"Officials in the regions should be able to take early preventive steps so that terrorism can not spread," Djoko said at a coordination meeting on counter-terrorism here on Monday.
He also asked local authorities and elements in society to watch out for early indications of terrorism in their respective regions.
"This is very important. So it is not only shooting terrorists and taking as many as possible of them to jail," the minister said.
Djoko said precautionary action would make it easier to take repressive actions such as arresting, prosecuting and penalizing terrorists.
He mentioned as an example the bomb blast in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) where a group of people made bombs.
"It should become the responsibility of regional heads to prevent it. After doing the preemptive, preventive efforts, or early prevention, the next thing to do is law enforcement," he said.
According to Djoko, it is much easier to realize those who are already free from terrorism so as not to return again in a terrorist act, rather than repressive action.
Earlier, the national police action taking affairs director Petrus Reinhard Golose said that there are 14 provinces identified as pockets of terrorist networks.
The provinces are Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, Lampung, Banten, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Kalimantan.
(T.R018/B003/HAJM/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
