Honsok Lee
The first Wednesday Forum of the new semester, held on August 21, 2024, Dyah Ayu Kartika of the Australian National University presented on extremism in Bima.
Kartika is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political and Social Change at Australian National University. Before starting her studies at Australian National University, she worked as a researcher at the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), the Center for the Study of Religion and Democracy (PUSAD Paramadina) and the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) in Jakarta, Indonesia. She is also a fellow for New Mandala, an academic blog run by the Australian National University, where she provided analysis on gender issues during Indonesia's 2019 election.
Bima has a long history of extremist activity, with sporadic but strong extremist communities and repeated terrorist attacks. However, despite its importance in Indonesia's terrorist networks, violent extremism in Bima remains under-researched. To fill this research gap, Kartika poses the following two research questions. 1) How and why has the interaction between Bima's ‘radical milieu’ with the local extremist groups escalated and/or de-escalated violent extremism? 2) What are the incentives involved in those interactions which could be useful for strengthening peacebuilding in the future?
The study uses Malthanaer and Waldman’s concept of the ‘radical milieu’ to answer the research questions. It refers to the immediate social environment which shares perspectives and objectives, approves of certain forms of violence, and to a certain extent, supports the violent group morally and logistically. In the research, this concept is used to explore the complex and ambivalent relationship between clandestine groups and their wider social environment, which influences the makeup and tactical choice of the armed groups. The social circles of extremist groups were categorized in the study into three groups 1) terrorist groups that use violence against the state; 2) radical milieu, which is a more open structure that restricts its members from militant forms of protests; and 3) wider environment, which prohibits violence and militant forms of protest. The terrorist group in Bima is Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a pro-ISIS cell in Indonesia. The radical milieu includes FUI (Islamic Community Forum), a Bima-based militant Islamist group, and Jamaah Ansharut Syariah (JAS), a splinter group of JAT that attempts to use non-violent means to establish an Islamic caliphate in Indonesia. The wider social and political setting includes more moderate organizations such as NU and Muhammadiyah.
The presentation at the forum covered how this ‘radical milieu’ came to be in the Bima region. This long history began with a strong Islamic culture, descended from Islamic sultanates, and Islam is still their distinctive identity. Unlike other parts of the archipelago, reformist Islam, such as Muhammadiyah, has a greater influence in the region, and political Islam is also an important feature of the region. Terrorist groups in Bima have a long history of involvement in violent extremist activities, including the Chikini Bombing in 1957, the Talangsari Incident in 1989, and the Ambon and Poso conflict in 2000. The formation of extremist groups and a radical milieu in Bima has been a complex and dynamic process involving two main groups: the group led by Abrory and Upbah and the Tauhid wal Jihad group, which was founded by Iskandar and based in Penatoi. Originally, extremist activity in Bima was centered around the Umar bin Khatab Islamic boarding school (UBK), but with the arrival of Iskandar in 2004, terrorist groups in Bima sometimes united and sometimes split. The UBK and Penatoi groups merged into JAT, but after the 2014 ISIS declaration, they split into the anti-ISIS JAS and the pro-ISIS JAD. Some activists in Bima's radical milieu, such as JI and JAS, share the goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate in Indonesia, as does the terrorist group JAD. Nevertheless, JAS rejects violence, and in the case of the radical milieu, it also provides an opportunity to channel radical ideas through non-violent means. In this context, the Indonesian government is using both hard and soft approaches to counter extremism. Hard approach means arrest, closure of financiers and access to violent extremist groups. Soft approach means maintaining communication and personal relationship with former terrorist convicts, family members of extremist circles. Along with the role of the Inter-Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB) in this peacebuilding process, the involvement of former leaders of extremist groups is also important. Ustad Gunawan, a former PE teacher at UBK and a physical trainer for JAD Bima, left JAD for several reasons: first, he believed that JAD Bima was careless and lacked long-term planning while carrying out terrorist acts, which made it easy for its members to be targeted or arrested. The second reason was his family, especially his wife. Working as a civil servant in Zulkarnain's office, she had always opposed her husband's involvement in a terrorist organization. She always reminded him that his main jihad was to be an imam for his family and a good father to his children. Ustad Gunawan's case shows that self-directed departure and de-Islamization is more effective.
From this research process, the study draws three conclusions. First, violent extremist groups in Bima are inseparable from their radical milieu; at least in their beliefs, ideas, and shared goals. The boundaries separating the two cannot always be clearly drawn, as they also share a logistics network and overlap with family bonds. Second, the formation of the radical milieu in Bima preceded but also coincided with the formation of extremist groups, so issues within the radical milieu must also be addressed. Third, peace-building initiatives to alleviate tensions in Bima are evident, not only from the government, but also from prominent members of the community.