TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Order to remove hate banners falls on deaf ears
Change Size
A motorist passes in front of Al-Jihad Mosque in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, on Thursday morning. A hate banner is seen hanging at the mosque's entrance despite the administration's efforts to remove hate banners across the capital. (JP/Ivany Atina Arbi)
T
he Jakarta administration’s order to remove provocative banners has fallen on deaf ears at a Setiabudi mosque in South Jakarta.
Two hate banners were still seen hanging at the entrance of Al-Jihad Mosque on Thursday morning. The banners said, “[the congregation at] this mosque does not perform last rites for those supporting and defending a blasphemer,” referring to non-Muslim incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
The mosque is located in the same district in which the late Hindun resided, a woman whose children alleged that the authorities of a nearby mosque denied their mother's last rites because she voted for Ahok during the Feb.15 election.
Prayers for Hindun were alternatively conducted in her tiny house on March 7. Media reported that the following day, her daughter received text messages saying clerics throughout Jakarta would deny performing the last rites for deceased Muslims found to have voted for Ahok.
The mosque's authorities have denied the allegations, saying the prayers were held at the deceased’s home on account of a lack of congregation members at the mosque at the time.
The city administration claims it has intensified efforts to remove hate banners from public facilities. Some 360 of such banners across the capital have been removed, according to the administration.
