“Much of the rhetoric has been purely racist hate speech. The question now is whether Isis supporters in Indonesia will use the coronavirus as an excuse to expand targeting beyond the police to domestic or international Chinese targets.”

Since January 2014, 19 Indonesian police officers have been killed by Isis-linked militants, with a further 71 others wounded. The police in turn have arrested more than 1,000 suspected terrorists over the same period.

The man who had discussed carrying it out was Syahrial Alamsya, also known as Abu Rara, “the man responsible for stabbing the then Coordinating Minister for Security Wiranto”, IPAC said in its report.

Abu Rara is a member of Indonesian Isis affiliate Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which has claimed responsibility for all major terror attacks in the country since 2016.

He had discussed attacking Chinese workers at the Merah Putih cement plant in Banten province with a friend named Syamsudin as revenge for the treatment of ethnic Uygurs in China, the IPAC report said.

Syamsudin, a professional welder, had worked at a number of sites where Chinese workers were employed and noted that they were always transported to and from work every day in open pickup trucks. He and Abu Rara had discussed stabbing the truck drivers or throwing a Molotov cocktail in the back with the workers but these ideas “came to nothing”, the report said, because the pair had a falling out.

Anti-Chinese social media ‘more scary than Covid-19’ in Indonesia

IPAC said that some within Isis central command had called for attacks to be carried out in Indonesia because they see the government as being weakened by the coronavirus pandemic “so that now is precisely the best opportunity”.

“One possible method of attack would be to use Isis supporters who already have the virus to try and deliberately infect those they consider their enemies, such as the police,” the report said.

While the pandemic, for the moment, has meant a reduction in terrorist activity, law enforcement agencies need to remain vigilant, IPAC said, both in terms of isolated cells that may heed the call to attack and those who see the crisis as an opportunity to boost recruitment.

The report also highlighted the possibility of an increase in uprisings at prisons holding terrorists, as infection fears add to existing restrictions on visits and communication.

“Indonesian authorities are beginning to pay attention to the issue of the virus in prisons, but preventive measures have been late in coming. In addition to measures already in place to combat Covid-19, the corrections directorate urgently needs to develop guidelines on procedures for handling unrest among inmates or inmates and prison staff as well as anticipating attempted escapes,” the report said.

All prison visits in Indonesia were suspended more than two weeks ago, according to a counterterrorism source who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said it would be extremely “risky” to allow visitors who might be infected with the virus as the country’s prisons are “overcrowded”, adding that all trials, including those involving suspected terrorists, were now being conducted via video conferencing between courtrooms and prisons.

Meanwhile, agencies focused on the prevention of financial crimes also need to be on their guard, IPAC said, as it warned about possible extremist fundraising efforts in the name of humanitarian assistance.

“Most of the private fundraising efforts taking place in connection with the pandemic are going to be legitimate, but the history of Indonesia over the last two decades has been that whenever disasters occur, extremists seek to benefit,” the report said.