Beyond Liberal Peace: Religious Violence and Tactical Peacebuilding in Indonesia
| Published date | 01 August 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23477970231173525 |
| Author | Sumanto Al Qurtuby |
| Date | 01 August 2023 |
Research Article
Beyond Liberal Peace:
Religious Violence and
Tactical Peacebuilding
in Indonesia
Sumanto Al Qurtuby1
Abstract
Since the downfall of Suharto’s authoritarian government in 1998, Indonesia has
witnessed a variety of violent conflicts, intergroup tensions and Islamist radical-
ism, which in turn pose threats to the country’s security, safety and peace. This
article examines various forms of religious violence, particularly Islamist violence,
and ways of overcoming them tactically or strategically in post-Suharto Indone-
sia. This article underscores the need to go beyond the liberal peace framework,
underlines the significance of the implementation of tactical peacebuilding and
highlights the central roles of domestic religious actors in the peace and recon-
ciliation processes. This article suggests that tactical peacebuilding requires mul-
tiple approaches that utilise various sources, including religion and culture, and
needs a strategic collaboration among manifold actors—religious and secular,
state and society, domestic and foreign. The Indonesian case shows that religion
is not only a source of conflict, violence and ‘violence-building’ but also a useful
resource for reconciliation, conflict resolution and peacebuilding.
Keywords
Religious violence, Islamist radicalism, tactical peacebuilding, conflict resolution,
liberal peace, Indonesia
Introduction
What are the most effective and strategic ways in building sustainable peace amid
widespread religious violence (physical and verbal alike), fanaticism and intol-
erance in present-day Indonesia? Why and how are cultural-religious sources as
Journal of Asian Security
and International Affairs
10(2) 145–168, 2023
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI: 10.1177/23477970231173525
journals.sagepub.com/home/aia
1 Department of Global Studies, IRC for Finance and Digital Economy, KFUPM Business School,
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Corresponding author:
Sumanto Al Qurtuby, Department of Global Studies, IRC for Finance and Digital Economy, KFUPM
Business School, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
E-mail: alqurtuby@kfupm.edu.sa
146Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs 10(2)
well as local community and religious actors significant, tactical and strategic in
peacebuilding processes? Finally, in the Indonesian context, why are the liberal
peace framework and concept as a means of peacebuilding found ineffective or
insufficient? These are, among others, some intriguing questions that this article
tries to answer.
Besides notable social, political and economic development and achievement,
the post–New Order Indonesia1 has also been marked by the presence of antiplural-
ist movements and intolerant actions, which threatens the country’s ethnoreligious
plurality, civic peace and national security. The collapse of President Suharto in
1998, after more than three decades in power, has also triggered various forms of
physical/direct violence in multiethnic, multilingual, multicultural and multireli-
gious Indonesia. These include, among others, terrorism, secessionism-driven vio-
lence, communal riots, pogrom, violent jihadism, vigilante-ism and violent
sectarianism, committed by multiple actors (political, ethnic, or religious groups).
The Denny JA Foundation reported that after the fall of Suharto’s New Order,
there are some 2398 cases of physical violence and intolerance in Indonesia, 65% of
which have religious backgrounds and motives2 (Kompas, 2020). Some cases of
this violence are categorised as very high, marked by thousands of deaths and inju-
ries, such as the Christian-Muslim communal strife in Maluku, Central Sulawesi
and North Maluku or interethnic brawls (e.g. between the Dayak and Madurese) in
Kalimantan (Aragon, 2001; Bertrand, 2004; Sidel, 2006; Van Klinken, 2007), while
others are typified as low-medium with small casualties or only minor property
damages (Harsono, 2019; HRW, 2013; SETARA Institute, 2021).
This article, however, is not intended to explain and analyse all these sorts of
violence. It focuses merely on religious violence, with particular attention to that
committed by hardline Islamists (i.e. Islamist violence), albeit other religious
groups (e.g. Christians) are also mentioned. Islamists are adherents—individuals
or social groups—of Islamism,3 which is a broad set of political ideologies that
strives to derive legitimacy from Islam (Tibi, 2012). The Islamists usually use and
draw inspiration from particular Islamic texts, discourses, narratives, symbols and
traditions in pursuit of various sociopolitical objectives (Hilmy, 2010). The reason
for giving much weight and attention to Islamist hardliners is mainly because they
are one of the main perpetrators of violent, anti-pluralist and intolerant cases in
post-Suharto Indonesia. Research findings from various institutions also indicate
the dominant role played by non-state religious (Islamist) actors in recent antiplu-
ralist acts, religious radicalism and intolerance. A report by the Wahid Foundation
(2017), for instance, reveals that non-state Islamist hardliners contributed to 64%
of actors engaged in post-Suharto religious violence (see also SETARA Institute,
2021). For the most part, Christian hardliners, with few exceptions, were only
involved in the past communal riots between Muslim and Christian communities
in the provinces of Maluku, North Maluku or Central Sulawesi, particularly from
1998 to 2005 (Al Qurtuby, 2015b; Wilson, 2008).
It is uneasy to determine whether a certain case of violence is religious, secular
(non-religious) or a mixture of both, mainly because a religious act can be at the
same time a political-economic act. The religious hardliners or Islamist jihadists
who committed violence or terrorism on behalf of religion, for example, can be a
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