Masculinity and Radicalism Narratives

The ideology of honor deaths offered by global terrorism groups seems to be increasingly manifesting in the Southeast Asian region.

According to the Soufan Center\'s records in June, there have been at least 34 suicide bombings over the last 20 years. What is more worrying, according to the institution, is that these actions were carried out by husbands and wives who supposedly love each other. Nevertheless, acts of terrorism are still "the world of masculinity".

However, ironically, the analyzing knife on “gender” issues, especially “masculinity”, in explaining the radicalization of a man is almost unheard of. Gender here refers to identity, social expectation, challenge and also the opportunity to become a “masculine” or “feminine” figure in their community. This is a behavior and attitude that must be learned, practiced based on certain social constructions.

Also read:

> Religious Moderation

> Gender-Based Counterterrorism Approach

While radicalization is a process that sees a person in search for the root value, the radix, which tends to be no longer common in society, as a term, radicalization conveys a neutral meaning.

Radicalization in the context of this article is a religion-based way of thinking that endangers our security, families, communities and country.

This argument has found ground in several outreach programs for terrorism convicts I have conducted.

As a process, radicalization is also inseparable from genderism. This is because a man is not born innately with a violent inclination. A woman is not innately more peace-loving than a man either. This argument has found ground in several outreach programs for terrorism convicts I have conducted.

I often find cases in which a husband who was serving a sentence in prison wants to declare loyalty to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, the wife will strengthen the husband to remain "steadfast in their struggle".

In fact, there was a case of a wife moving on to divorce the husband and opting to become a second wife of a man remaining active in the terror network. In this context, men and women have their own experiences in the process of getting involved and quitting the violence network.

From my interviews with the men who were involved in acts of terrorism, it appears that the “trigger” of their involvement in violent acts is not solely an ideological motive. It is also attributable to the misinterpretation of the masculine perspective, such as “don\'t want to be considered as a woman” or a desire to be “a protector” of the oppressed group.

In other words, values, hopes and ideal masculinity adopted in the man’s radicalization process are also sourced from masculinity norms and standards accepted by society.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Speakers Zaina Anwar (Malaysia) and Siti Ruhaeni (Indonesia),moderator Chandrakirana, and speakers Mossarat Qadeem (Pakistan) and Hatoon Al-Fasi (Saudi Arabia) address an audience at an international seminar related to women ulemas (Islamic scholar) at the Indonesian Women Ulema Conference at Syek Nurjati State Islamic Institution, Cirebon, West Java, on Tuesday (25/4). They talked about the role of women ulemas in promoting peace amid the wake of radicalism and extremism.

It is important to note that not all masculine values are negative. There are also positive ones, such as the desire to meet family needs (bread winner), be disciplined and be assertive.Therefore, radicalism is basically an extreme step to gain social acceptance and social validation of masculine values that these men believe in the masculinity subculture as found in violent groups such as Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

Loathing feminism tag

The case of the masculine narrative of "don\'t want to be considered a woman" is shown in the story of Wartoyo, a former thug who later fell into a terror cell.

Wartoyo grew up in a harsh environment in Tegal, where fights between residents often occurred. Once he came home weeping with a wound on the head. Instead of rushing to help him, the father said, "If you come home crying like that, you’re a girl."

Those words seemed to have left a scar on Wartoyo\'s heart. He does not cry anymore whatsoever. As a man, he must be strong and fight anyone who disturbs him.

Also read:

> Weak Ideological Resilience Acts as Trigger

> The Paralyzed Pancasila Ideology

Since then he grew into a man who would tackle problems by resorting to violence. This kind of adopted traits had made him successful in the dark world in Jakarta, until one day, he met a girl who was an employee of the person he was going to collect a debt from.

Instead of being apprehensive, the girl said, "Why be a man if you go all the way to Jakarta doing things like this." Those words intrigued Wartoyo day and night.

Instead of being hurt, he fell in love with the girl. They then had a more serious relationship and Wartoyo slowly came out of the dark world.

KOMPAS/VINA OKTAVIA

Police searched a house in Bandar Lampung, Tuesday (15/10/2019). The search was related to the arrest of four suspected terrorists from the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) network.

The masculinity narrative of desiring to become a "protector" appears in Syahrul Munif\'s story. Born to a Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) family in Jember, East Java, Syahrul was moved by what he saw as a form of brutality by the Assad regime in online videos on social media.He looked to the real world or offline to find a way to get involved in humanitarian acts to "protect" the women and children in Syria who were massacred by the Assad regime.

“I can\'t bear to see women and children being slaughtered by cruel rulers. I wanted to defend them,” Syahrul said in an interview.

In his search for the way, he met a JAD figure, Abu Jandal, who then invited him to go to Syria at the beginning of the conflict.

“Islam is like one body. If there is a fellow Muslim suffering in other parts of the world, we should be able to feel the suffering, too. Today, our women and children are raped, tortured and then killed by regime accomplices. We have to protect them," Jandal told Syahrul in a discussion between men.

In this context, Jandal used a “masculinity” narrative in “helping Muslim brothers in Syria who are oppressed”, which can be accepted by society. It carries similar message to “a good man must be able to become a protector for the weak”.

Also read:

> Sharp Bend in Religious Moderation

> Fighting against Terrorism

In this recruitment process, Jandal cunningly manipulated the general masculinity values into specific masculinity values, namely being "to be the true protector according to Islam is becoming a member of JAD in order to carry out jihad in a real battlefield".

Syahrul managed to return from Syria and expressed his disappointment at what had been happening before his eyes — the brutality of being the product of Islamic State (IS) lies and lip-service promises on social media and through the mouthpiece of its supporters, such as Jandal.

Narrative manipulation in cyberspace

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with people staying at home more often and turning to social media for entertainment and information, opens up the emergence of toxic masculinity among the men who are desperately looking for self-identity like Syahrul.

They learn a lot about religion through Sheikh Google or become congregation members on YouTube or Facebook.”

The surge in COVID-19 cases with its new variants has coincided with an escalation of arrests of terror suspects by special detachment Densus 88. According to a top Densus 88 official, “those arrested were connected to each other through cyberspace, as in the case of the Makassar bombing and recent arrests in Papua. They learn a lot about religion through Sheikh Google or become congregation members on YouTube or Facebook.”

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

An activist holds a poster that reads, “We support Jokowi, reject ISIS”, during a demonstration on Monday (10/2/2020) at Pandang Istana Park, on the northwest corner of Medan Merdeka in Central Jakarta. The event objected to the planned repatriation of almost 700 Indonesians who had joined the militia of Islamic State (IS), and called on the government to take the best policy to protect its citizens at home, saying that radicalism had no place in the country.

UGM historian Prof. Dr. Kuntowijoyo has appropriately called the phenomenon “Muslims without a Mosque”, which refers to those who study Islam in piecemeal, picky-minded, black-over-white interpretation and are prone to bypassing the historical context of a religious text.

With similar reasons like that provided by Syahrul, young people who are eager to "defend Islam" but without adequate religious understanding, fantasize that being involved in violently fighting groups is a shortcut to redeem their past sins.

Recruitment patterns are shifting from collective action (joining a terror group on field and then engaging in violent acts) to connective action (joining online through cyberspace before directly engaging in the menace).

It means that violent groups offer a way to self-identity change for "ordinary men" in the real world to become "defenders" of oppressed Muslim brothers, by attacking "enemies of Islam", such as rulers aids and minority groups.

Trends in which aspirations to overcome what they see as threatening their social life lead the men to violence as a way out are exploited by the violent groups in recruitment.

Also read:

> When Terrorism Targeted Women

> Overcoming Terrorism Together

From the perspective of gender, in this case masculinity, the phenomenon helps the state and society better understand how men are at greater risk of falling into violent groups, and understand how women have different reasons for their involvement in violent acts.

Therefore, without considering the impact of COVID-19 and gender mainstreaming, the National Action Plan for the Prevention and Countering Terror-Prone Extremism will not run optimally.

The simple thing that the state, civil society and religious leaders can do is to get the likes of Wartoyo and Syahrul actively involved in the program to promote positive masculine values in society. The program encompasses the planning, implementation and evaluation of terror prevention measures.

Today, their voices are hardly heard, especially among young men who want to make jihad a true way to “defend Islam”.

KOMPAS/DANU KUSWORO

Noor Huda Ismail

Noor Huda Ismail, Visiting Fellow RSIS, NTU Singapore

(This article was translated by Musthofid).