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Protesters reject senior FPI officials
Hundreds of protesters from the local community in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, staged a protest on Saturday at the Tjilik Riwut airport to block the arrival of four senior leaders of the Islamic hard-line group Islam Defenders Front (FPI)
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undreds of protesters from the local community in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, staged a protest on Saturday at the Tjilik Riwut airport to block the arrival of four senior leaders of the Islamic hard-line group Islam Defenders Front (FPI).
Some of the protesters, largely from the Dayak tribe, managed to force their way onto the airport’s apron and runway to search for the FPI officials, who came to Palangkaraya to inaugurate the organization’s provincial branch.
Following the security breach, management of the airport ordered the FPI members to remain on board a Sriwijaya Air plane while other passengers disembarked.
The four FPI members were then flown to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan.
The protesters dispersed only after they were assured by the airport operator that none of the FPI members had got off the plane.
Initial reports said that FPI chairman Habib Rizieq Syihab, was on the plane.
Secretary general of FPI Ahmad Sobri Lubis denied the report, saying that Rizieq was not bound for Palangkaraya.
“Habib was not on the plane. He was in Jakarta and is currently ill,” Ahmad told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview on Saturday.
In fact, it was Ahmad Sobri, who led the four-person delegation toPalangkaraya.
“I was the one who boarded the flight to Palangkaraya,” he said.
He confirmed that there were three other senior members of FPI on the plane, who later ended their journey in Banjarmasin.
“The plane was surrounded by Dayaks at the [Tjilik Riwut] airport,” Ahmad said.
Ahmad said the four FPI members were going to attend a mass prayer in the city and the inauguration of a provincial chapter of the organization, headquartered in Palangkaraya.
Lucas Tingkes, deputy chairman of the Central Kalimantan Dayak Tribe Council (DAD) said that the organization had asked the Central Kalimantan Police to ban the FPI provincial chapter.
“We have concerns that FPI’s presence will create tension because the organization’s activities often create anxiety among members of the community.
“Central Kalimantan is known as a place conducive to religious harmony,” he said as quoted by Antara newswire.
In 2001, more than 400 people were killed and over 50,000 others were displaced in ethnic- and religious-based conflict between native Dayaks and migrant Madurese settlers in Palangkaraya, as well as in Sampit in Central Kalimantan.
Chairman of the Indonesia Dayak Youth Movement of Central Kalimantan, Yansen A. Binti, said that FPI was not welcome in Central Kalimantan.
He said that there were already interfaith organizations including the Inter-Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB), Regional Intelligence Community (Kominda) and the Early Awareness Society Forum (FKDM).
“All those organizations seek to preserve and maintain harmonious relations among religions in Central Kalimantan. So FPI is not needed here, particularly because it has been on the news promoting violence,” he said.
In a press statement made later on Saturday, Rizieq said that he had instructed all FPI members in
Kalimantan not to be provoked by the incident.
“All this time, the relationship between FPI and both the Muslim and non-Muslim Dayak communities has been very good,” he said.
He put the blame for the incident on Central Kalimantan Governor Agustin Teras Narang who, he claimed, had an “extremely bad” attitude to FPI.
He also said that Yansen — who, he believed, was related to Teras — had made threats against his organization and convinced locals to reject FPI.
In 2008, following opposition from the majority Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) community, the FPI branch in Jember, East Java had to disband.
