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Pluralism in peril as poll nears
When in Rome: Presidential candidate Joko âJokowiâ Widodo (left) wears traditional attire during his campaign rally in Jayapura, Papua province, on Thursday
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When in Rome: Presidential candidate Joko âJokowiâ Widodo (left) wears traditional attire during his campaign rally in Jayapura, Papua province, on Thursday. The presidential election will take place on July 9. (AP/Djefri Pattirajawane) (left) wears traditional attire during his campaign rally in Jayapura, Papua province, on Thursday. The presidential election will take place on July 9. (AP/Djefri Pattirajawane)
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span class="inline inline-none">When in Rome: Presidential candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo (left) wears traditional attire during his campaign rally in Jayapura, Papua province, on Thursday. The presidential election will take place on July 9. (AP/Djefri Pattirajawane)
Pluralism in the country is in danger of being eroded as intolerant groups flex their political muscle ahead of the presidential election.
In the wake of attacks on a church and Christian prayer group in Yogyakarta, an invitation to attend a public gathering initially entitled Umat Islam Bersatu Memerangi Pluralisme (The Muslim Community Unites to Fight Pluralism) at the province's iconic Masjid Gedhe Mosque in Kauman has begun circulating on social media.
The main speaker of the gathering, which is scheduled for Sunday, June 8, is Jafar Umar Thalib, the former commander of the defunct Laskar Jihad paramilitary group.
Laskar Jihad was a Yogyakarta-based radical Islamic group that supplied volunteers to fight alongside Muslims against Christians during sectarian conflict in Maluku in 1999-2000.
After debate broke out on the Internet about the title of the event, the mosque's imam, Budi Setiawan, said the title of the gathering had been changed at the request of the mosque's management.
The event, which is being organized by the Islamic People's Forum (FUI), has been renamed Umat Islam Bersatu untuk Indonesia Maju (The Muslim Community Unites for a Developed Indonesia).
The public gathering will take place only a week after members of hard-line Islamic groups attacked a Pentecostal church in Sleman, Yogyakarta in front of police officers who failed to take any action.
Three days earlier, a group of people wearing Arabic-style clothes attacked the house of Julius Felicianus in which a rosary prayer-recital was taking place. Julius, Kompas TV journalist Michael Aryawan and three other members of the group were injured in the attack.
The incidents appear to indicate a resurgence of Islamic radicalism in Yogyakarta, which is the birthplace of the Muhammadiyah, the nation's second-largest Islamic organization and whose former chairman, Amien Rais, is a staunch supporter of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.
It is unclear if the gathering on Sunday has anything to do with the election, though Budi said one of the political figures who would attend the gathering was M. Syukri Fadholi, the head of the local chapter of the United Development Party (PPP).
Prabowo, whose candidacy has been endorsed by all Islamic-based parties including the PPP, has been rallying support from Muslim organizations, including the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI).
On Wednesday, former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid visited the FPI headquarters in Jakarta where its members openly declared their support for Prabowo, who is running with National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Hatta Rajasa.
On the same day in Central Java and Yogyakarta, thousands of FPI members also voiced their support for Prabowo, who once said that all groups, including the FPI, should be involved in developing the nation.
FPI chairman Habib Muchsin Alatas said, as quoted by kompas.com, that they were rooting for Prabowo through the Islamic parties that joined the Gerindra Party-led coalition. He said the Islamic parties had to ensure that Prabowo would free Indonesia from imperialism and liberalism. A Prabowo-Hatta administration, he said, must also not reject sharia-based bylaws.
The declarations of support for Prabowo from the hard-line groups came as rival candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo faced a slew of claims accusing him of being a Christian of Chinese descent and also a supporter of the Shia minority. Jokowi and his running mate, Jusuf Kalla, have repeatedly insisted that he has always been a Muslim.
Subhi Azhari, advocacy coordinator for The Wahid Institute, said that the move by Prabowo's camp to court groups like the FPI could be seen as a tacit endorsement of intolerance.
'This means they are sanctioning acts of intolerance and violence,' he said, adding that the recent incidents of religious violence in Yogyakarta could be politically motivated.
Gerindra denies it has courted intolerant groups and claims that it champions Pancasila. Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Prabowo's younger brother and a senior Gerindra member, has said he would quit Gerindra if it was ever backed by the FPI.
Hashim also said his party had dropped a program of 'purification of religious teachings' from its manifesto following criticism that the party took a fundamentalist stance toward religion and religious diversity.
Fadli Zon, Gerindra's campaign team secretary, however, said that he welcomed support from all groups, including the FPI. When asked about the FPI's tendency to use force, he said that it did not matter as it was in the past.
'We don't talk about past form, we talk about the presidential election,' Fadli said.
