Counter-Terrorism: A Spy in Every Village

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November 15, 2005: Indonesia has revived a domestic intelligence organization, called "Koter," that was used for several decades to keep an eye out for potential enemies to former dictator Suharto. The government wants to have Koter help in the search for Islamic terrorists. The original Koter was disbanded shortly after Suharto was overthrown in 1998. The new Koter will just collect information, not make arrests or mete out punishment. The old Koter had informants in every village and neighborhood and was run by the army, which deployed thousands of sergeants and corporals to every part of the country, to supervise the collection of local information, and to decide what was important enough to pass on up the line. The new Koter will be run by the army as well, and some of the old Koter sergeants will probably have their jobs back.

 

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