Violent Extremism in Bima, Indonesia: Radical Milieu and Peacebuilding Efforts Bima (West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia) has a long history of extremist activities. Despite its significance in Indonesia’s terrorist network, violent extremism in Bima remains understudied. We use Malthanaer and Waldman’s concept of the ‘radical milieu’ to answer: how and why has the interaction between Bima’s radical milieu with the local extremist groups escalated and/or de-escalated violent extremism? what are the incentives involved in those interactions which could be useful for strengthening peacebuilding in the future? We argue that extremist groups in Bima have emerged from a social envi¬ronment that shares similar perspectives with them and, to some extent, is sympathetic to their actions in moral or logistical terms. We further argue that this social environment has both served to escalate and de-escalate violent extremism in Bima. Dyah Ayu Kartika is a PhD candidate from Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University (ANU). Prior from commencing her study at ANU, she worked as a researcher for the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), the Center for the Study of Religion and Democracy (PUSAD Paramadina) and the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC); all based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She also took part as a fellow for New Mandala, an academic blog hosted by the Australian National University, to provide analysis on gender issues during Indonesia’s 2019 election.
