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Viral video highlights sectarianism at UI

Opposition to Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s move to run for election in the 2017 gubernatorial race have continued to mount, even in the halls of higher education

Agnes Anya and Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta/Depok
Thu, September 8, 2016

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Viral video highlights sectarianism at UI

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pposition to Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s move to run for election in the 2017 gubernatorial race have continued to mount, even in the halls of higher education.

A video posted by a grad student at the University of Indonesia (UI) urging people not to vote for the governor because of his religious background and inability to lead the city has gone viral.

Wearing UI’s official yellow alma mater jacket and standing in front of the university’s rectorate building in Depok, West Java, the student, identified as Boby Febri Krisdiyanto, expressed his opinion that Ahok must not be re-elected because “he is not only an infidel, but he is also despotic”.

“Having been leading Jakarta, he has been incompetent in overcoming poverty and unemployment in the city. The number [of cases of both] has soared high,” says Boby, who claimed to be a representative of UI’s Student Movement of Liberation.

In the 1.38-minute video, he also claimed that in the Surah Al-Ma’idah of the Quran it is stipulated God would punish those who have chosen an infidel as their leader.

The controversial video has gone viral since Monday and has been strongly criticized by many, including the university’s alumni who considered that it did nothing but promote hate and tarnish not only UI, but also educational institutions in general.

Choky Ramadhan, a legal activist and a former deputy chairman of UI’s senate, suggested he barely considered it news since such sectarian behavior could be noticed in many parts of the campus.

“When I was campaigning for the senate election in 2009, I even heard a smear campaign circulating telling people not to vote for me as my girlfriend at the time was Catholic,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Because of the viral video, UI authorities issued an official statement saying that Boby’s Student Movement of Liberation had no connection to UI.

“The video is an action that ignores academic ethics in general and campus regulations in particular,” said UI spokeswoman Rifelly Dewi Astuti in a press release issued on Tuesday evening.

Furthermore, with the video, Boby has violated Article 8 of UI’s Assembly Trustee Provision on Campus Life Regulations through which students are banned from committing discrimination based on religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, political orientation and physical disability.

The officials have investigated the issue and demanded Boby sign a letter that confirmed his movement had nothing to do with the university.

Through the letter, Boby was also made to express his regret and apologize for involving the institution and spreading statements that “caused unrest among UI’s academics and the public”.

Responding to Boby’s antics, Ahok said he considered that the student should be expelled from the university because of his racist view.

“If you study in state universities, you have to realize that you are funded by our money in the State Budget. [...] I cannot accept that my taxes are used to fund students who come out as racists,” said Ahok on Wednesday at City Hall. “If necessary, he [Boby] can move to the Middle East and join political parties that can take down Pancasila.”

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