W

hile Friday’s rally was largely free of clashes, at least until it was officially over at 6 p.m., it was marred by frequent racist and violent chants, with white-clad protesters singing and chanting “kill Ahok”.

Jakarta-based religious freedom watchdog Wahid Insitute said that the rally should raise great concern about growing intolerance.

“For a long time now, the use of SARA issues has been the easiest tool to mobilize people in Indonesia,” the foundation’s executive director, Yenny Wahid, told The Jakarta Post.

SARA stands for suku (ethnicity), agama (religion), ras (race) and antar golongan (societal groups).

Yenny, who is also the daughter of the nation’s pluralism icon and former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, said the country should remain alert following the rally and not let the demonstration fuel intolerance.

“[We] have to remain alert so that this use of SARA issues does not develop. It takes maturity from politicians not to use these issues,” she said.

Human Rights watchdog Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace also warned that the demonstration was a sign of rising intolerance, as it was able to gather large masses of people, many from outside Jakarta.

“I think intolerance has been displayed since the very beginning, even before the rally, through various statements by religious leaders,” the watchdog’s chairman, Hendardi, told the Post.

Therefore, it was the government’s task to address the root of the problem, he said.

“This is a warning to us that there’s a problem that needs to be fixed by the government right from the very beginning,” Hendardi said. “We have to start with education.”

If left unadressed, intolerance could ultimately lead to the rise of radical movements, including terrorism, he cautioned.

“Intolerance is the first step toward terrorism. So we can’t just tackle the end result of the problems, but have to start at the roots,” said Hendardi.

He also pointed out the irony of the rally, which demanded that Ahok be prosecuted without any interference, especially by the government.

“But by staging the rally, they actually tried to interfere in the legal process. So they have to understand that what they’re doing is also a form of intervention,” Hendardi said.

Antonius Benny Susetyo, a Catholic priest and a religious-freedom advocate, also urged law enforcers not to be influenced by external pressures.

“The law cannot succumb to public pressure. This is when our democracy is tested,” he told the Post. “At the same time, the public also has to have faith in the legal process and apply the presumption of innocence.”

Din Syamsuddin, a Muslim scholar and Inter-Religious Council (IRC) chairman, however, said that the public should not be worried about the aftermath of the rally as the rally did not espouse radical opinions.

“As we’ve just witnessed, the big rally passed peacefully and they did not demand anything radical. They just demanded law enforcement, which is a positive thing,” he told the Post.

Din added that the demand was realistic as Ahok had, according to him, insulted Islam.

“It is undeniable that what he did was religious blasphemy. He judged other people’s interpretation of religion. Not to mention that he added derogatory words, such as ‘stupid’,” he said.

If the government failed to respond to the protesters’ demands, then the feeling of injustice might grow and could be directed toward other religions and races, Din warned.

“It all depends on the response [from the government]. I’m worried that if the government has some sort of communication breakdown and it ignores [the demands], then the tension will intensify,” he said.