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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s closed-door meeting with one of his staunchest critics among the country’s Islamic groups, revealed through a leaked photo, is yet another example of the President’s attempts to deal with his opposition ahead of the 2019 election.

A leaked photo showing the President in a mosque with ulemas and members of the so-called 212 Alumni became a talking point among the media on Wednesday.

Jokowi confirmed on Wednesday that the meeting took place at Bogor Palace last Sunday, saying that it was only a silaturahmi (friendly gathering), similar to other meetings he routinely held with ulemas and clerics on various other occasions.

“The purpose was to build cordial relations with ulema, religious figures and clerics from across the country [...] in order to maintain brotherhood and unity,” Jokowi said.

Jokowi and the 212 Almuni prayed and lunched together during the meeting, the President said. The topic of their discussion was “problems in society”.

Executive member of the 212 group Muhammad Al Khaththath confirmed there had been no discussion of politics during the meeting. “Let alone an agreement to provide political support [for Jokowi],” he said.

The alumni group comprises Islamic groups, including the firebrand Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and its leader Rizieq Shihab, as well as activists who participated in a massive rally to call for the prosecution of then-Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama for blasphemy in 2016.

Following the rally, the President took a serious approach to maintaining good ties with Muslim clerics, an approach that has continued until present through various gatherings, visits and economic programs for Islamic boarding schools across the country.

However, allegations of being anti-Islamic have continued to be thrown at Jokowi following the initiation of legal processes against Rizieq over an alleged pornography case last year. The 212 Alumni protesters subsequently held a rally to defend the FPI leader, who they said was a victim of criminalization.

Rizieq was in Saudi Arabia on what he claimed was an umrah (minor haj) trip when he was named a suspect and has not yet returned to Indonesia. Al Khaththath, who is also a cleric, was named a treason suspect last year relating to a follow up rally in March, while several other clerics and participants in the 212 rally have also been named suspects or been investigated for various alleged crimes.

The cases, which the 212 Alumni group believes are attempts to criminalize the clerics and activists that participated in the 2016 rally against Ahok, had been a major topic of discussion during the meeting with Jokowi, Al Khaththath said.

The 11 members of the group who met with the President last Sunday demanded that Jokowi stop the “ongoing persecution” of the clerics, said Al Khaththath.

He claimed the meeting had been arranged at the invitation of Jokowi, however another 212 member Usamah Hisyam said it was held as a follow-up to the clerics’ request in February to meet the President to discuss Rizieq’s plan to return to Indonesia.

The meeting demonstrated the President’s intention to build political communication with his opposition while at the same time reinstating his Islamic credentials, political expert Muhammad Qodari from Jakarta-based pollster Indo Barometer said

Qodari said the meeting could have been about maintaining a peaceful political climate, but that it was hard not to see it as a move by Jokowi to further his reelection bid.

Separately, political parties in Jokowi’s coalition said they expected the meeting would help diffuse possible sectarian conflicts in the upcoming presidential campaign period.

Golkar central executive board chairman Ace Hasan Syadzily told The Jakarta Post that the party expected an end to hate speech and blasphemy using religious symbols to attack the President.

Opposition politician Fadli Zon said it was too late for Jokowi to gain support from the group.

“He should have approached them a long time ago to try and convince them and not just because the elections are coming up,” he said.