Publication

The report examines the rise of Salafism in Indonesia. It notes that far from being alien to Indonesian Islam, it is only the most recent in a long history of puritanical movements, and looks at the role of Saudi funding in its expansion in the 1980s and 1990s. As important as funding is the close communication between Indonesian Salafis and their Middle Eastern mentors, most but not all of them Saudis. The report argues that there is need for an empirical study of the educational backgrounds of known Jemaah Islamiyah members, but concludes that Salafism in Indonesia is not the security threat it is sometimes portrayed as.