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KMJ files a police report on The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Muballigh Corps (KMJ) has filed allegations of blasphemy against The Jakarta Post with the National Police in South Jakarta on Tuesday
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T
he Jakarta Muballigh Corps (KMJ) has filed allegations of blasphemy against The Jakarta Post with the National Police in South Jakarta on Tuesday.
The Muslim group reported the Post's chief editor Meidyatama Suryodiningrat for suspected insult or defamation of religion, as defined in Article 156 of the Criminal Code.
"We, the KMJ, are filing a police report on the Post's chief editor because the paper published a cartoon on July 3, 2014, that blatantly insults religion," KMJ member Edy Mulyadi said as quoted by Antara news agency.
Edy explained that the caricature published by the Post included the Arabic sentence "la ilaaha illallah", (there is not God except Allah) on a flag with a skull, which is typically used to depict pirates. This made Islam seem to be a violent religion, he said.
Furthermore, Edy said that the KMJ had already met with the Post but the meeting did not result in an agreement between the two parties. The Post has admitted to their mistake and apologized but Edy said that those responsible must be brought to justice.
"The cartoon was published on the opinion page. This means that the cartoon represents the official editorial stance," he said.
The caricature in question portrayed the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), which declared a caliphate ' an Islamic state ' more than a week ago. ISIL has reportedly committed executions and other acts of violence in Syria and Iraq.
In a meeting with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) on July 9, Meidyatama said there had been no intention to insult Islam or any other religion. Nonetheless, the cartoon has drawn protests from some Muslim groups. The Post published an apology and retractions on its website on July 7 and in the print edition on July 8.
The Post was not the only media organization to published the internationally syndicated cartoon. It had earlier been published, without incident, in among others, the Arabic language media outlet Al Quds Arabi on June 30. (fss)
