old gunman of the January 14 assault in Jakarta, known as Afif, who is seen shooting police during the attack with a chillingly calm demeanour.

Throughout the levels players are encouraged to take down his figure with a rock fired from a slingshot.

When hit, the crudely cut-out image of Afif falls sideways and appears with red scrawled over it.

Software developer Adjie Pratama says the game is aimed at children as young as three years old so they would "hate terrorism".

"Children nowadays, they like to play games. In the background of those games, we inserted moral messages for those playing the game. When they play it, they'll read it and then they would know that we have to fight terrorism," he told AAP.

National Police spokesman Inspector General Anton Charliyan said the force had partnered with Adjie's project in a bid to reach a younger audience, but noted it was only "one tool" to educate the youth.

"This is an educational game. While they're playing, they're learning. When the game is opened, there's a simple philosophy - like we love peace," he told AAP.

But terrorism expert Noor Huda Ismail said the game could have the unintended effect of giving Afif greater notoriety and emphasising violence.

"Using a slingshot to hate terrorism, that's using violence as well. We don't want our children to continue this violence," he told AAP.

He said so far in Indonesia, the approach to combating terrorism has focused on law enforcement rather than investigating the social causes.