Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja – Support for radicals and radicalism is falling among Indonesians, a survey of 4,840 people has found.

The survey by Lazuardi Birru, a Jakarta-based peace group, used a one-to-100 point scoring scale based on answers to a questionnaire, with one being most moderate and 100 being most radical. It measures respondents' support for radicals as well as their own radical tendencies.

Researchers polled people in villages and cities across Indonesia's 33 provinces between June and July.

The number of respondents considered to be against radicals and radicalism rose to 64.9 per cent from 54.3 per cent last year. Those respondents scored between one and 25 points.

Radical acts were defined as attacking places of worship, staging rallies against groups considered enemies of Islam, and supporting or donating funds to any group that promotes violence.

The percentage of those in the category of actual radicals who have directly committed radical acts was down slightly to 1.1 per cent, from 1.2 per cent last year. They scored above 75 points.

The foundation, however, warned against complacency, saying: "Past terror acts that killed hundreds or thousands of innocent people were committed by groups of just a few radicals."

Zuhairi Misrawi, chairman of the Moderate Muslim Society, said support for radicalism may be declining, but the fact is that the number of incidents has been rising, partly because punishments for those who are caught are so weak.

"These non-deterrent punishments have boosted the confidence of the radicals," Zuhairi told The Straits Times. "It indeed encourages future acts."

News about the survey coincided with a warning from the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) about rising radicalism in the nation's universities.