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.
Detention of embattled Al-Zaytun head religious persecution, say activists
Police have named Al-Zaytun head Panji Gumilang as a suspect in a case that rights activists say is the latest example of the weaponization of the 1965 Blasphemy Law to shut down minority views.
Change Size
Panji Gumilang (left, front), the founding head of Pondok Pesantren Al-Zaytun in Indramayu, West Java, greets journalists as he arrives on June 23, 2023 for questioning at the West Java governor’s offices at Gedung Sate (Satay Building) in Bandung. Panji was summoned by an investigation team formed by West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil for questioning over blasphemy allegations made against his Islamic boarding school. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
P
anji Gumilang, head of the controversy-riddled Pondok Pesantren Al-Zaytun, has been detained as a suspect in an investigation of alleged blasphemy and hate speech, after his school sparked protests for allowing congregational prayers that used unorthodox methods. But human rights activists have said his arrest is a violation of the freedoms of religion and of worship.
Panji is a 77-year-old cleric and the head of the Al-Zaytun Islamic boarding school in Indramayu, West Java, which was founded in 1996 and currently houses some 5,000 students. The school has been embroiled in an increasingly heated public controversy since April, when footage of its unorthodox practices circulated on social media and prompted a call for its closure from conservative groups, including a group of local residents.
At the center of the furor is that it allows women to pray in the same row as men during congregational prayers and female preachers to lead Friday prayers, both of which depart from traditional Islamic practices.
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) previously called some of the practices at Al-Zaytun as a “mistaken interpretation of the Quran”, and that it had investigated the school in June for “misguided religious practices”.
That same month, Panji said the mixed-gender prayer was intended to promote equal rights for women, digital news portal Liputan6 reported.
Read also: ‘Pesantren’ heresy claims spark rights concerns
Panji was declared as a suspect on Wednesday by the special economic crimes subdirectorate of the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim), and could face charges of religious blasphemy, hate speech and spreading fake news that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
