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Khilafatul Muslimin troubled as police crackdown intensifies
Following a convoy promoting the caliphate in late May, mass Muslim group Khilafatul Muslimin found themselves in hot water as authorities began an operation to crack down on them.
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In an undated photo, Surakarta Police take down an office sign of Muslim mass organization Khilafatul Muslimin.
(kompas.com/Fristin Intan Sulistyowati)
T
he National Police has intensified its crackdown on Muslim mass organization Khilafatul Muslimin, deploying Densus 88 counterterrorism squad for assistance on Wednesday as they continue their operation.
Prior to this, authorities have arrested 23 members of the group, including their leader Abdul Qadir Hasan Baraja, since the start of June for violating the 2017 Mass Organization Law.
Trouble began for Khilafatul Muslimin in late May, when they held a convoy in Jakarta promoting caliphate, which contradicts the state ideology of Pancasila. The event was recorded and subsequently uploaded to the internet. The video clip garnered enough attention to prompt the authorities to begin their clampdown operation on the grounds that the group had been perpetuating ideas potentially injurious to Pancasila -- and therefore committing treason -- despite some leaders of the organization having rebutted the accusation.
Similar convoys were held almost simultaneously in Central Java and West Java, where local authorities have also put their foot down "to investigate” the matter. Since then, the group’s website has been blocked by the Communications and Information Ministry, their offices temporarily closed down for searching, their leaders arrested and their funds confiscated.
In a live-streamed press conference last week, Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Endra Zulpan said that the ongoing crackdown was not only caused by the convoys, but also the group’s other activities in general. Endra referenced the fact that Khilafatul Muslimin’s leader Abdul had previously been arrested for terrorism twice in 1979 and 1985.
“The crimes committed by Khilafatul Muslimin are not limited to the convoy held on May 29 in Jakarta, but also to other activities inseparable from provocations expressed in hatred, as well as fake news spread to vilify the rightful government of the country,” Endra said. He was referring to pamphlets, articles and videos produced by Khilafatul Muslimin.
The group had expressed their wish for the government to refrain from what it perceived as unanticipated arrests.
