What ever happened to Jemaah Islamiyah?

Ten years since the first Bali bombing, the radical Islamist group responsible has all but been neutralised – or has it? SBS spoke with counter-terrorism analyst Leah Farrall, the former AFP specialist sent to Indonesia in the wake of the bombings.

The once little known radical Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) was at one time considered the biggest threat to Australian National Security.

And while security organisations like ASIO have seen a 535 per cent rise in funding since the Bali bombings, the fact is that JI in Indonesia has largely been silenced. Or has it?

Leah Farrall was formerly a senior counter-terrorism intelligence analyst with the Australian Federal Police (AFP), serving as the senior intelligence analyst in the AFP's forward operating post in Jakarta in response to the second Bali bombings.

Here's a breakdown of the death toll from the October 12, 2002 Bali bombings:

She has mixed opinions about the success of the Indonesian and international counter-terrorism efforts to subdue the group.

“On one hand, there has been a generational clean-out and the Indonesian police have done a very good job at taking a law enforcement approach,” she says.

“I wouldn't say it's necessarily been de-radicalised, the schools are still functioning, the ideology is still very much there, there's still people planning attacks, the capacity to do so appears to have been removed.”

But Ms Farrall says the seeds of radical Islam might still be being sown in the Indonesian prison system.

“Overall it's been quite successful. But then you look at the problem of radicalisations in jails that's still taking place in Indonesia.”

“You can see that there is a younger generation out there, that a small section of which is still committed to violent attacks. What they are missing is the older folks that radicalise and guide them,” she says.

“Jail is not necessarily a place where you should be able to propagate beliefs that you're in jail for acting upon in the first place.”

Ms Farrall says there has been an introversion, with a move towards targeting government officials in Indonesia that has removed any public support that the organisation may have enjoyed.

“[It's} not allowing them to promote a war narrative,” she said.

Listen (above) to Leah Farrall talk about her time in Indonesia in the wake of the bombings and how the group came and went from prominence amid a surge in counter-terrorism funding and research.