South Sulawesi Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Dicky Sondani said the police, however, were waiting for a police report, so that they could investigate the case against the Indonesian Muslim Brigade (BMI) that carried out the raid on the Gramedia bookstore at Trans Mall Makassar at the weekend, searching for books on communism. The group found three titles, including on Marxism and Leninism, and told the store to withdraw the books and return them to their respective publishers.

“The police will watch the BMI movement, so that they will not take matters into their own hands again,” Dicky said.

Dicky added that the police had questioned BMI leader Muhammad Zulkifli on Monday and urged people to file police reports in the case.

Makassar State University School of Language and Literature lecturer Aslan Abidin said “[the BMI] don’t have the right to conduct raids, much less ban the circulation of books.”

Aslan, who is also the founder of the Makassar Literature Institute, said people needed to read books on Karl Marx and Lenin because they presented theories that criticize capitalism as well as thoughts on science, the economy and sociology that would broaden people’s understanding.

“They should read the books so they will understand the content. Who can prove that the books are dangerous,” Aslan said.

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