Even if all those groups could be banned, we remain aware of widespread extremist beliefs that justify violence, based on intolerance against anyone seen to adhere to different beliefs. Surveys have confirmed that such intolerance has spread throughout schools via religious studies.

Intolerance has even been institutionalized in staterun schools. A non-Muslim student in Banyuwangi, East Java, recently retracted her application to her favorite state junior high school after being told that all students had to wear the hijab. The angry regent, Abdullah Azwar Anas, immediately demanded that the school drop the rule and apologize to the student.

Several local leaders have become among the best allies of the national leadership in spreading Indonesia’s values of respect for diversity, simply by doing their job of ensuring that all citizens in their jurisdictions can access vital public services and working to stop discrimination wherever they see it.

Some leaders have even signed hundreds of discriminatory regulations.

Some leaders have won recognition for their focus on inclusion, like Regent Azwar, while others work tirelessly to ensure inclusion despite limited resources.

In a discussion on human rights involving local leaders on Thursday, Regent Hilmi Hadid of North Kayong, which hosts the famous Karimata Islands in West Kalimantan, described efforts to provide free health and education services for residents in dozens of islands. He proudly announced that child marriage had decreased under his leadership.

Regent Remigo Yolando Berutu of Pakpak Bharat regency in North Sumatra, which has won four national annual awards for human rights, said free education was steadily increasing the average number of school years enjoyed by students.

The municipal secretary of Bitung in North Sulawesi, Audy Pangemanan, discussed aggressive health monitoring programs and the merit-based appointment of authorities in his district. Three of eight district heads are women, he said.

Authorities, scholars and religious figures recognize that a sense of being marginalized is one factor that drives individuals into groups and networks offering supposed dignity and easy solutions to all the world’s ills.

Addressing inequality must therefore remain a priority at all levels. Several regents and mayors have unwittingly become the guardians of what often seems a fragile republic. We need many more.