THE commander of Indonesia’s armed forces (TNI) said yesterday that he plans to call for a meeting of his counterparts from the region to discuss how best to counter the threat of extremism from militant group ISIS.

General Moeldoko told a public lecture in Singapore that ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, was a significant threat to regional security.

And its full impact would be felt when its fighters from Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and even a handful from Singapore return home.

“When they return to their countries… it is not easy to predict what actions they might conduct. This is why we need to think about scenarios to anticipate what might happen when they return,” he told reporters later.

…Gen Moeldoko told the lecture organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Sheraton Towers hotel: “ISIS is like a cancer… As a Muslim, it has nothing to do with the Islam I know, or the God I pray to.”