Description
This study reflects on my PhD fieldwork in Indonesia for seven months across 5 provinces, where one recurring theme is how deeply religion is embedded in the deradicalisation process. The idea of ‘re-correcting’ ideology appears not only through the state apparatus, such as the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) and law enforcement (D88) working with former preachers, but also among former detainees themselves, who often believe their previous ideology needs to be corrected.
While deradicalisation is often said to be more difficult to achieve than disengagement (Horgan, 2008, 2009; Koehler, 2016), many have praised the involvement of religion, even framing it as a moral duty to ‘correct’ what is seen as a wrong interpretation of Islam (Aslam & Gunaratna, 2019; Gunaratna & Hussin, 2018). This paper asks how such correction is defined, who defines it, and what assumptions underpin this moral authority.
By exploring how deradicalisation in Indonesia becomes a ‘re-correcting’ moment, an effort to align ‘former terrorists’ with mainstream Islamic thought such as that of Nahdlatul Ulama, this paper examines how religious discourse intersects with state power and counterterrorism narratives. It asks whether such a process truly enables rehabilitation, or rather reproduces certain hierarchies of religious legitimacy and citizenship within Indonesia’s post-conflict landscape.
