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Indonesia’s solidarity urgent for repressed nations
Indonesians remain wary of religious justifications of violence against civilians: On Dec. 7, a suicide bomber, a convict released on parole last year, attacked a police station in Bandung, West Java, killing one policeman.
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Artists perform a traditional play held in conjunction with the second Indonesian Women's Ulama Congress, hosted by the local pesantren (Islamic boarding school) Hasyim As'yari, in Jepara, Central Java, on Nov.26. (JP/Ati Nurbaiti)
J
ina Amini was her name, the Kurdish name reportedly banned by Iran’s authorities, hence her official Persian name, Mahsa Amini, with her Kurdish identity virtually erased. At 22 years old, since her death in custody in September, demonstrators in Iran and beyond have shouted “Jin, jiyan, azadi!” (woman, life, freedom). They unwittingly adopted the slogan of the ethnic minority’s liberation movement against Iran’s regime, wrote Kurdish student Dalal Hassane in The Harvard Crimson in early November.
In some six weeks of protests about 16,000 have been arrested and hundreds have been killed, including security personnel and at least three teenagers.
Ahead of International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, Iran hanged a protester, Mohsen Shekari, for “enmity against God” on Dec. 8, reports said. Eleven other demonstrators are on death row.
Populations under brutal regimes look to Indonesia’s leadership to voice solidarity, to urge their governments to stop the abuse of religion or their followers through identity politics, as participants of the Second Indonesian Women Ulema Congress (KUPI) held in Semarang and Jepara, Central Java, on Nov. 24-26.
As chair of ASEAN next year and with its vast Muslim population Indonesia cannot stay silent on the suffering of millions of fellow Asians and Muslims while campaigning “moderate Islam” and its humanitarian Pancasila ideology,
Even if few may have heard of “women, ulema, fatwa” in one breath, the new non-binding religious edicts issued by the above congress reflect careful analysis of religious texts and their abuse by the state and powerful influencers.
Their main source of edicts include women’s experiences. The stories of the speakers, though widely reported and rebuffed by governments, stunned audiences of women and minorities bearing the brunt of state-sponsored attempts at eradicating identities and suppressing their own civilians, echoing colonial regimes.
