Alfian, Jakarta – Terror attacks are not always linked to religious fanaticism and can be triggered by issues including poverty, discrimination and marginalization, a Muslim organization said Friday.

At a seminar about peace, Islam and hardline groups, Muslim group Muhammadiyah's Haedar Nashir told a seminar here "antagonistic factors" including discrimination "often caused antagonistic reactions such as terrorism".

"With regard to religious groups, particularly those with militant behavior, these unjust conditions are responded to by sectarian reactions that can lead to radicalism or violence in the name of God," Haedar said.

The seminar, "Peaceful Islam and the Emergence of Hardline Groups" was organized by the Islam and State Study Center of the Paramadina University.

Other speakers included Nahdlatul Ulama leader Masdar F. Mas'udi, political observer Fachri Ali, and former commander of Laskar Jihad, Ja'far Umar Thalib.

All speakers said world superpower hegemony was one factor that contributed largely to the increase of both radicalism and terrorism. The United States invading a number of Muslim countries was believed to have created radical behavior in the Muslim world, the speakers said.

Fachri said as the US had emerged as the world's only superpower, it had eliminated all other powers from the developing world and European countries.

"The US should learn pluralism, they should know that outside America the world is very heterogeneous, such as in their history and their culture," he said.

Radicalism was also believed to be rooted in the incorrect interpretation of religion, the seminar speakers said. Masdar said religious leaders had to be more proactive in order to avoid narrow-minded interpretations of religion.

Although he said some radical groups did exist, Haedar said "labeling Islam with a terrorist image is incorrect". Haedar said many conservative groups wanted to live religiously without political motivation and that there were Islamic organizations that despised violence with a religious motive.

The seminar said further social issues that could encourage acts of terror included a lack of education. Masdar said people who carried out terror attacks in Indonesia were socially marginalized in many ways.

"They did not have good jobs or a good education," he said. "They were meaningless until somebody told them they could obtain a particular position by doing something."

Haedar said there were several ways to solve the complicated problem of terrorism, including a more balanced approach from the media toward organizations promoting a peaceful Islam; a civil society that worked together to combat social and economic injustices; and "the elimination of state terrorism that helped trigger religious terrorism".