I just finished reading a report about efforts by Indonesian authorities to “deradicalize” hard-core jihadi members of Jemaah Islamiya and other groups. This isn’t the only place that such a thing has been tried — similar programs have been instituted in countries like Singapore, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Britain. By using a variety of tactics, the aim of these programs is to convince extremists to reconsider their views. Typically, efforts to “deprogram” jihadis involve bringing in moderate and respected religious clerics to undercut belief in violence. The report describes the process like this:
Once prisoners show a willingness to accept police assistance, they are exposed to religious arguments against some forms of jihad by scholars whose credentials within the movement are unimpeachable. Some have then accepted that attacks on civilians, such as the first and second Bali bombings and the Australian embassy bombing, were wrong.
It’s hard to imagine that this kind of thing really works (ideologies are hard to erase), and this report didn’t exactly confirm otherwise. The results are very mixed, and it’s not at all clear that the “success stories” are valid. Many of those who appear to have gone along with Indonesia’s program, the report found, did so because their family was offered a bundle of “economic aid,” not because of any genuine change in their belief structures.