Polri-Authored Book Offers New Perspective on Digital Threats

A Polri-authored book argues that current security threats are not always recognisable in obvious forms. Security threats can grow slowly through the digital space, social interactions, visual culture, and repeated exposure to information that shapes people’s thinking. The thread running through these changing threat patterns is the throughline of Gamification of Violence in Modern Terror in the Digital Era, a book by Komjen Pol. Dedi Prasetyo, Komjen Pol. (Purn.) Eddy Hartono, and Irjen Pol. Sentot Prasetyo. The book was reviewed as part of the Densus 88 Antiteror Polri 2026 work conference at Hotel Bidakara, South Jakarta. The book presents a different perspective. While discussions of terrorism have long been synonymous with networks, organisations, or visible actions, Gamification of Violence invites readers to understand the often overlooked phase: how threats form, develop, and transform within fast-moving digital ecosystems. Through an approach that blends security, psychology, law, digital technology, education, and child protection, the book seeks to answer one important question: how can the state and society read threats before they materialise? The Deputy National Police Chief emphasised that changes in threat patterns must be matched by changes in thinking and strategy. “Threats today move faster than the old methods of handling them. Therefore, we need to build the ability to read early warning signs, strengthen prevention, and enhance community resilience,” he said. He added that modern extremism threats are increasingly fluid, not always bound to formal structures, and often develop through digital networks that are difficult to map with conventional approaches. Hence, the book stresses the importance of early detection, digital literacy, child protection, school strengthening, family, and cross-sector collaboration as part of long-term prevention strategies. Interestingly, the book does not only discuss threats but also offers ways of viewing security as a shared responsibility. It asserts that future security cannot be safeguarded by the authorities alone; it requires involvement from families, the education sector, communities, digital platforms, and wider society. More than a Security Study, This Is About Reading Change Reading Gamification of Violence in Modern Terror in the Digital Era invites readers to understand the new faces of threats that quietly develop amid changing times. The book does not adopt a rigid approach but tries to explain the interconnectedness between technology, human behaviour, social spaces, and security. The strength of the book lies in its courage to raise relatively new issues that are still rarely discussed comprehensively in Indonesia: how digital spaces can shape thinking, influence behaviour, and create risks that require a more adaptive prevention approach. The discussion is enriched by responses from interdisciplinary discussants, namely Zora Arfina Sukabdi, Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, Adityana Kasandra Putranto, and Ismail Fahmi, who deepen perspectives on psychology, law, social protection, and the dynamics of digital information. During the event, the authors also received the Intellectual Property Certificate (HKI) from the Directorate General of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia, in acknowledgment of their intellectual contributions and the development of literature related to security and prevention of extremism in the digital era. This HKI recognition marks that the book is not only an academic discussion space but also part of strengthening knowledge and innovative thinking in addressing future security challenges. “The state must not only be present when threats have already grown. Prevention must come earlier, while law enforcement is the last step conducted in a measured manner,” he said. Through this book, Polri asserts that Indonesia’s safety is built by the ability to understand change, strengthen community resilience, and implement prevention before threats develop. Because in the digital era, the most dangerous threat is not only the visible one but the one that grows unnoticed.