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span class="caption">Lady Gaga (AP)First, allow me to clarify that I am not and never was a fan of Lady Gaga. I find her public persona and antics overpower her singing and entertaining qualities.

However, I do not hate her either so, Little Monsters, no need to assassinate me.

Unless you have been living under some pre-civilization rock this week, you will have heard about the brouhaha surrounding the much-awaited, sold-out-in-hours, Jakarta concert of Lady Gaga. Slated for June 3rd in downtown GBK Stadium, it would have been her first concert in Indonesia and, at 52,000 seats, the largest leg on the current Asian tour.

So much at stake. You betcha.

The Islam Defenders Front (FPI), notoriously fancying itself a defender of Islam, raised objections last week, which ranged from Gaga’s sexy getups, her calling fans “little monsters” and her supposed worship of Satan to her causing the recent Sukhoi jet crash outside Jakarta. I pray none of the victims’ families heard that last hurtful bit.

The fact that there are countless dangdut singers in skimpier clothes gyrating obscenely on seedy stages across Indonesia on a weekly basis, or how Gaga’s fans actually adore the moniker, didn’t matter to the FPI.

That the outfit Gaga famously modeled on the cover of an international fashion magazine was actually designed by Indonesia’s own rising designer, Tex Saverio, didn’t matter either.

In a democracy, everyone, including the FPI, is entitled to voice their opinions, however misguided or misleading. What democracy forbids is one group forcing its opinions on others, especially by violence.

Hence the portion of taxpayers’ money allocated to keep police on the payroll in order to enforce law and order, and uphold democracy.

What bugs me and should bother every Indonesian, Gaga fan or not, is that the National Police (Polri) have been so lenient toward the FPI and similar groups to the point of, as countless witnesses over the years have said, actually providing more protection to the perpetrators than to the very citizens whose worship or commercial properties were being ransacked and who suffered actual harm.

Just look up Wikipedia for the FPI’s long, bloody list of violent incidents since circa 1998 and match it with victims’ accounts in the media.

What should also bother us is the FPI’s recent graduation from religious fundamentalism to plain fascism.

There was the airing of the religiously-themed movie “?” on a private TV station. Irshad Manji, a Canada-based Islam reformist, suffered attacks during public book discussions across Java, while her Indonesian book tour four years ago passed off peacefully.

The fact that many Muslims willingly flocked to Manji’s book discussions, some of whom were assaulted by raging hardliners, didn’t faze Polri. Suddenly now hardliners not only tell us which God to worship and how, but also dictate what movie to watch, what book to read, and which music to listen to.

As if the ongoing petitions and legal charges from the public meant nothing, Polri kept siding with
the hardliners, deeming Lady Gaga unsuitable to Indonesian culture. I had no idea that Polri had branched out from public safety to art and culture.

The Republic of Indonesia is secular by Constitution and, until recently, happily provided venues for Beyonce and Erykah Badu when they were denied admittance by Malaysia’s ulema council for archaic reasons. But these days, I ask, where are Pancasila and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika?

I refuse to believe that the trained and well-equipped Polri, whose special unit Densus 88 has gloriously captured real terrorists, can be terrified of some baton-wielding, helmeted, band of white-uniformed hoodlums.

I’m getting more inclined to buy the long-speculated theory on the FPI’s origins which, compared to other scenarios floating around, is easier to deduce and accept. Polri backs off, maybe because it can.

Do yourself a favor. Google ‘Pamswakarsa’ to witness these hardliners in action as I have. Those rage-filled eyes, punch-ready hands, kick-ready limbs, profanity-laden shouts (interchangeably with God’s most sacred name), honestly, where’s the divinity in them?

Take off their cloaks and turbans, and you’ll see common thugs. As a Muslim I’m insulted that hired brutes have the nerve to hijack my religion’s name and claim to speak on its behalf.

Now look at the latest developments in Gaga’s concert. The official Indonesia fan club tweeted of a new agreement reached between the local concert organizer, Polri, MUI, and the FPI, in which the organizer agreed on ‘certain’ terms and conditions. 52,000 of Gaga’s fans may never know, or particularly care, about those extra terms, yet they should never forget that, concert or not, come June 3rd, the FPI has already won, with Polri’s full endorsement.

The rest of you non-Gaga fans should note that whatever public engagement you want to hold in the future, be it a university debate, painting auction, sports match, or your nephew’s circumcision rituals, may need the FPI’s ‘agreement’ beyond official permits.

My fellow Indonesians, urbanites and countryfolk alike, is that what we signed up and paid taxes for? Are 242 million of us, from hundreds of various ethnic groups across 17,000 islands, to allow such a tiny number of troublemakers to trample over the Constitution and squander 67 years of independence?

Get off the couch, get out there. Speak out in real life. Join hands, get organized. Put aside your silly differences and petty arguments for now. There is a much bigger, more critical, fight at hand.

Much more than Gaga, this is about the shared lives in Indonesia Raya, for which we all have divine human rights to go ga-ga about. While there remains, mind you, an Indonesia Raya.

Lynda Ibrahim is a Jakarta-based writer and consultant, with a penchant for purple, pussycats and pop culture.