Initially tense year after Asian island suppresses routine violence (9)
I believe the answer is:
brutality
'violence' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'initially tense year after asian island suppresses routine' is the wordplay.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'asian island' becomes 'bali' (island in Indonesia).
'suppresses' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'routine' becomes 'rut' (being stuck in a rut is being stuck in a routine).
The initial letters of 'tense year' is 'ty'.
'bali' going around 'rut' is 'brutali'.
'ty' put after 'brutali' is 'BRUTALITY'.
(Other definitions for brutality that I've seen before include "Ruthlessness" , "Savagery" .)