Study of Target Selection for Philippine Terrorism Attacks

Abstract

The Philippine terrorist group is classified as foreign terrorist fighters who carry out acts of terrorism abroad with the aim of, among other things, establishing their own state in the southern Philippines. Of course, apart from committing acts of terrorism within the Philippines. Even though there is a connection between terrorists from Indonesia and terrorists from the Philippines, Filipino terrorists are not indicated to have carried out acts of terror in Indonesia as the target country. This research identifies that terrorist target selection always pays attention to targets, including geographical factors; calculation of political, social and religious factors; rationally and the choice takes into account ideology; terrorist capabilities; probability of attack success (risk with resulting number of victims); as well as, social ties and economic incentives. This target selection can be included in rational choice theory. Based on the perspective of rational choice theory, criminals tend to evaluate before committing by considering the probability of being discovered and caught, the effectiveness and impact of punishment that may be imposed, the potential value of existing crime proceeds and their short-term needs for crime proceeds; strong interactions between ideologies; operational motivations and choices, external mitigating influences. Keywords: Indonesia, Philippine, target selection, terrorism attacks