Introduction

This chapter begins by explaining why state capacity in response to violence during the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is an important topic for discussion. This chapter then considers some frameworks of analysis on the state, in particular the Indonesian state, to help explain why, during the reign of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, it was not effective in curbing violence. This chapter proposes that the Indonesian state was not quite successful in handling the violence, due to the fact that, among other problems, the state was tangled up in relationships and had mutual interests with vigilante groups, which affected officials’ judgements either in preventing the incidents of religious violence, or in making stern legal charges against them. This entanglement was the result of a blurred boundary between the state and society, which allowed state officials and vigilante groups to explore and forge areas of mutual material and political interests (symbiotic mutualism). The situation facilitated vigilante groups to appropriate some of the power of the state, and hence, gave them leeway to perpetrate religious violence as a form of social control. To prove this statement, this study employed ethnography and in-depth interviews that took seven months to complete. The research took place in Manislor village, West Java province, and Nangkernang and Gading Laok hamlets, Madura Island, East Java province, Indonesia.