Vigilante groups in Indonesia since the 2019 election: actors, movements, agency, and networking

ABSTRACT

Vigilante groups in Indonesia are changing. These actors and activities are not only connected with conventional international vigilantes (i.e. extremism organizations) but also the local extremism organizations that recently emerged and perpetrated violence extremism and intolerant activities at the international, national, and local levels. These activities organizations have, for instance, encouraged the formalization of religious teachings and the elimination of things deemed incompatible with religion—including the ongoing secularization of the public sphere. Responding to religious and theological issues in the public sphere, these organizations aim to erase or replace those they perceive as hindering their plans. Diverse organizations, through their local, national, and international networks, have been able to operate at the local level. This article aims to analyze vigilante groups after Indonesia's 2019 general election by paying attention to vigilante actors, activities, agencies, and networks. This study uses networking and political mobilization theories, as well as the political sociology perspective. This study uses data collected through big data and bibliometrics, covering 200 articles published between April 2019 and May 2021, then analyzes it was using Nvivo-12 Plus.

KEYWORDS:

• Vigilante Groups
• Actors
• Movement‌
• Agencies
• Networking
• 2019 Election

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zuly Qodir

Zuly Qodir is a lecturer at the Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta as well as the Deputy Director for Academic, Student Affairs and AIK.

Bilver Sing

Bilveer Singh is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore. He was Acting Head, CENS from January to December 2010. He graduated with master's and PhD in International. Relations from the Australian National University. His current research interests include studying regional security issues focusing on the rise and the management of Islamist terrorism in Southeast Asia, security issues in Indonesia, especially the challenge of separatism in Papua, the role of great powers in Southeast Asia, especially China and India, as well as the domestic and foreign policies of Singapore. He has published widely, his latest work being on the Rohingyas in Myanmar. Currently, Bilveer is the President of the Political Science Association of Singapore.

Misran Misran

Misran Misran is one of the researchers at the Ahmad Syafi'i Ma'arif School of Political Thought and Humanity study center, and also Researcher at the Research and Innovation Institute, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia.