Searching for Security: Religious Mobilization and the Politics of 'Insecurity' in Indonesia

This project will map and explore the links between religious movements, 'security'-management and violence in the context of a weakened state. The project centers on the faith-based 'security' groups dedicated to fight crime and enforce justice that have emerged among Sasak Muslims and Balinese Hindus on the islands of Lombok and Bali in the post-98 Reformation period. By focusing on the religious and moral ideas emerging within Islamic and Hindu-oriented 'security' groups, the project will contribute t o an understanding of the new political roles of two major world religions (Islam, Hinduism) in Indonesia and in Asia more broadly. The project will explore the notions of 'justice', 'security' and 'order' being developed within these faith-based popula r movements. How do these notions articulate with discourses and practices on 'crime' and 'security' associated with the state ? The existence of these groups reveals that the state does not have a monopoly on the production of legal norms and practices . This project examines the emergence of new and hybrid para-legal forms and practices outside the spaces of official justice. By linking a focus on religious mobilization to 'security', the study will contribute to general debates on the 'privatizat ion' of security, legal pluralism and sovereignty - within and beyond the state.