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FPI rejected in Central Java
A group of academics, university student organizations and the art and cultural community in Semarang, Central Java, have rejected the presence of the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) in the province
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group of academics, university student organizations and the art and cultural community in Semarang, Central Java, have rejected the presence of the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) in the province.
The coordinator of the group, called the Anti-Violence and Anarchy Movement (Gemar), Muhtar Said, said the group's stance was in response to the planned declaration of an FPI Central Java branch in Temanggung regency on Saturday.
'Mass organizations committing violence in the name of religion must be dismissed,' Muhtar said in Semarang on Friday.
Another Gemar member, Triyono Lukmantoro, said the group did not reject the establishment of an organization but to violence in any form. He said Semarang was diverse in race, religion and ideology.
'Don't turn the existing peace into chaos by heightening differences,' said Triyono, also a communication science lecturer at Semarang's Diponegoro University.
He expressed fear that the presence of a radical organization in the city would influence the academic milieu in some of the universities in the region, arguing that students often conducted scientific studies and activities on campus that could be raided by such radical groups.
The chairman of the FPI's Central Java branch's advisory council, Syihabudin, confirmed that the hard-liner group was to have a declaration ceremony for the branch executive board in Temanggung.
During the declaration, he said, the FPI's Central Java secretariat would also be officially established. 'The secretariat will either be in Ungaran or Semarang,' Syihabudin said Friday.
