Radicalism: National Police spokesman Inp. Gen. Bachrul Alam gives a press conference on Sept. 27 about a bomb attack at a church in Surakarta, Central Java, while other officers show pictures of the alleged suicide bomber. JP/Jerry Adiguna

Your comments:

The agenda of the evil forces is to de-Islamize, but the agenda must always be camouflaged with the euphemism of de-radicalization. Without this euphemism, this agenda would suffer instant death.

The Western goal, vocally supported by their “Muslim” apologists, is to impose the tyranny of the secular liberalism of the West upon all others. Except Islam, there isn’t any ideology that challenges this Western tyranny.

It is not difficult for right-thinking people to see the injustices prevalent under the current world order, but it is certainly difficult for anyone to invent a just alternative.

It is even more difficult for some to appreciate that Islam does indeed offer this just alternative.

Solomon
Jakarta

Dear Riza, your article is totally provocative and emotional. There are two key terms you applied here which are “de-radicalization” as the cause, and “de-Islamization” as the effect. Who has de-radicalized Islam? Clearly you mentioned in the second paragraph that the State Islamic University initiated “de-Islamization”.

Frankly, there is no way out here in your article but enmity, especially when you remark that many Muslim scholars have a “Western slant”, and that “they prefer to ally themselves with the West to oppose their fellow believer”.

Your hatred of the West victimizes those who are struggling for the better Islam in this country and those who are trying to bridge Muslim and non-Muslim.

Is “de-Islamization” similar to “progressive Islam” and “inclusive Islam”? If not, how do you differentiate those terms? That is the thing you must discuss and elaborate in your writing.

Fathor Rasi
Jakarta

So the point of this article, sticky as it may be to grasp, is that the issue can be resolved as a lack of a sense of “justice” in young people.

The injustice and poor conditions, coupled with the outrage at “violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine” (violence on whose part, one wonders, the West?) are the real causes of the “perceived violence” on the part of Indonesian Muslims.

It’s true that impoverished conditions allow extremists fertile ground to spread their ideals, but does this mean that the specific problem of Islamist terrorism should be dealt with in so broad a way?

It seems to me that responsibility needs to be taken by those who would call themselves “moderate Muslims” for this horrible perversion of religious ideals in the modern world.

Terrorism has become an outlet for hate using Islam as an avenue. This article seems to me to serve little purpose in moving towards expunging Islam of its present association with violence.

Moving the problem towards broader issues is the blanket beneath which terrorists may hide.

If I were a Muslim, I would be deeply embarrassed at the radicals in my community. To show that Muslims are a part of the broader world community and connected to modernity, I would freely admit that a part of my community is truly sick and dangerous.

Though terrorism is fueled and conditioned by poverty, it is most definitely welded to a perverse interpretation of religious beliefs.

I hope one day that Muslims who are committed to a common modern world will feel the strength to stand up against the terrorists who hide among them.

Richard Wesley
Hong Kong

Popular

Indonesian workers in Japan face growing stigma after viral incidents

Political motivations behind rising cyberattacks in mid-2025, report says

High rice prices, education costs push up inflation to 2.37 percent in July