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Indonesia's ongoing battle against terrorism has made deradicalisation programmes a major focus of the government. The National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) has primary responsibility for persuading terrorists to desist from, if not reject, violence as part of their Islamic struggle, but its ability to deal directly with terrorists and other radicalised communities is hampered by the depth of distrust and animosity that these communities feel towards the state and its security services. As a result, BNPT has partnered with Muslim civil society organisations (CSOs) in running anti-terrorism programmes for jihadists. Indonesia's dominant Islamic organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, have been in the vanguard of state-CSO counter-terrorism cooperation. Eastern Indonesia has experienced persistent terrorist activity over the past two decades, including many fatal attacks on police. This article takes as a case study CSO initiatives in the West Nusa Tenggara city of Bima, with particular attention given to Ustadz Gunawan, a pivotal figure in local jihadist circles who, in 2019, renounced violence and became a proponent of peaceful jihad. This article examines the history of extremist jihadism in Bima and the counter-radicalisation efforts of CSOs and state institutions. We argue that three key factors—personal relations between jihadists and CSO leaders, family pressure and generous material incentives from state agencies—have created space for peace promotion in communities that previously condoned, if not supported, jihadist bellicosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous empirical studies on Indonesia have supported the claim that the reformist movement of Muhammadiyah led to a decline in local culture. The popular call of the the reformist movements is that Muslims should return to a pristine Islam. However, little has been studied about how reformist Muslims accommodated local culture. In my field research employing ethnographic methodology, I found that the reformists of Muhammadiyah in Bima support local rituals seen as complying with local wisdom (kearifan lokal). For example, the reformist Muslims actively participated in the celebration of Mawlid, the Prophet's birthday, a ritual commonly associated with the traditionalists of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). Historical records show that the two differing religious orientations have been anchored within the Bima sultanate. Bima's dyadic leadership, comprising the Sultan and the Raja Bicara (sultan's spokesperson), allowed for branches of both NU and Muhammadiyah to be established in Bima. This in turn places political stability as an impetus for religious harmony in the region. As the findings show, it is important for both traditionalist and reformist strands to accommodate each other. Accordingly, the Mawlid ritual has not disappeared as it is considered fundamental to the identity marker of Bima Muslims, for both NU and Muhammadiyah followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]