TheJakartaPost
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Government should punish violent groups while also preserving democracy: Expert
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Muslim men shout "God is great" during a rally against Jakarta's Christian governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama at the National Monument in Jakarta on Dec. 2. (AP/Dita Alangkara)
T
he government has been urged to strictly enforce the law when dealing with members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and other violent mass organizations instead of merely suspending them, an act that could be considered anti-democratic.
Sociologist Vedi R. Hadiz from the University of Melbourne told a discussion in Jakarta on Monday that the growing intolerance pushed by groups such as the FPI was the result of years of omission by the state.
“Intolerant groups can continue to engage in their violent actions because there are part of a State that preserves them. Do we see any of these groups that attack minority groups such as the Ahmadiyah, for example, take accountability for their actions?” Vedi asked.
Vedi encouraged law enforcers to punish any organization that disrupted peace and the public. However, Vedi also argued that “dissolving intolerant groups is anti-democracy.”
Discussions on how to best discipline violent mass organizations have arisen once again after the FPI attracted public attention for mobilizing mass demonstrations calling for the imprisonment of incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian and a Chinese-Indonesian, for alleged blasphemy.
To crack down on the amplifying violence that is spreading across Indonesia, the government is planning to revise the prevailing Law No. 17/2013 on mass organizations to expand the definition of anti-Pancasila in order to include more categories of groups that can be banned from operating in the country.
