Hitler Nababan (Courtesy of Hitler Nababan)

When the intriguingly named Hitler Nababan, a Democratic Party politician in West Java, posted a meme on his Karawang Legislative Council (DPRD) colleagues’ WhatsApp group a month ago, he thought it was funny and they would all laugh with him.

The meme that he sent depicted a photoshopped picture of the leader of the hardline Islam Defenders Front (FPI), Rizieq Shihab, and senior National Mandate Party (PAN) politician Amien Rais hopping on a flying air compressor. Rizieq is seen holding tight to Amien’s shoulder.

Trying to make it even funnier, Hitler added the comment “reconnaissance aircraft” in the post.

However, the joke not only fell flat, but also led to an angry mob attacking him a month after he posted the meme.

The attack occurred on Tuesday afternoon when Ahmad Rifai, another DPRD member, arranged a meeting for Hitler and dozens of people who were offended by his post.

The meeting took place after the group, who called themselves the Karawang Community Forum (FMK), gathered in front of the DPRD building and demanded to meet Hitler for a clarification.

The meeting was initially expected to give Hitler the opportunity to apologize for the meme.

But the group was too angry to listen to him and started to throw punches at his face.

On Wednesday, the Karawang Police named two suspects, identified only as N and M, for assaulting Hitler and charged them under Article 170 of the Criminal Code on collective assault, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.

Karawang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Slamet Waloya said the attack was “personal and not related to any organization”.

“We are still investigating whether there was an insult intended in the uploading of the meme or not,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.

Head of the Democratic Party faction at DPRD Karawang, Pendi Anwar, said Hitler had actually apologized a few minutes after he sent the picture a month ago.

But the apology was regarded as insufficient and the post became a hot topic on social media and other WhatsApp groups.

“Representing the [Democratic Party] faction, I have also apologized directly to every group member and my PAN friends,” Pendi said.

Yayan Sopian of the FMK group said what Hitler posted was an insult to Muslims and that Amien and Rizieq, whom he described as two respected Muslim figures, did not deserve such treatment.

“He said it was only a joke, but it was too much. Moreover, the meme has now spread everywhere,” Yayan said.

Rizieq, a leading firebrand cleric, has a very loyal following, while Amien is seen as leaning toward a conservative strand of Islam, particularly after he joined Islamic groups in staging massive religiously driven rallies in Jakarta in 2016.

On the FMK’s Facebook page, Hitler’s meme caused quite a furor, with a member of the group calling Hitler an infidel.

But others on social media have condemned the attack, describing it as “persecution”.

It was not the first time Muslims in Karawang have been angered by comments on social media. Last year, Karawang businessman Aking Saputra was sentenced to a year-and-a-half in prison for blasphemy after posting several posts on his Facebook account that were deemed to have insulted Islam.

However, Hitler’s unusual name has also attracted the attention of social media users, who wondered why a person would be named after one of the most evil and hated men in world history.

Hitler Nababan is a member of the Batak community, which hails from North Sumatra, and among whom it is a common practice to name children after famous people such as ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle or even Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.

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