| Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia | |
Tables turn on Indonesian hardline leader
Australian Associated Press - January 31, 2017
"(Rizieq and his followers) were camped out in the cemetery in Banda, Aceh and spent a lot of times collecting bodies and giving people proper religious burials. A lot of people recognised that."
Fast forward more than a decade and Rizieq – the leader of the hardline group the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) – is dominating headlines as a symbol of the division within Indonesia.
For some who fear the direction pluralism, liberalism and consumerism is taking the country, he represents a force of good. For others he epitomes of an aspect of Indonesia that is backward and stifling.
Seen riding atop a truck, megaphone in hand, Rizieq led hundreds of thousands of people in two large-scale demonstrations in Indonesia's capital – on November 4 and December 2, last year – calling for the jailing of its Christian governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama over comments he made referring to the Koran.
Mr Purnama, also known as Ahok, now stands trial for alleged blasphemy as the capital gets ready to go to the polls in February.
But Rizieq's has now become ensnared in a political storm of his own when on Monday he was named a suspect for defamation by West Java Police over comments he made referring to the country's founding principles – Pancasila and its first president Sukarno. He also faces a raft of other investigations.
Rizieq, also known as Habib Rizieq, created the FPI during the death throes of the second Indonesian President Suharto's time in power in 1998. Their stated mission: to see the introduction of Shariah law across Indonesia.
Initially harnessed by the establishment as a street-level militia, the FPI have since been wielded by political powerbrokers to increase pressure during election times. They are also infamous for attacking religious minorities, raiding LGBTI gatherings and banning a Lady Gaga concert.
Rizieq, meanwhile, has been jailed before – serving seven months in 2003 for inciting hatred and sentenced to one-and-a-half years in 2008 for an assault on a peaceful rally for religious freedom.
Despite a growing backlash from moderate Indonesians, he retains a band of loyal supporters.
Against a political backdrop where "everyone is seen as corrupt", Dr Wilson, lecturer in Politics and Security, Terrorism and Count-terrorism Studies at Murdoch University, says Rizieq is viewed by his supporters as a "figure of credibility".
"He has always maintained a fairly simple standard of living in relative terms and people think he is genuinely committed to defending the faith."
Just how sending his followers' hero to court and potentially jail, will play out is unclear.
It's a Catch-22, as police can't be seen to go after Ahok but not Rizieq, Dr Wilson adds. "(However) if they take him to court, that will give him a platform to voice his views."
Dr Ngatawi al-Zastrouw, from one of Indonesia's largest Islamic organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), however, is confident the legal process is the right way to go. "(It will) educate Muslim people in Indonesia to respect legal process, that law can be uphold for everyone."
He thinks FPI's importance in Indonesia is ending. "In certain political situation, when the political tension has eased, and the situation has cooled down, then the political issue like FPI will disappear."
Source: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/01/31/tables-turn-indonesian-hardline-leader.
See also:
 |