Indonesian Muslim Crisis Center (IMCC) together with the Working Group on Women and Preventing Countering Violent Extremism (WGWC) held activities to expand the WGWC network in West Java. The establishment of the WGWC network in West Java province is expected to be a joint network for actors in gender mainstreaming to prevent violent extremism at the provincial level. Furthermore, this network is expected to be able to carry out collaborative work and synergy between government and non-government institutions and invite more new partners to build the PCVE women’s movement in West Java in particular.
The event was held at the Hotel U Janevalla, Bandung, West Java on November 29, 2019. The event took the form of a one-day work workshop starting at morning. 8:00 a.m. to noon 4:00 p.m. This activity was attended by 20 participants from various government and non-government institutions including representatives of NGOs / CSOs, religious / interfaith communities, peace institutions, women’s organizations, women’s organizations, campus academics, pesantren, community communities, and representatives of members of the Java DPRD West and including from SC WGWC and the IMCC Team.
Participants in this activity were representatives from 15 institutions, namely: the Terrorism Prevention Coordination Forum (FKPT), Social Workers of the West Java Social Service, Religious Instructors of the Ministry of Religion of West Java, Aisyiyah of West Java, Fatayat NU of West Java, Women’s Institutes, Sapa Institutes, Youth Communication Forum Exactly (FKPP) West Java, Interfaith Cooperation Network (Jaka Tarub), Pasundan Christian Church Women’s Service Commission (KPP GKP) Bandung, Indonesian Peace School (Sekodi) Bandung, Peace Generation Indonesia (Peacegen), Academics / Lecturers of the State Islamic University (UIN) Bandung, and Al Ihsan Islamic Boarding School in Bandung. The IMCC team and SC WGWC representatives in addition to being the organizer of the activity also became the resource persons, facilitators and fully involved as the activity participants. Other speakers from FKPT answered and Jaka Tarub in addition to being a speaker in one of the sessions were also full participants of this activity.
IMCC Director, Robi Sugara conveyed about the issues of radicalism and terrorism in Indonesia and the important role of women in preventing radicalism. This is because if women are already involved in radicalism, they usually also involve their children and husband. This is different from the men involved. SC WGWC Representative, Riri Khariroh, in addition to delivering about WGWC also explained the role of women in every act of terrorism that occurred in Indonesia and the role of institutions that crucially handled rehabilitation and social reintegration for perpetrators and 2 women-child victims. This forum is also at the same time a mapping of civil society groups that are concerned with women’s issues in the fields of radicalism and extremism.
During the Presentation and Discussion session on the latest input on West Java, two speakers were represented by non-governmental organizations in West Java with Wawan Gunawan as the founder of Jaka Tarub and representatives of government institutions in West Java with Dody S Truna as Secretary General of the West Java FKPT.
Wawan Gunawan (Jaka Tarub) explained the conditions in West Java, especially related to the movements that have been carried out by non-governmental organizations in West Java related to various issues. He explained about what the institution had done, one of which was vigorous protest to various agencies and groups that showed intolerance, such as the rejection of the establishment of places of worship that led to the closure of even destruction and some violations that occurred during the last 10 years in West Java such as heresy, prohibition of religious activities, discriminatory laws to the utterance of hatred. According to him, West Java was not only a field for extremist movements but also a basis. To establish closeness with the people of West Java requires a rural community approach because of its geographical background which is a mountainous area and life in the fields. Currently various movements that have been running and collaborating with each other in West Java include: Jaka Tarub, Balad, JAJ, Task For West Java, West Java Compassion, Peaceful Halaqah, Sekodi, YIPC, Peacegen, IP, LBHB, AJI, and others.
Dody S Truna (FKPT West Java) delivered material related to FKPT’s role as the BNPT Task Force with its fields, namely: Social and Cultural Religion, Mass Media, Law and Public Relations, Youth and Education, Women and Children, and Research and assessment. One of the activities carried out by FKPT West Java related to the issue of women and radicalism, namely in 2017 FKPT West Java held a National Peace Women Pioneer Conference in Bandung which was attended by 75 people from various elements of society who discussed women as a stronghold of family.
Important Points in Discussion:
- There is no civil society group in West Java that is directly concerned with the issue of radicalism and extremism. Existing groups usually talk more about intolerance issues such as Jaka Tarub and peace issues such as PeaceGen, Peace Schools and others.
- The issue of extremism also seems to not be able to be used as a prefix issue in advocacy unless it is included in the current program content, for example in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) program, especially in the field of women. This is because in grassroots they are very far from the discussion related to the issue of extremism because many of their life problems are still unfinished, especially related to sadang and food.
- The issue of extremism is still the domain of government as carried out by FKPT and the West Java Provincial Bakesbangpol. Therefore it is necessary to follow up the synergy and consolidation of the network of government and non-government institutions in West Java on this issue.
The establishment of the WGWC in West Java adds new issues and jobs to existing civil society groups. So far in West Java and Bandung in particular, civil society groups in the fields of religious harmony, intolerance, peace, and women’s issues have often coordinated and collaborated. Therefore, future challenges should be for the WGWC network in West Java through this activity to further maximize existing group networks by building synergistic coordination, sharing programs, and increasing the human resources of civil society group members in the form of writing policy briefs and mapping of radicalism and how to handle them.
Even though they do not have to form new groups or organizations, this community group network is ready to work in synergy with the WGWC and by determining contact persons from representatives of West Java groups who can be used as network person contacts on issues of women and extremism. The contact persons are three people representing the institution, Wawan Gunawan (Jaka Tarub), Johan J. Anwari (member of the West Java DPRD Commission V), Dewi Ririn (Aisyiyah Jabar).
From the results of this inaugural meeting, it is hoped that in the future there will be further activities and communication that can synergize joint work, especially on the issues of women and PCVE and further consolidation for the WGWC West Java network with the WGWC at the national level to take strategic steps for West Java. []
