The Islamic Defenders Front: Demonization, Violence and the State in Indonesia (original) (raw)
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Hate Speech and the Indonesian Islamic Defenders Front
2012
Front Pembela Islam (Islamic Defenders Front -FPI) is a domestic Indonesian terrorist organization. Its goal is the implementation of Shari'ah at national and local levels in Indonesia. It presents itself as an ally of government security forces in their attempts to control sin and vice. It uses hate speech to motivate and legitimize violent attacks on organizations and individuals it considers to be sinful or religiously deviant. It has targeted Christian minorities and members of the Ahmadiyah Muslim sect for physically violent attacks. It conducts hate speech campaigns against Muslim organizations and intellectuals supporting religious freedom, branding them as "enemies of the state" and "more satanic than Satan." Unlike many other Muslim terrorist organizations FPI is not based on Salafi or Wahhabi religious teachings. It does not have ties with transnational religious or political movements. FPI leaders have religious roots in traditional Indonesian Islam and are associated with Sufi mystical brotherhoods. Rank and file members have little religious education. Many have criminal backgrounds and describe themselves as "reformed gangsters." FPI has established "discursive cover" for violence by linking its actions to fatwa (legal opinions) issued by the semi-official Majelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Council of Islamic Scholars -MUI). It has also established relationships with elements of the security forces and with Salafi oriented organizations. It can be understood as a violent element of a broadly based movement seeking to establish Shari'ah but not to alter the structure of the Indonesian political system.
Violence in the Name of Islam: The case of ‘Islamic Defenders Front’ from Indonesia
Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, 2015
Although, resorting to violence in the name of Islam is not an entirely new phenomenon on its own, its share in the international relations literature has steadily increased after the 9/11 attacks. Studies conducted about the appearance, goals, organizational structures, and the means frequently resorted by the organizations that regard violence as a justifiable means in the name of Islam, have sought to better understand these organizations and offer projections as to how they could be convinced to put an end to their violent acts. This article aims to shed light onto root causes of the existence of one of the largest Islamic groups, Islamic Defenders Front (FPI-Front Pembela Islam), in a country with the largest Muslim population of the world, Indonesia. A thorough analysis of the organization"s discourse and its actions reveals three main reasons: the perception that Islam is threatened by global and local forces and therefore the faith should be protected, the demand that Sharia"s "universal" laws should be implemented and enforced by the state, and the claim that they, in essence, support the state"s law enforcement officers in the fight against immorality, wrong deeds and heresy.
Al-Jami'ah: Journal of Islamic Studies, 2013
This paper seeks to analyze how the program of deradicalization in Indonesia is approached, understood and treated by radical Islamists. This paper argues that the deradicalization program in this country has invited controversies, criticisms and even backlash from radical Islamists on the grounds that it goes against the principles of human rights because of state's intervention into religious life of its citizens. In addition, it is carried out by violent method which mostly ends with killing the accused terrorists along with the arrest and ambush by security officers. In order to analyze the focus of the study, this paper employs socio-political approach. This paper finds that more thorough approach needs to be employed by the state within the framework of human rights. Therefore, the ideology of radical Islamism and terrorism must be dealt with from two sides; at the upstream and the downstream levels. At the upstream level, the program of deradicalization must be carried out within the framework of interdepartmental and ministerial partnership. This program should invite as many institutions as possible to be involved and reach as wide audience as possible. At the downstream level, the program of deradicalization must abide to human rights principles. The security approach taken by the government should not end with killing or dehumanizing terrorists. By doing so, the national program of deradicalization can appeal as wide sympathy possible and will not harvest backlash from the Islamists.
Al-Jami'ah, 2013
This paper seeks to analyze how the program of deradicalization in Indonesia is approached, understood and treated by radical Islamists. This paper argues that the deradicalization program in this country has invited controversies, criticisms and even backlash from radical Islamists on the grounds that it goes against the principles of human rights because of state's intervention into religious life of its citizens. In addition, it is carried out by violent method which mostly ends with killing the accused terrorists along with the arrest and ambush by security officers. In order to analyze the focus of the study, this paper employs socio-political approach. This paper finds that more thorough approach needs to be employed by the state within the framework of human rights. Therefore, the ideology of radical Islamism and terrorism must be dealt with from two sides; at the upstream and the downstream levels. At the upstream level, the program of deradicalization must be carried out within the framework of interdepartmental and ministerial partnership. This program should invite as many institutions as possible to be involved and reach as wide audience as possible. At the downstream level, the program of deradicalization must abide to human rights principles. The security approach taken by the government should not end with killing or dehumanizing terrorists. By doing so, the national program of deradicalization can appeal as wide sympathy possible and will not harvest backlash from the Islamists. [Artikel ini mendiskusikan bagaimana program deradikalisasi di Indonesia
The Islamic Discourses of Indonesian Islamist Organizations
el Harakah: Jurnal Budaya Islam
Several years ago, before HTI was banned in 2017, many terms appeared in the public sphere of Indonesian politics. The terms are; khilafah, Islam kaffah, NKRI with sharia, and great imam (Imam Besar). This article examines the political discourse of Islam in Indonesia used by HTI and FPI. It takes the terms from the media, both their internal and external media. In addition, there are many posters scattered in the news. These terms were mainly taken when the two organizations at that time were still in existence before disbanded. HTI was disbanded in 2018 and FPI in 2020. The purpose of this study is to explore the intent and purpose of these terms. It uses a critical discourse analysis model of Fairclough, Wodak, and van Dick to analyze these terms. The study results indicate that these terms are used to marginalize several popular terms, namely the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) for the price of death, the 1...
The Role of Muslims in the Struggle Against Violent Extremist Ideology in Indonesia
Connections: The Quarterly Journal, 2006
Many recent acts of terrorism are believed to have roots in religious ideologies. Islam and its adherents are included among those suspected to be proponents of violent extremist ideology that promotes terrorism. This represents only part of the picture. While Islamic "revivalism" has emerged and proposes to establish an identity and to seek global justice, many Muslims in Indonesia have played significant roles in countering extremist ideology. Certainly, some extremist Muslims have inflicted significant harm upon humanity and the developed world. But several approaches could be implemented to minimize or eliminate the spread of terrorism or its ideology. This essay will review the status of Islamic extremism in Indonesia, and will briefly examine some of the efforts that have been made there to counter extremist ideology.
Jurnal Studi Sosial dan Politik
This article explains how the transformation of the discourse of radicalism into extremist violence in media coverage. Radical movements tend to be interpreted as acts of violence. Not only that, the root of terrorism is caused by radicalism. But the discourse about radicalism continues to develop, the form of radical action or action is also the idea of building an Islamic state. Therefore the state is important to deal with radical movements or radicalism understandings, especially through the media coverage. But in the media coverage, the state labeled Islamic groups as radical grups. The labeling is caused by the government not having an overall idea or concept towards acts of terrorism or radical movements. Proof of radicalism in Indonesia always moves between two pendulum. Action and regulation. When terror and violence occur, the government responds to these events by issuing a number of regulations and discourse several policies in the media. As a result, acts of terror te...
Change and Continuity in Indonesian Islamist Ideology and Terrorist Strategies
Al-Jami'ah: Journal of Islamic Studies, 2014
The "Islamisation" of Indonesia has exerted a transformative force on every aspect of Indonesian society. That process continues today. It has created streams of change and continuity in thoughts, ideologies and practices, of enormous complexity. Strict doctrinal interpretation of Koranic text is not a new phenomenon, contrary to what some reports in the mass media might suggest. Its roots stretch back at least as far as the 1800s with the outbreak of violent conflicts between those urging a stricter, scripturalist application of Islam, and those adhering to traditionalist and colonialist ideologies-culminating in the Padri war of West Sumatra of 1821-38. Indicating an ostensible continuity of ideology, modern extremist ideologues, such as Abu Bakar Bashir, urge their followers toward violent conflict and terrorist actions based on an ideology of strict "Middle Eastern" interpretation of fundamental Islamic tenets. This paper argues that the strategies of those carrying out radical and violent ideologies are undergoing change, as are the strategies of the authorities tasked with combating them. Radical groups have displayed a shift away from largescale, attacks on symbolic foreign targets towards low-level violence primarily aimed at law enforcement authorities. Authorities, on the other hand, have shown a greater tendency to shoot dead those suspected of involvement with violent radical groups. This paper will examine the changing strategies of violent radical groups and the continuity, and evolution, of the underlying Islamic
Australian Journal of International Affairs, 2015
Saipul Hamdi, Paul J. Carnegie & Bianca J. Smith This article examines the ways in which one of Indonesia’s largest local, non-violent fundamentalist Islamist groups, Hidayatullah, has worked towards recovering a non-violent identity in the aftermath of allegations of terrorism made by the international community at the height of the War on Terror. Significantly, in international circles post-September 11, Indonesia’s pesantren (an Islamic boarding school) network more generally became associated with terrorism as they were seen as potential breeding grounds for Islamist extremism. Subsequently, allegations emerged implicating Hidayatullah as part of an extremist organised network linked to Jemaah Islamiyah and, by extension, Al Qaeda. The article demonstrates how, in the aftermath of the allegations, the group negotiated with the wider society and the state’s national security laws on terrorism as it worked to recover its non-violent identity. In doing so, it also raises further questions about methodological practices in distinguishing between the heterogeneity and subjectivities within wider Islamist movements, especially in terms of militant and non-violent forms of Islamism.