Countering Radicalization and Terrorism in Indonesia

Abstract

Successive Indonesian governments have, since the Reformation period, achieved significant successes in their fight against the terrorist groups established in the country, first the JI then the ISIS and JAD. However, if the effectiveness of the Indonesian public authorities in combating the symptoms of the disease no longer needs to be demonstrated, their effectiveness in combating its origins has proved to be much more questionable. Years of dictatorship and repression of moderated Islamic movements under Sukarno and Suharto have pushed certain Indonesian ideologues into the arms of fundamentalism which, for several decades, has plagued Indonesian society. If a large majority of Indonesian society remains moderate, a growing part of it easily tolerates the ideas or actions of certain radical Islamist organizations. Thus, the priorities of the Indonesian authorities in their fight against radicalization and terrorism should be (1) the prevention of radicalization, especially among the youngest and most vulnerable, and (2) the establishment of disengagement/deradicalization programs both for people imprisoned for acts linked to terrorism and returnees.