he Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) Central Java chapter and the Central Java Police have called on all residents of the province to not participate in a massive rally planned for Nov. 4 by a number of Islamic organizations against inactive Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
They made the appeal following a meeting between MUI Central Java chairman Ahmad Daroji and Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Condro Kirono in Semarang, on Tuesday. They discussed the upcoming rally in Jakarta, which will protest the religious defamation allegedly committed by Ahok.
The meeting resulted in a three-point agreement. First, MUI Central Java will continue to support a legal process being taken on the alleged defamation by Ahok, an incumbent candidate running in next year’s Jakarta gubernatorial election.
“We have conveyed this aspiration in a written statement to the National Police chief [Gen. Tito Karnavian] via the Central Java Police chief,” said Ahmad.
The second point was that both institutions agreed that any support of the ongoing legal process against Ahok should be expressed at the local level only.
“Third, MUI and the Central Java Police are striving to prevent the religion-related tension in Jakarta from spreading to Central Java. Please entrust us, both MUI and law enforcers, to take a stance to resolve this problem,” said Ahmad.
Condro said the police would take persuasive measures to respond to any mass rally held in Central Java. He said the province’s residents did not need to come to Jakarta to participate in the massive rally. Moreover, two of Indonesia’s biggest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, had asked their members not to participate in the rally. (ebf)
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