The term “millennial generation” was popularized by William Strauss and Neil Howein 1987. This generation was born in the early 1980s, went to preschool and was spoken of as the generation of the new millennium when they graduated senior high school in the 2000s.
The millennial generation, or Generation Y – also called Generation Me or the Echo Boomers – indeed cannot be separated from gadgets and social media. And technology has become one of its characteristics.
Its correlation with the drive to search for identity and ego – the predicate that must be borne by an individualistic, even antisocial generation – is because the millennial generation is super-active in the cyber world. Erik Erikson (1959) had a theory of developmental psychology that the 16-30 year age range constituted a transition from adolescence to mature adulthood, characterized by the formation of role and identity (Neil J Salkind, An Introduction to Theories of Human Development, 2004).
Young radicals
When the cyber world has become a medium for the search of self, character, and identity for the millennial generation, radical groups are at the same time utilizing the opportunity to disclose their ideology and beliefs. The results are effective.
The many young people who were radicalized and became terrorists are the portraits of successful recruitment through social media propaganda. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, 21, the son of a garment businessman in Britain, chose to go on jihad to Bosnia (1994) rather than continuing his mathematics and applied economic studies at theLondonSchool of Economics.
The perpetrators of the 10 bombings of four trains at three stations on March 11, 2004 in Madrid, Spain, which killed 191 people and wounded 2,000 others, were students who learned how to assemble bombs on the internet. Then in 2006, Mohammed Atif Siddique, 21, of Clackmannanshire, Glasgow, Britain, was arrested in Punjab, Pakistan, when he was about to meet Aabid Hussain Khan, a member of the Toronto 18 terrorist cell, in connection with a plan to become a suicide bomber jihad martyr.
Europol–the special policing agency of the European Union (2016), headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands– has recorded the existence of a new phenomenon, that terrorists – especially jihad suicide bombers – are dominated by young adults, including young women. In 2017 were Salman Abedi, 22, the perpetrator of the May 22 bomb blast in Manchester, Britain, and Moussa Oukabir, 18, who was named the perpetrator of the Aug. 17 terror in Barcelona, Spain.
The millennial generation is highly creative. This generation is known not only as a consumptive generation and a generation of internet enthusiasts, but also an innovative generation. Among the millennial generation that is exposed to radical teachings, innovation translates as the freedom to set a target and type of weapon as tactics in carrying out terror acts launched individually and without involving other parties. The lone-wolf phenomenon, with all its creativity and variations of terror acts, is proof that the generation that is searching for identity has been utilized by the radical groups in converting valuable, living assets into the most effective, yet low-cost, killing machines.
What about in Indonesia?
The number of the Indonesian millennial generation that have been radicalized is not small, either.
They are a group of young people who were involved in radical movements that are still conventional. They were exposed to the deadly virus of delusion, unable to differentiate between fact and fiction.
The vulnerability of adolescence and the low level of, or mistaken, understanding of religious teachings, have encouraged young people not to think rationally and logically. They are anesthetized by sacred religious verses that promise entry to Heaven and can be arrived at through shortcuts considered noble: jihad suicide bombers.
Missing sensitivity
On the other hand, the nation, intoxicated by celebrations of democracy and political euphoria, is increasingly losing its “sense of sensitivity” of the still-evolving threat the radical movement poses on the millennial generation. It is not surprising if the real condition is one of emergency, but the elites of the nation still considers it trivial, neglects it, or views it lightly.
If this millennial generation is left without any attention, it is not impossible that it will give birth to the "missing generation” of Gertrude Stein in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (1926): A generation that has no empathy for or confidence in the religious values of love, truth, virtue, peace and togetherness. Not only that, but such a generation is also fond of discriminative treatment, escapism, and lacks the ability to take a stance or decision.
”The world will be destroyed not by bad people, but by good people who let it happen," said Albert Einstein (1879-1955). This expression can also be translated as: Indonesia will be devastated not by bad people, but by good people who allow the radicalization of the millennial generation continue to grow.
Constant symptoms
No big event happens all of a sudden. There are always symptoms, indications that can be seen. All commotion that is spending much of the nation’s energy of late and that manifests in intolerance, such as street protests, radicalism and terrorism, are visible social symptoms. Another symptom is the increasingly widespread news reports on slander, blasphemy and hoaxes, which seems to represent a people who have lose their hope and objectives.
Social affairs expert Peter Baehr elaborates in his book, The ”Masses” in Hannah Arendt’s Theory of Totalitarianism (2007), that if a state is in a condition of anomaly, only law enforcement – in its real meaning – and the firm character of its leaders are needed. The many people who are keen to sacrifice their social values and join radical groups paint a picture of the weakness of the state’s laws and the absence of firmness among its leaders.
“Errare humanum est, trupe in errore perseverare”: To err is human, but it not wise to persevere in error. Don\'t let live coals continue to burn, because if you are careless it, can burn down your house. Kill the embers of the radicalization of the millennial generation before it devastates your home: Indonesia!
The millennial generation is itself continuing to develop. Now it already has many advantages. One of them is their capability to control public perception through social media. Therefore, if radical groups can recruit members of this generation, it will mean disaster.
The level of this threat will be much more formidable compared to the threat of conventional radical movements. The reason is because the radicalization of the millennial generation is based on the development of science and technology, not simply experiences as carried out by the conventional radical movement. In the 21st century, whoever controls technology and is superior in controlling public perception will emerge the victor (Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder).
Only law and firm leadership can neutralize the radical elements of the millennial generation. If laws function as they should– there is no impunity –and the leaders are firm and do not neglect the problem, the radicalization of the millennial generation will destroy itself.
Law enforcement is conditio sine qua non – an essential condition. What is no less important is the firmness of the nation’s leaders, that they handle the threat of radicalism decisively, in correlation with their determining the future of this nation.
ADJIE SURADJI
Alumnus of the School of Science, University of Karachi, PakistanCorrection: In accordance with the Dewan Pers' recommendation, this opinion has been corrected on February 29, 2024, taking into account child protection obligations.
