Reversing Radicalism: In Indonesia, special schools are trying to undo the indoctrination of the children of Islamic militants.

• Author: Beech, Hannah

One day in the spring of 2018, 7-year-old Ais squeezed onto a motorcycle with her mother and brother. They carried a package that Ais (pronounced ah-iss) refers to as coconut rice wrapped in banana leaves. Her father and other brother climbed onto a different bike with a second parcel. Both motorcycles sped toward a police station in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, a place where people of many different religions live.

The parcels were bombs, and they were detonated at the gate to the police station. The force of the explosion catapulted Ais off the motorcycle. Every other member of her family died. No bystanders were killed. The terrorist group ISIS, based thousands of miles away, claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was meant as an attack on religious diversity.

Ais, who is being identified by her nickname to protect her privacy, is now part of a deradicalization program for children run by the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs on a leafy compound in the capital, Jakarta. Her schoolmates include children of other suicide bombers and of Indonesians who were intent on joining ISIS in Syria.

With 265 million people, Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population (see chart, p. 14). While most Indonesians practice a moderate form of Islam, the country has suffered a series of suicide attacks carried out by radicalized Indonesians in connection with ISIS, also known as the Islamic State. Indonesia's efforts to purge its society of extremism--including the deradicalization school for children like Ais--are being watched carefully by the international counterterrorism community.

The endeavor has taken on more urgency with the recent chaos in Syria: Turkish incursions of Kurdish-held territory have stoked fears that a terrorist group will try to reorganize and that ISIS families in detention will try to escape. The worry is that ISIS's violent ideology will not only renew itself in the Middle East but also rear its head thousands of miles away in places like Indonesia.

"Hundreds of Indonesians went to join ISIS," says Josh Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations. "So the idea of them coming back and staging attacks or bringing home radical ideas is a major concern for the Indonesian government."

A Tradition of Tolerance

When Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945 in the aftermath of World War II, religious diversity was enshrined in its constitution. More than 85 percent of Indonesia's population is Muslim, 10 percent is Christian, and the remainder are adherents of many other faiths.

Islam in Indonesia has a long history of being more tolerant than in the Middle East. As Islam began spreading in the 7th century in the Middle East and later elsewhere, it often did so through violent conquest. In contrast, Islam came peacefully to this part of Southeast Asia in the 13th century via traders from India, and Indonesians often layered its beliefs atop existing Buddhist or Hindu practices.

Now that tradition of tolerance seems to be under threat. The rise of ISIS in the past five years has lured hundreds of Indonesians to Syria to fight for the terrorist group (see Key Dates, p. 14). The group was formed in Iraq and Syria in 2013, but it branched out and now has affiliates all over the world, in places ranging from Afghanistan and Yemen to the Philippines and Sri Lanka. It has continued to carry out attacks in those places and has also inspired attacks in Europe and the U.S.

The ISIS fighters who return to Indonesia are bringing a radical interpretation of Islam back with them. Even...