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AKARTA: Human rights watchdog Setara Institute defended Central Kalimantan residents’ rejection of the presence of four leaders of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) in Palangkaraya on Saturday.

“The people are not rejecting FPI’s freedom of expression. They are rejecting the group’s widely known violent actions,” Setara researcher Ismail Hasani said, adding that the residents represented Indonesia’s pluralistic society.

Ismail said further that rejecting the presence of FPI in their city was Central Kalimantan residents way of expressing disappointment to the state, which appears indecisive when it comes to intolerant majority groups.

“The state ignores such groups and lets them act freely with their violent acts here and there. Leaders of this country must see the rejection as a call to be stricter with violent groups to really maintain religious harmony in Indonesia,” Ismail added.

Hundreds of Central Kalimantan residents, who were mostly from the Dayak tribe, staged a rally at Tjilik Riwut Airport to block the FPI leaders’ arrival in Palangkaraya on Saturday.

The FPI leaders were scheduled to inaugurate the organization’s provincial branch in the city.