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n an act condemned by critics as “superfluous”, publishing company PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama (GPU) on Wednesday symbolically burned around 200 copies of a book said to have defamed Prophet Muhammad.

The book burning took place in the front yard of Bentara Budaya, a non-profit cultural center linked to the publisher, only two days after the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) reported it to the police and demanded it destroy all copies of the book.

The Indonesian translation of US theologian Douglas Wilson’s Five Cities that Ruled the World: How
Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London and New York Shaped Global History (5 Kota Paling Berpengaruh di Dunia) had drawn the ire of several Muslim groups for describing the Islamic prophet as a thief and pirate.

Nana Subianto of Kompas Gramedia community relations said the book burning, watched over by members of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), was a symbolic action to show Muslims that it was committed to eradicating the controversial book. “Other 2,500 copies were destroyed yesterday and today in storage,” she said.

Nana said that the company had recalled the books from its bookstores immediately after a reader’s letter in newspaper Republika on Friday. “However, the company took this step so there would be no bigger problems in the future.”

But some critics say that what Gramedia did went too far.

A lecturer from Driyarkara School of Philosophy, B. Herry-Priyono, said the publisher should have scrutinized the translation of the book before publishing it but its decision to burn the books was excessive.

Recalling the book should have been enough but the publisher chose to bow to the FPI’s demands, Herry said. “The FPI is no more than a group of tribal thugs that use any means to have its demands met and the police usually do nothing,” he said, adding that if this continued to happen, the radical group would be more demanding.

Besides filing a report to the Jakarta Police, the FPI had also intended to visit GPU’s office, said Nana, but the plan was canceled. (cor)