Scholar slams Fauzi on potential FPI cooperation

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo’s was criticized by a Muslim scholar over reports he plans to work with the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) to ensure security during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Fauzi met with FPI officials at his office in City Hall on Tuesday to discuss possible cooperation, according to reports.

“The Jakarta administration does not seem bothered by the existence of those organizations. Governor Fauzi even announced cooperation with a certain civil organization to make the city safe during Ramadan,” moderate Muslim scholar Zuhairi Misrawi said Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

Zuhairi, a member of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, said the government appears “weak” in confronting civil organizations that have used disorderly behavior to instigate public unrest in the past.

“I think Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah (Indonesia’s second largest Muslim organization) must stand firm against the violence advocated by certain civil organizations in the name of Islam,” Zuhairi said.