“My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist.”

Do you remember this line spoken by the titular character Rizwan Khan (played brilliantly by Shah Rukh Khan) in the film My Name is Khan? Khan is a name associated with Islam, so what he is saying is a defining statement: “I am Muslim, and I am not a terrorist.”

How do you normally define yourself after mentioning your name? Is it your nationality, religion or profession?

In Indonesia, the most common thing people want to know about fellow Indonesians is ethnicity and religion. Sometimes it’s obvious from your name, accent, appearance and attire. If you’re a woman wearing a jilbab (headscarf), clearly you’re Muslim. It’s only when you’re abroad that your first identity is Indonesian. Otherwise you’re a Javanese-Muslim, a Batak-Protestant, a Balinese-Hindu, etc.

Identity tends to be an exclusive thing that separates you from others. The weaker our sense of identity, the more we look for The Other. The Other? Yes, it’s a term that means someone who is different and considered the opposite of you, sometimes also considered the enemy.

The stronger your sense of identity, the less you need The Other to define you. This is why national leaders often conjure up enemies to galvanize a stronger sense of national identity and solidarity.

Constant strengthening of identity politics in Indonesia must mean our identities are so fragile. Imagine being scared of a cartoon, even if it’s an lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) cartoon.

Recently, the government demanded that Instagram remove Alpantuni, a cartoon strip about a gay practicing Muslim, due to “pornographic” content. One strip shows Alpantuni being attacked by a hail of insults: “burn in hell!”, “you’re not a Muslim!”, “you need to be fixed!”, to which Alpantuni says “fine, I will leave Islam then! I am sick of you oppressing me!” Instead of the attacks subsiding, they become more ferocious, “how dare you [leave Islam]!”. Just can’t win can you?

So the comic disappeared, but Instagram denied it had anything to do with the removal. Whoever removed the account — perhaps the owner — it is clearly a manifestation of the latest in a wave of moral panic surrounding the LGBT community which started a few years ago.

I have already said that the LGBT community are the new communists, in the way they are persecuted and discriminated against. But guess what? It seems that the real commies are back! At least that’s what President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo says.

That’s right, in a speech on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the Indonesian Military (TNI), Jokowi warned the nation of the existential threat of “communism and the legacy of the PKI”. Really? As Feri Kusuma, deputy coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said, Jokowi’s statement is irrelevant as the PKI and communism in Indonesia generally disappeared decades ago.

In an excellent article, Andreas Harsono, Human Rights Watch researcher wrote, “The politically powerful military can be expected to be an important player in the upcoming election between Jokowi and opposition leader Prabowo Subianto, a former commander in Kopassus, the notoriously abusive Indonesian special forces.“

So not only is Jokowi pandering to Islam by. among other things, choosing Ma’ruf Amin, non-active leader of the conservative Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) as vice presidential candidate, he is also pandering to the military. The latest development on this military-related issue is the assignment of military officers in civilian institutions. It harks back to the early 1970s when Soeharto and the military were consolidating their power, introducing the “dual function” of the military. In both instances — Islam and the military — Jokowi’s moves are dangerous.

One reason that these outdated notions of communism in Indonesia continue to flourish is that we never revise our history books. The Sept. 30, 1965 incident is still attributed to the PKI when it is now commonly understood that it was a bungled coup attempt by a group of disgruntled mid-level officers. It resulted in the death of six generals and the young daughter of one surviving general, but more significantly, the murders were used as a pretext to launch a campaign to annihilate the PKI, the TNI’s arch-rival.

The third “Other” is of course the Chinese. The fall of Soeharto in May 1998 was marked by anti-Chinese riots which resulted in a death toll of 1,217 in Jakarta alone, and the rape, sexual assault and harassment of 85 women, mostly Chinese, according to a government-commissioned report. Although the ban on Chinese language and culture has been lifted and Chinese New Year is now a national holiday, even after 21 years of reformation, Indonesian-Chinese people still face discrimination. Acts of violence like the church bombings in Surabaya by extremist groups linked to the Islamic State are also not unrelated to anti-Chinese sentiment.

The most poignant recent example of discrimination against the Chinese is the ousting of Basuki “BTP” Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, from his position as Jakarta governor through a trumped-up blasphemy charge which landed him in prison for almost two years. BTP is a double minority, being both Chinese and Christian. The “success” of putting down BTP could inspire other incidents against the Chinese who are resented due to their perceived wealth and influence. Among the 3 million ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, many fear a new chapter of intolerance is at hand. If you were Chinese, wouldn’t you be nervous?

The chapter has actually already opened. Just wait until the political temperature heats up even more before the elections. The tension around this kind of identity politics has in the past proven to be explosively dangerous; why are our leaders stoking the flames?

Minorities face discrimination both from Muslim extremists as well as nationalists. Roy Thaniago is the director of Remotivi, a media advocacy group who completed his master’s thesis at Sweden’s Lundt University on Chinese discrimination in Indonesia in 2017. Being Chinese himself, he has experienced discrimination since childhood. He made the observation that “Nationalism here tends to be anti-communist, anti-Chinese, anti-LGBT”.

Jokowi has indeed achieved a lot in his first term, especially in developing the nation’s infrastructure. But Pak Jokowi, whatever happened to your revolusi mental (mental revolution) touted during your first presidential campaign? Defending minorities is part of your civic duty if you truly want to be Indonesia’s legitimate leader.

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The writer is the author of Julia’s Jihad.

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