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Police to monitor sermons
The police will monitor provocative sermons given in mosques and mass gatherings to avoid clerics preaching messages of violence
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The police will monitor provocative sermons given in mosques and mass gatherings to avoid clerics preaching messages of violence.
Spokesman for the National Police Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna said that police personnel would be deployed to mosques and gatherings where clerics were giving their sermons and those giving provocative sermons inciting hatred against other people would be processed according to the law.
“This is not because we don’t like sermons given in mosques, but sermons on religious teachings and ethics must be separated from the ones aimed at encouraging and provoking violence," he said in a press conference in Jakarta on Friday.
Nanan said the monitoring would be conducted openly and provocative sermons would be recorded.
The police will take harsh measures if they find any sermons inciting violence and hatred, he added.
“We will punish clerics giving provocative sermons with criminal charges as we consider that spreading hatred is a serious crime,” he said.
The Criminal Code stipulates that those who are proven to have spread hatred publicly against others can be sentenced to at least one year in prison.
Commenting on this, legislator Ida Fauziah from the National Awakening Party (PKB), warned the police of carelessness in conducting the monitoring because such activities could disrupt prayer sessions and gatherings.
“We understand the police need to take such measures as part of their attempt to combat terrorism in the country. However I must warn them against overreacting as it could disrupt Muslim prayer sessions. Thus the monitoring should be conducted in a proper manner,” she told The Jakarta Post.
On Thursday, noted psychologist Sarlito Wirawan called on the police to closely monitor activities in mosques and mass gatherings to prevent clerics from encouraging their audience to launch terror acts.
"Therefore I think it is time for us to build a facility to scrutinize the preachers psychologically just to make sure they do not spread the wrong Islamic ideas,” Sarlito said on the sidelines of a discussion about a deradicalization program.
Following the series of bombings in 2000 and 2002, the police also planned such a move in pesantren (Islamic boarding schools), but dropped it after strong community protest.
During the New Order era, the government deployed servicemen and intelligence agents to closely monitor Muslim activities in mosques and gatherings to prevent certain sides from inciting people to launch resistance against authorities and to maintain security and public order.
Chairman of the second-largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah Din Syamsuddin said he understood the police's move, but said they should not use any repressive measures.
"The police should maintain the religious feeling of the Muslim community and not damage religious symbols," he said.
