Many have warned the government about the unwanted repercussions of a new policy against extremism and terrorism, as content-wise, it is open to interpretation and can lead to abuse of power in the name of national security. No less than Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, the country’s two largest Muslim organizations that champion moderation, on top of human rights and democracy campaigners, have talked tough about the newly enforced Presidential Regulation No. 7/2021 on a five-year national action plan for the mitigation and prevention of violence-based extremism that could lead to terrorism. Their concern — if not fear — is real, given the clear-cut social and political division the nation has endured since the bitterly contested presidential election in 2014. The wound, instead of being healed, reopened in the following race in 2019, with more or less the ...