A decade on: ‘the war on terror’ and Indonesia’s militant Islamist groups

In the late 1990s, Indonesia the world’s most populous Muslim nationb egan a transition to democracy. At the time, many commentators expressed concern about the risks of Islamist ascendancy in the wake of Suharto’s downfall. Initially, the archipelago did witness a proliferation of Islamist paramilitary groups, but in the following decade since the transition many of the concerns have proved to be largely unfounded. In fact, today Indonesia accommodates a diverse amount of Islamic political expression within the framework of its democratic electoral system. However, the scenario raises some questions. First, how did Indonesia contain its paramilitary threat? And second, what lessons, if any, can we draw from this? In order to attempt to answer these questions, the best approach is to take a more detailed look at the make-up of these groups and the responses to them