There is a current trend in Indonesia where violence was committed in the name of God. On Monday, 7 December 2020, Postgraduate Program of Sociology of UMM held a webinar to specifically review such deradicalization from the perspective of Indonesian sociology. The keynote speakers were Prof. Dr. Ishomuddin, an expert of Islamic Sociology, and Ali Fauzi Manzi, an ex-member of a terrorist group. Mr. Manzi now have founded Yayasan Lingkar Perdamaian (YLP) (Peace Circle Foundation) as an effort of deradicalization.
From 2000 to 2020, more than 311 acts of terror took place in Indonesia. "Terrorism is a serious threat in Indonesia," stated Prof. Ishomuddin, “For almost 20 years, these terror groups have carried out different actions. From JI to JAD, they have been shifting their recruitment process from manual to digital realm. When there were only men acting as the ‘bride of terror’, now they also include their wives and children.”
"Terrorist community provides two forms of support to its members,” added Prof. Ishomuddin, “Those are moral support and material support." These two supports bind the members together that they feel comfortable – and makes it impossible for them to leave. Once they leave the group, they will be friendless; being locked away, marginalized, and threatened. Hence, among the things that can stop deradicalization is to provide similar support to the society while conveying the norms and values of the country. Spreading the message of love and peace, nurturing tolerance, and assuring the revival of friendly Islam instead of angry Islam.
The phenomenon of Indonesian terrorism led Ali Fauzi Manzi to found YLP as a form of his concern over rampant terrorist acts during the last two decades. Members of YLP were ex-terrorists who were about to carry out suicidal and car bombings at that time. "As former members, we feel responsible to put these actions to a stop,” said Mr. Manzi, “The bomb material used from 2000 to 2010 were manufactured at our headquarter. This place used to be the center of radicalization. Now we have turned it into a deradicalization center," concluded he.
The roots of terrorism are complicated and intertwined. This calls for multiple methods to resolve such problem, manifested in different aspects and perspectives. Mr. Manzi made an analogy that terrorism is like a chronic disease. It requires specialists to heal, and also preventive actions campaigned by people who have healed from this disease. In this case, Mr. Manzi plays a key role as a recovered patient; he had suffered from the ‘chronic terrorist disease’ for years and now is sharing his survival tricks to come back healthier into the society.
“By providing supportive community for ex-terrorists and combatants, we prevent them to get back to their old communities,” stated Mr. Manzi, “We have to empower, train, and encourage these ex-members to result ambassadors of peace. We can mediate mutual relationship among ex-members to unite their voice, to create strong message of peace.” Overall, YLP conveys a big hope to improve Indonesian security, especially in the movement of deradicalization against terrorism.
Directorate of Postgraduate Programs
