I hope (Rizieq Shihab, Islam Defenders Front leader) will think things through for himself during his jail term. I hope he will eventually be able to propagate an Islam that is anti-violence, Islam as the religion of blessings for the universe.

This was a text message from activist Mohamad Guntur Romli, a defender of pluralism and a victim of the FPI violent ambush last June, sent minutes after the court passed the verdict on Rizieq on Thursday.

The Jakarta District Court sentenced Rizieq to 18 months' imprisonment for inciting violence against a rally promoting religious tolerance in June this year.

The sentence was too lenient in the eyes of the National Alliance for Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB), the organization whose supporters were victims of the FPI's violent assault.

Three weeks ago, AKKBB supporter Nong Darol Mahmada voiced her disappointment when prosecutors demanded two years' imprisonment, citing the physical and psychological damage FPI has caused to the public since its emergence in 1998.

The FPI supporters brutally assaulted AKKBB supporters commemorating the birth of the Pancasila state pluralist ideology on June 1 at the National Monument (Monas), Central Jakarta.

AKKBB was supporting the Ahmadiyah sect that was under fire for being considered blasphemous in relation to Islam.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the assault, immediately stating that Indonesia was a lawful state, not an anarchic state. We should not be defeated by violent actions, he said.

But it was clear the state failed to protect its citizens that Sunday afternoon, with the FPI taking action in the absence of security personnel. Seventy AKKBB members were injured. The FPI thugs also brutally attacked women and children.

"After I was sure my family was safe. I returned to the crowd to try and guard some of the women and children. It was then that I was brutally beaten," said Mohamad Guntur Romli, known as Guntur.

Guntur came to the Monas park along with his two sisters and two young nieces.

Other AKKBB activists -- including Wahid Institute for pluralism director Ahmad Suaedy and researcher Imadun Rahmat -- were accompanied by their wives and children.

"It was a peaceful rally. Some of us planned to have a family gatherings afterwards. I planned to entertain my nieces with a ride around Monas in a (horse-drawn) buggy after the rally. My sisters had prepared our meals," Guntur said.

"Therefore, we were not prepared when the FPI attacked us."

FPI members beat Guntur with sticks. Guntur underwent a three-hour operation at the Army Central Hospital in Central Jakarta for his fractured nose and cheek bones caused by the blows.

Rizieq and the FPI were just doing a job in the field for others," said Guntur, who works for various institutions including Jurnal Perempuan Foundation for women's issues, Komunitas Utan Kayuy cultural center and Radio KBR6811.

People like FPI members do not care that Islam is tarnished by their violent deeds. Dirty politicians will use any unethical means to reach their goals."

FPI made its first public appearance in August 1998. The organization staged a massive demonstration challenging those who rejected the presidency of B.J. Habibie (1998-1999).

Rizieq, said to be a Hadrami descendant born into a family of sayyids who claimed to be direct descendants of the Prophet, founded the FPI.

According to scholar Noorhaidi Hasan in his Ph.D. thesis, Rizieq was a religious preacher and teacher at a Jamiatul Khair Hadrami Islamic school in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. The area is known as one of the most important centers of sayyid influence. The nearby Kwitang Mosque serves as the "political center" of sayyids, to which powerful figures associated with the New Order have affiliated themselves.

Noorhaidi's thesis states that the militant group was loosely organized with open membership. Most members came from mosque youth organizations and Islamic schools (madrasas). Other members were simply unemployed youngsters who joined because FPI promised payments for each action.

FPI became the most active group to conduct raids on public places alleged to be centers of vice. Armed with sticks, members repeatedly attacked cafes, discotheques, casinos and brothels without facing any significant challenge from security personnel.

"On one occasion," Noorhaidi writes, "They attacked the National Commission of Human Rights, which was condemned for acting unfairly toward Muslims and favoring Christians.

"At the time, the commission was investigating the past actions of certain army generals, particularly the then defense minister Wiranto, who was suspected of violating human rights during military operations in Timor Leste."

Wiranto is now a presidential candidate.

Last Monday, Guntur told The Jakarta Post that Islam is misused by dirty politicians as a way to reach their political goals.

On Jihad

The book written by Guntur -- Ustadz, Saya Sudah di Surga (Ustadz, I am in Heaven Already), which was published in 2007 -- and the five books he co-authored, expressed his concerns on Islamic issues.

Guntur believes jihad (sometimes thought only to mean holy war but actualy applicable to any moral quest in Islam) is often misused by hard-liners like FPI.

"If we read the Koran critically, we find that jihad is not identical to war. Koran has two terms that are often regarded to have the same meaning, namely jihad, which means 'struggle' in the general sense, and qital, which means 'war'.

"The jihad verses were revealed in the Mecca era, a period when there were no wars (against Islam). The qital verses were revealed in the Medina era (after the Prophet Muhammad migrated to Medina in AD 622), an era charactarized by wars.

"So there was a license for war when the term qital was used, not jihad."

"When the jihad verses were revealed in Medina, then the meaning was bound to the context of war in Medina. Misinterpretation arises when contemporary Muslims do not separate the meaning of jihad and qital. Qital is indeed one form of jihad," Guntur said.

He said he was aware that hadiths (authenticated sayings) of the Prophet being promoted today were those from the Medina period. Within them, there are also hadiths about jihad, "So it is understandable if the meaning of jihad is identical with wars".

However, Guntur said, "We should struggle against the interpretation that 'locks' the meaning of jihad to merely mean war.

"War is a defensive mechanism, not a form of brutality. War was waged during the Rasulullah era to defend religious freedom, which was blocked by military power. Present-day terrorists use the term jihad to attack religious freedom and to spread hatred (against others)," Guntur said.

Silent Majority

Guntur is against those tarnishing his religion. His spirit did not die with the physical attack. He appeared on local TV after the FPI assault, voicing his protests against the "thugs in robes" from his hospital bed.

"My suffering did not end in the hospital. I was beaten in the courtroom when I appeared as a witness against the FPI militia, before the panel of judges.

"The court also did nothing when Rizieq cried out against a police witness,"Guntur said.

Guntur's friends endured similar fates in the courtroom. Nong Darol Mahmada was sexually harassed, and AKKBB supporter Isti was beaten.

"I am still optimistic about the future of religious pluralism in Indonesia despite the absence of legal and political certainty and even though the Muslim majority is keeping silent," Guntur said.

"My optimism comes from my faith that only religious pluralism will humanize human beings."

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