Radicalism has the potential to become more widespread in a younger generation of Muslims who are too textual, exclusive, extreme and uncritical. Their ethos of struggle has created a momentum to contest radical ideologies of Islamic radicals. This study investigates the potential for the radicalisation of Islamic students in Indonesia and formulates an approach of integrating national and religious values to mitigate the potential for radicalism. A qualitative research approach is used, and data were collected by distributing questionnaires to Indonesian Islamic student activists. Interviews were also conducted with experts to strengthen secondary sources of information. The results show that the potential for Islamic student to be exposed to radical activists is high. Through categorisation, interpretation and analysis, it was found that the concepts and spread of radicalism were more influenced by religious interpretations than social tolerance factors. In addition, the religious nationalist approach is formulated based on religious terminology and religious narratives.
This research contributes by assisting colleges’ efforts in building a detection system and mitigating the risk of student radicalism through a religious nationalist approach.
The spread of radicalism in Islamic higher education institutions amongst students is quite high. The Community and Islamic Studies Centre of Jakarta State Islamic University’s research provides very relevant data. The research published in the book
There are many factors that influence intolerant behaviour amongst students. One of them is the impact of social media, as the reference for the younger generation’s understanding of Islam comes from social media (50.89%), which influences their views on jihad, tolerance and the application of Islamic law (Rustan, Amin & Haramain
Many studies show that Indonesian educators do not yet have a demonstrable attitude of openness and respect for differences, minority groups and marginalised groups (eds. Künkler & Stepan
Regarding the study of the development of radicalism in Indonesia, the Research and Development Agency of East Java Province, in collaboration with the Research and Community Service Institute, Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Ampel (UINSA) Surabaya (Hamdi, Mukaffa & Masrifah
Other relevant research was conducted by Research and Development and Training Agency of the Ministry of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia. This research describes the potential for religious radicalism of students at the religious colleges and the supporting factors but does not provide a solution to prevent it. Akhmad Bukhari’s (
This article aims to provide a comprehensive perspective regarding the potential scale of radicalism in educational institutions. In particular, this study seeks (1) to describe the potential for radicalism amongst students, who show little tolerance of the existence of other religions and groups; (2) to identify the causes and factors of the spread of radicalism in educational institutions in Indonesia; and (3) to describe the need to prevent the spread of radicalism from becoming more widespread by applying the religious nationalist model or approach.
Apart from being driven by globalisation conditions, the potential for radicalism in higher education institutions is also influenced by the decreasing sense of nationalism amongst students. Today, some higher education institutions (7 from 122 universities) tend to be centres of radicalism, which is contrary to national values. The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) found that there are seven state universities that tend to be exposed to radicalism in Java. The seven state universities are the University of Indonesia (UI), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Diponegoro University (UNDIP), Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), Airlangga University (Unair) and Brawijaya University (UB). The growth in radicalisation amongst students has the potential to undo any progress in developing feelings of nationalism. Therefore, a study of the potential for student radicalism and the formulation of a model of integration of religious nationalist understanding is proposed in order to solve the problem of radicalism. This study contributes to understanding the potential for religious beliefs to generate extremism and cause violence, and the tools to counter this process of radicalisation.
Religious nationalism is a way of thinking and behaving. Its behaviours demonstrate high levels of loyalty, concern and respect for one’s physical, social and cultural environments by placing the interests of the nation and state above the interests of oneself and one’s groups (Sukatman et al.
The development of religious nationalist movements and discourses is an essential step in overcoming the potential for religious radicalism (Sriyanto, Suharini & Trimasukmana
There are several arguments about religious nationalism having an impact in overcoming religious radicalism: (1) Indonesian society is a pluralistic nation that has differences in ethnicity, culture, language and customs, including religion. One of the important elements that affect the life of the nation is religion. (2) The majority of Indonesia’s population is Muslim, so many of the terms used in the language are terms adapted from Islamic religious traditions, although they are also used by other religious people. For this reason, the use of national terms with religious terms and narratives is more easily accepted by the community. (3) There are two important elements that influence the ideology of political life in Indonesia: nationalist and faith-based groups. These two groups often have conflicts of interest and cause conflicts in society, so the religious nationalist strategy is the solution to these problems.
Radicalism is an attitude that leads a person to change and weaken pre-existing ideas or understandings (Hafid
Radicalism, previously found in the less well-educated community, has now extended to educated groups or university students. Several university leaders have identified radicalised students on campus (Basri & Dwiningrum
Students are an educated group at the forefront of making changes in society (Reger
Student activists with high collective self-esteem tend to protect and defend their group from pressure from other parties (Arifianto
This study uses a qualitative research design. A mixed methods analysis is applied in this study by combining two approaches, namely qualitative and quantitative. Creswell (
The strategy used in this research is to interview participants to obtain qualitative data, after previously conducting a survey to obtain quantitative data. This is what Creswell (
The research informants used respondents from the research setting to provide information about the situation and conditions in the campus environment. A simple random sampling method was used to determine a representative sample. Respondents came from PTKIN students who were distributed proportionally. Based on the data from this survey, the potential for Indonesian Islamic students’ radicalism, especially from Islamic colleges, can be identified.
The questionnaire was developed into a question section, a direct statement section and an agree–disagree section. The development of the questionnaire was based on several themes, including nationalism, Islam, religious moderation and radicalism. The assessment of the potential for radicalism was measured through the detailed responses given by the respondents. The collected data then enabled the researchers to assemble a picture of the potential radicalism of Islamic students.
The answers collected from the questionnaire distribution were unprocessed data about the potential for radicalism amongst PTKIN students. To supplement this data, the researchers conducted in-depth interviews with the respondents. In addition, the information collected was broadened by gathering information from relevant literature studies. By involving student activists as respondents, researchers sought to collect comprehensive information based on the activists’ knowledge and practical experience on and off campus. Meanwhile, nonstudent activists at IAIN Syekh Nurjati were also involved as respondents to obtain information from students who only focused on routine activities on campus. By involving these two categories of respondents, the researchers sought to get different findings. However, the questionnaire results indicated the same tendency that PTKIN students had the potential to be exposed to radicalism.
To complete the study of the survey data findings, the researcher conducted additional in-depth interviews with experts and scholars who are close to the discourse of radicalism. Interviews were conducted to obtain information and meet research objectives, using a question-and-answer process with the informants. The informants had been involved in social life for a relatively long time and were familiar with the discourse of radicalism and terrorism.
The given data were obtained through the distribution of questionnaires to student activist respondents from amongst 15 PTKINs throughout Indonesia and nonstudent activists at IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon. The data collected is then analysed to determine the potential exposure to radicalism amongst PTKIN students, as presented in
Potential exposure to radicalism amongst Perguruan tinggi keagamaan Islam negeri students.
No. | Student category | No. of students | Potential exposure to radicalism |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Islamic college students in Indonesia | 396 | 274 (68.7%) |
In addition,
Respondents’ answers to the questionnaire.
Questions | Option 1 (%) | Option 2 (%) |
---|---|---|
1. As a Muslim, do you prefer the state to be an Islamic state or in another form? | Islamic state form | Other form |
68.8 | 31.2 | |
2. As a citizen and a religious person, do you prefer to obey either state law or religious law? | Religious law | State law |
77.7 | 22.3 | |
3. To live as a nation and state, you need rules or regulations that all people must obey. Do you prefer to obey the governments’ or religious leaders’ rules? | Government | Religious leaders |
51 | 49 | |
4. There is a saying that ‘hubul wathon minal Iman’ [love for the homeland is part of faith]. Do you agree that defending the Republic of Indonesia is part of faith? | Agree | Disagree |
95.6 | 4.4 | |
5. Based on religious texts (‘there is no compulsion in religion’ [Qur’an 2:256] and ‘if you are honoured with something of respect, then repay that respect with something better than it or repay the honour with something similar. Verily, Allah takes all things into account’ [Qur’an 2:86]), respect for people of other religions is an obligation for every Muslim. Do you agree with this opinion? | Agree | Disagree |
95.6 | 4.4 |
Based on the findings in
‘Regarding radicalism, Islamic higher education as a centre of excellence must carry out repositioning in the external environment through internal restructuring efforts that are planned, implemented and evaluated properly on an ongoing basis. The hope is that it will not be infiltrated by transnational ideologies that tend to be destructive.’ (State Islamic Institute, Syekh Nurjati Cirebon, 23 years old)
The extremism that shapes a student’s identity can harm his or her religious life. Exclusivism and puritanism are always fought for. On the other hand, national commitment should concern higher education institutions. Diversity education is under attack from various transnational ideologies and narrow religious beliefs. The first interview is supported by the second interview with Student Activist 2, stating the causes of the degradation of nationalism:
‘Factors causing the degradation of our nationalism are the influence of intolerant and textualist groups, the weakness of national history education, the influence of an Arabisation in understanding, the distortion of social media on religious values and the emergence of radical religious organisations. That means the degradation factor of nationalism does not come entirely from internal students.’ (State Islamic Institute Metro, Lampung, 21 years old)
In the third interview with Student Activist 3, the nature of radical ideology and how it is used to attack others gives momentum to the potential development of student radicalism. They will be more and more blinded by their narrow beliefs and feel only they are right:
‘Things indicating students are exposed to radicalism: experiencing ideological changes that change how they view the world; promote a rigid understanding of their beliefs; more often use ideological languages that discriminate against others; extreme ideology has become a personal identity and uses more ideological language hateful rhetoric.’ (State Islamic University, Mataram, 24 years old)
From the given interviews, it can be identified that there are two respondents who are tolerant and intolerant towards differences of understanding. Tolerant students have a national understanding based on the concept of unity in diversity (
The growth of radicalism in educational institutions should sound the alarm for its impact on increasingly eroding national values and character, working against unifying all levels of society. National values such as love for the homeland, patriotism, tolerance, unity and integrity, obedience to the state (loyalty) and religious values such as
According to Armstrong (
Leonard Swidler and Paul Mojzes (
Islamic colleges need to be able to effectively carry out the mainstreaming of religious moderation. This idea aligns with the religious nationalist view, which is open to a wider discourse. According to the Research, Development, Training and Education Agency of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (
In addition, Menchik (
In terms of this survey’s findings, the data on the alignment of the Islamic state (see
Student radicalism can give rise to anti-nationalism, essentially a rejection of the state, state law, government and intolerance (see
‘Ahmadiyya and Shīʿa are religious beliefs that deviate from the true teachings of Islam, because the Ahmadiyya followers have their own prophet and apostle, namely Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad from India. Even the Ahmadiyya holy book is also different from the Qur’an, which is called Tadzkirah. Teachings like this must be kept away from the Indonesian people so that we are not affected by the bad effects.’
Historically, religious radicalism has taken one of two forms. The first form is radicalism in mind (fundamentalism). The second form is radicalism in action, namely terrorism. The radicalism that metamorphoses into anarchic actions usually legitimises violence to achieve its desires and interests. Rahmatullah (
Theological and sociological factors influence the potential for radicalism amongst students. Theological or ideological factors are internal factors of religious understanding and are manifested as, amongst other things, (1) demands for a religious state, (2) enforcing religious law as state law, (3) support for extreme religious movements to enforce religious teachings, (4) support for religion-based programme policies and (5) the preference for religion-based parties. Based on the survey results, this study shows that students prefer to obey religious law rather than state law (see
Religious understanding is carried out by becoming inculcated with the moral basis of religion from the holy scriptures, including religious traditions that developed in religious groups. These teachings are interpreted so that they can be used to control and even legitimise acts of violence. Violent behaviour carried out by Muslims always involves aspects of religion and ideology (at least as a moral basis), the legitimacy of their actions, encouragement, provocative material and threats. Some religious figures argue that radical actions by certain Muslim groups on the pretext of religion cannot be justified because Islam principally teaches peace and tolerance. In this case, the Ahnaf’s research findings (
The International Crisis Group (
Radicalism, from a sociological perspective, is related to the question of what factors in a society increase or decrease the likelihood of violence. On the other hand, the challenge faced is new radicalism, which becomes a problem when violence must also arouse widespread subjective concern. Sociology sees inferential relativity in understanding the phenomenon of radicalism, with various theories and axiomatic differences used in studying it, even though Horton, Leslie and Larson (
In Breuer and Elson’s (
According to Stenmark (
The study of religious nationalism in Indonesia is furnished with several different terms, such as Nurcholish Madjid’s ‘Islam and Nationalism’ and Abdurrahman Wahid’s ‘indigenisation of Islam’. The idea of ‘Islam and Nationalism’, formulated by Nurcholish Madjid, responded to the historical context of Indonesia in the 1970s. Theologically, religious nationalism emerged because of the rise of religious fundamentalism and exclusivity. According to Madjid (
Madjid’s criticism of fundamentalism is directed at those Muslims who seek the establishment of Islamic law in Indonesia. Madjid’s inclusive thinking can be studied from the moderate and substantive spirit of Islam and the multicultural Indonesian spirit to counterbalance and correct calibrate formal-exclusive religious interpretations, which had the potential to become the embryo of horizontal conflict at that time. This idea is aligned with the thought expressed by Juergensmeyer (
The marriage between religious faith and the nation-state is an interesting turn in modern history, fraught with dangers, for even if it is possible, the radical accommodation of religion to nationalism may not necessarily be a good thing. A merger of the absolutism of nationalism with the absolutism of religion might create a rule so vaunted and potent that it might destroy itself and its neighbors. (p. 387)
In addition to the given terms, the indigenisation of Islam can also be associated with a religious nationalist approach. Abdurrahman Wahid in Syabibi et al. (
The concept of indigenisation of Islam, according to Abdurrahman Wahid in Naim (
In the Indonesian context, Nurcholish Madjid in Rozak et al. (
Juergensmeyer (
Religious visions of moral order will continue to appear as attractive solutions, and religious activists will continue to attempt to impose these solutions in violent ways, seeing themselves as soldiers in a cosmic drama of political redemption. (p. 20)
Religious nationalism, according to Grzymala-Busse and Science (
Concerning an integrative approach, this study proposes an approach that combines national values with religious values, both in terms of terminology and narrative. Muslim students in Indonesia readily accept religious terminology in explaining national values rather than the existing general terminology of nationalism. The survey results indicated that participants respond positively to nationalism, correlated with religious phrases such as ‘hubul wathon minal’ [love for the homeland is part of faith], that is, love for the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia is part of faith (see
The survey gauged the issue of religious tolerance by asking respondents whether they agreed with the statement that respecting people of other religions is an obligation for every Muslim (see
The integrative model of national and religious values to prevent potential radicalism amongst students in Indonesia is formulated with two integrative approaches. Firstly, there should be integration with the terminology used in national and religious languages, such as expressing love for the homeland using religious terms. Secondly, there should be integration through narratives that substantially contain national and religious values. The second approach explains tolerance as a national language with a religious teaching, namely respect for other religious people as an obligation of Islamic teachings.
Fleming (
For students, they bring with them a belief in a revealed God. The student also draws on the nation’s culture, which contains spiritual values of life and ancestral heritage (Nandan Iskandar
A spiritual yearning has been present in humans throughout the history of their existence on Earth, and religion is based on very human needs, at least in terms of human emotions themselves (Azyumardi Azra in Anshor
Fromm (
At the level of religious values, religion has five dimensions, including ideology (belief system), the religious practice (practice), experience (feeling), knowledge and the dimension of religious consequences (effect) (Zarzycka & Rydz
The spread of radicalism in Indonesian educational institutions is growing due to the era of openness that allows previously restricted groups to express their views. The Reformation era provided an environment for the growth and development of various forms of radical religious expression which denied the existence of other groups and even tended to be radical. Radicalism in the world of education was seeded, changing from the New Order-controlled conditions to a wide latitude for exercising freedom.
The planting of the seeds of radicalism in education is a form of denial by radicals and radical organisations of the fact that the Indonesian nation is plural, especially concerning religious ideas. At the same time, this denial indicates a shift in national understanding, which was previously cohesive and based on noble values such as religious-inclusive values, to become radical-exclusive. The world of education is no longer a medium for disseminating knowledge to create a social life order that is more open and based on mutual respect, instead becoming a place where radicalism is introduced, grows and develops. The notion of religious nationalism is no longer found amidst the more complex challenges of national life.
Given the rise of radicalism, building an early detection and handling system on campus is of great importance. It can be achieved in several ways, including raising awareness of the academic community on the risk of violent extremism, developing skills in detecting early warning signs, improving digital and media literacy skills, supporting student social initiatives to train social cohesion and empathy and developing policies for campus preparedness systems.
A study carried out by the Research, Development, Training and Education Agency for the Ministry of Religious Affairs (
It is conducted as a preventive effort to stop the radicalisation of students’ thoughts and actions. The phase where a person is being exposed is pre-radicalisation, which includes political, historical, psychosocial, instrumental and theological narratives. There is self-identification that focuses on internal and external factors such as looking for identity, leaving old teachings and looking for new values. Furthermore, there is indoctrination through understanding spiritual sanctions and strengthening beliefs about the unconditional adoption of jihadist ideology. The climax is the act of terrorism through the obligation of jihad, training, strengthening of faith and planning of action (Milla, Putra & Umam
This study explains the emergence of radicalism in educational institutions driven in an era of openness in responding to differences. Inclusivism is taboo because it is considered an understanding that accepts anything without distinction. The strengthening of truth claims in social groups, such as amongst students, is a sign of the weak control of colleges on student attitudes and activities. Within educational institutions there is the potential for radicalism, which seeds terrorism. This also occurs in noneducational institutions such as mosques (Hidayah & Sunarso 2018). If radicalism in educational institutions intensifies because of the availability of space for expression that was previously shackled, in mosques it occurs because of an intolerant attitude towards the existence of different religious groups and understandings. This dissemination of radical ideas can occur through the curriculum and lectures, thus requiring early prevention efforts.
Religious teachings can ideally guide and direct each of their followers in the right direction. Every religion provides teachings about goodness as a guide for living and interacting with others. Therefore, it is inappropriate if religious teachings are used to direct their followers to radicalism, which will harm themselves and others. In this context, religious teachings significantly influence the understanding and actions of radicalism.
This study examines the potential for radicalism amongst Islamic student activists drawing on data from a formulated questionnaire. The research data show that the potential for exposure to radicalism for Indonesian Islamic student activists is relatively high. In addition, by implementing two integration strategies of religious nationalism, namely religious terminology and religious narratives, researchers provide policy recommendations in building religious intellectuality. These data deserve the attention of relevant stakeholders to develop targeted and effective mitigation and deradicalisation programmes.
This research provides a theoretical contribution in the form of an integrated approach to religious nationalism in preventing the potential for radicalism in society or amongst Islamic higher education students in Indonesia. This approach combines nationalism with religious values. It is ‘religious nationalism’. This study has limitations, particularly regarding the data collection, so further research needs to be undertaken to confirm the results of this study to explore more factual actions of radicalism amongst Islamic college students.
The authors would like to acknowledge the rector of Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN), Syekh Nurjati, and Walisongo State Islamic University for supporting this research.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
I.N., S.G., A.H., S.S. and R.R. contributed equally to this research article.
This article followed all ethical standards of research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.