The attacks reportedly stemmed from Rahmat’s move to defend the building permits (IMB) for St. Clara Church in North Bekasi a couple of years ago, a move that was met with opposition from some hard-line Muslim organizations in the area.

Despite the rejection, Rahmat, a Muslim, stuck to his guns to allow the Catholics to develop the church, on the grounds that the church congregation had met all requirements.

Bekasi Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) commissioner Tommy Suswanto said on Tuesday the body found that SARA (ethnicity, religion and race) issues had been exploited during the mass campaign conducted by Rahmat’s contenders, Nur Supriyanto and Adhy Firdaus, in May.

“A religious figure invited by the candidates used SARA issues during the event. However, the case was dropped because the religious figure was not a member of Nur’s campaign team,” Tommy told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Also in May, a fake letter stating the church congregation’s support for Rahmat, was circulated on social media. It was written in the letter that the congregation would challenge the Muslims should they try to discredit Rahmat.

After the letter went viral, the Bekasi Police arrested the person who allegedly distributed the hoax and charged him under the Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law.

Recently, Rahmat was also reported to the National Police by the 212 rally alumni group, which accused him of defamation in his speech, in which he said the group was involved in “greedy” politics.

The alumni group comprises Islamic groups and activists who participated in street protests to call for the prosecution of then-Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama for blasphemy in 2016.

Rahmat said Tuesday he was not worried about the attacks as he believed the residents would vote for him for his satisfying performance.

Surveys conducted by his internal team also showed his high electability and popularity, he said.

“I believe most Bekasi residents are smart enough not to fall for those issues. If God wants me to get reelected, no one can do anything to prevent it from happening,” Rahmat told the Post.

Rahmat added his vision was to develop the city based on emotional and spiritual intelligence, meaning people could live in harmony despite their differences.

Rahmat’s good track record in maintaining pluralism earned him an award from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) last year.

Rahmat has been backed by eight political parties in the election, namely Golkar, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PAN), Hanura, the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), the United Development Party (PPP) and NasDem.

He appointed Tri Adhiyanto, an ex-bureaucrat turned PAN politician, as his running mate.

Rahmat and Tri will face Nur and Adhy, who are backed by Gerindra and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Nur said none of his campaign team had exploited SARA issues during the campaign season. He added he was also committed to upholding pluralism in the city.

Regarding the development of St. Clara church, Nur said he would refer to the regulations to resolve the dispute should he be elected mayor.

He went on to say he would focus on developing a tourist attraction called Bekasi Islamic World if he won the election.

“Bekasi doesn’t have any tourist destinations, so we plan to develop a Muslim destination with international standards,” Nur said.

Meanwhile, State Islamic University (UIN) political expert Adi Prayitno said some parties had tried to copy the campaign strategy of exploiting SARA issues, a strategy previously used in the Jakarta election.

However, Adi said the strategy might not be effective as Rahmat was a Muslim who had never been involved in a blasphemy case like Ahok.

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