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Police warn citizens not to participate in “Al-Maidah Tour”
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Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama (wearing batik shirt) and his lawyers listen to the testimony of firebrand preacher Rizieq Shihab (left, wearing white turban) during a hearing of Ahok's blasphemy trial at the North Jakarta District Court on Feb. 28. (Media Indonesia/POOL/Ramdani/ via JP)
T
he Jakarta Police have warned people not to take part in the so-called Al-Maidah Tour, which is being facilitated through an Android application that encourages Indonesians to come to Jakarta to guard polling stations during the April 19 Jakarta gubernatorial election runoff.
The Tamasya Almaidah app is named after a verse in the Quran that is often used by certain Muslim conservative political groups to urge Muslims to only vote for political candidates of the same faith as themselves.
Jakarta Police deputy police Brig. Gen. Suntana said on Tuesday that guarding voting stations was part of the police’s job. “We have been given the authority of preventing foul play during the runoff as well as guarding polling stations from potential threats.”
However, the police say they will allow citizens to participate in safeguarding the election as long as they have no intention of intimidating voters from choosing a certain candidate. “But if they want to provoke voters in any way, we will restrict them,” Suntana said.
He also said that the police would investigate the origin of the movement.
At the time of writing, the app was still available for download despite having been protested and reported by Android users. The app has received mostly five-star ratings.
Whether the app stays online or not, Jakartans set to witness a divisive political contest between incumbent candidate Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is a Christian of Chinese ethnicity, and his rival Anies Baswedan, who is supported by some conservative and radical Muslim groups, in the lead up to the runoff. (dea)
