Indonesia’s campaign against Islamists is a ploy to silence critics
By defining radicalism broadly, it can demonise its opponents
Bureaucrats have a reputation for being boring. But not in Indonesia, whose civil service is full of dangerous radicals, according to the government itself. Officials regularly declare that a worryingly high share of public-sector workers are in fact Islamist extremists. Ministers and intelligence chiefs denounce the “radicalism” of bureaucrats and teachers, and newspapers run stories about suspected terrorists who double as local officials.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Illusory extremists”
From the June 25th 2022 edition
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