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National Police move cautiously against FPI chairman
The National Police chief Gen
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he National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo has ordered the force's crime division to set up a special team to investigate whether the statement of hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI) chairman Rizieq Shihab, who called President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a 'loser', could be seen as slander.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie said on Thursday the team was looking to determine whether Rizieq's insulting of the President could be deemed a criminal offense.
'The National Police will not sit and wait for a report [to start an investigation] since this concerns the honor of the country's highest leader. We will use the law that carries provisions against insults or misdemeanors,' Ronny said.
Rizieq issued a statement on Monday, calling Yudhoyono 'a loser who spread slanderous statements and stayed tight-lipped about maksiat [immoral practices]'.
He was referring to a press statement by Yudhoyono on Sunday in which he criticized the FPI for committing vigilante acts.
The President reprimanded the firebrand group following a clash between FPI members and local residents of Sukorejo in Kendal, Central Java, which claimed a life and injured three. The riot broke out following the FPI's attempts to conduct a sweep of the village's alleged red-light district on Thursday.
Articles 134, 136 and 137 of the Criminal Code stipulate an individual who insults the president or vice president faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and Rp 300 million (US$29,100) in fines.
The police, however, could not charge Rizieq with those articles as the Constitutional Court annulled the articles in 2006 on the grounds that they infringed freedom of expression.
Early this year, lawmakers proposed reinstating the articles.
The police may charge Rizieq with Article 335 on misdemeanor and articles 310 and 311 on defamation, which carry a maximum penalty of four years in prison. The police can only apply Article 335 based on a report.
Responding to mounting calls for the disbandment of the FPI, Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam said the government would not resort to such action because the organization itself had never been formally registered.
'The FPI is just like an informal forum where people get together and hang out,' he said at the State Palace.
Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi, however, rejected Dipo's claim on Thursday, saying the FPI was a legal organization and was registered with the Home Ministry.
'It is registered with the Directorate General for the Nation's Unity and Politics in our ministry. It is a legal mass organization,' Gamawan told reporters on Thursday.
Earlier, Gamawan said his ministry could not yet enforce the newly endorsed Mass Organization Law against the FPI, because it did not take effect until early next month pending the issuance of a government regulation for its implementation.
The Mass Organization Law mandates the government to issue three reprimands to any groups causing public disturbances before finally lodging a formal request of temporary suspension to the Supreme Court.
The Kendal clash and Rizieq's statements have stirred public outrage against the FPI, with some figures and lawmakers urging the disbandment of the group, using the newly-enacted law.
On Wednesday, several hackers managed to deface the FPI's official website fpi.or.id.
Bowing to pressure, Rizieq on Wednesday delivered an apology to the family of Tri Munarti, a pregnant woman who was killed in the clash.
