Sulastri Osman

Sulastri Osman is an advisor on the local implementing partner of the Victims’ Voices Project in Indonesia on its research and outreach programmes. She was an Associate Fellow at ICCT. Sulastri conducts research on terrorism, counterterrorism and other security-related issues in Southeast Asia, with a particular country focus on Indonesia. Her research interests are in examining the multi-layered rationalities for militancy in the post-Suharto era, the nexus between terrorists and non-violent Islamist radicals, and individual motivations for violence. She has published on prisoner radicalisation, terrorism online, and terrorist networks in Indonesia and their transnational links to groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS/IS. For six years she was at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore during which she conducted successive series of field research in Indonesia interviewing convicted terrorists and former militants; she left her position in August 2014 as Research Fellow and Coordinator of the Radicalisation Studies Programme with the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS). Prior to that she worked at Reuters for three years. She is currently based in Jakarta.

Key Publications include:

Osman, S. “Radicalisation, recidivism and rehabilitation: Convicted terrorists and Indonesian prisons”, in A. Silke, ed., Prisons, Terrorism and Extremism: Critical Issues in Management, Radicalisation and Reform. London and New York: Routledge, 2014.

Navhat N. and S. Osman. “Southeast Asian fighters in the new “caliphate”: Implications for Indonesia’s militant Islamist movement”, RSIS Commentaries, No. 133 (2014).

Osman, S. and N. Navhat. “Innovation Opportunities for CT Policing in Indonesia”, Jakarta Post, 8 January 2014.

Osman, S. “Funerals of suspected terrorists in Indonesia: Rallying points?”, Jakarta Post, August 26, 2013.

Osman, S. “Studying the 'Wicked Field' of Terrorism: Starting with Basics”, Eurasia Review, 20 February 2013.

Osman, S. “Freelance fighters and ‘do-it-yourself’ terrorism: What lies ahead for Indonesia”, Eurasia Review, 16 January 2012.

Osman, S. “Jemaah Islamiyah: Of Kin and Kind”, GIGA Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Vol. XXIX No. 2 (2010).

Osman, S. “The Fatal Allure of Extremist Logic: Syaifudin Zuhri and the July 17 Suicide Bombers”, RSIS Commentaries No. 104 (2009).

Bergin, A., Osman, S., Ungerer, C, and N.A. Yasin. “Countering Internet Radicalisation in Southeast Asia”, RSIS-ASPI Special Joint Report Issue 22 (2009).