Muslim Student Radicalism and Self-Deradicalization in Indonesia

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the phenomenon of religious radicalism has become alarming, including the increasing number of youth involved in violence and terrorism. The university has now become a significant environment for the spreading of radical ideology. In Indonesia, for example, students at seven prominent public universities have been significantly exposed to radical groups. This article discusses religious radicalism among such Muslim students, on the basis of research at these seven universities. It refers to these educated youth who have been radicalized as ‘newbies’, not only because they recently embraced a radical viewpoint, but also because they were easily deradicalized, that is, they left behind their newly embraced ideology. The article underlines how these youth were deradicalized as a result of their rejection of the dogmatic ideologies and practices of absolutist Islamic groups. It argues that there is no direct connection between religious radicalism and violent terrorism, and that radicalized youth have an opportunity to question the impact of their involvement in the radical networks on themselves and others and deradicalize themselves without necessarily ascribing to the kind of religious understanding promoted by the state.

KEYWORDS:

• Newbie radicalism
• self-deradicalization
• youth
• Islam
• Indonesia
• radical ideology
• students
• high school
• university

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the co-directors of Contending Modernities at Notre Dame University for their untiring support and guidance. Special thanks should go to my research team led by Professor Bagong Suyanto at the University of Airlangga in Surabaya, Indonesia. I have also benefited from an ongoing debate in recent publications that relate to some aspect of this article, a number of which were noted by two anonymous reviewers, to whom I would like to express my thanks. They can, of course, in no way be held responsible for any ideas expressed in this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).