To deal with radicalism and extremism, we need to deal with economic inequality. This is what I learned from my experience in Solo and then in Jakarta.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In Indonesia, Malaysia, wherever Muslims are living, they don't want to live in harmony.
Extremism can flourish only in an environment where basic governmental social responsibility for the welfare of the people is neglected. Political dictatorship and social hopelessness create the desperation that fuels religious extremism.
Increasing extremism - across Africa and the world - must be understood in the context of the failure of our leaders properly to manage diversity within their borders.
The fact is that there is a serious problem of extremism with minority groups within Muslim communities.
These so-called extremists in Pakistan should be brought into the mainstream; if you marginalize them, you radicalize them.
I am looking for suggestions on what we can do about extremists within our own society. They cannot be ignored.
The problem with our region is that there are areas with oil and too much money, and then there are places such as south Lebanon and the Palestinian territories where there is no work, and instead of developing industry, they become dependent on oil money - this results in extremism.
In order to counteract income inequality, it's essential to tackle poverty in an integrated way that has long-term impact. We need to give people the capacity to be resilient, to take on challenges and to learn the skills they need to work toward more prosperous futures.
Non-violent extremism is essentially the increase of intolerant and bigoted demands made by groups seeking to dominate society.
We are not facing great economic difficulties. The Indonesian people are faring reasonably well - just compare us to India or some other countries.