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Radicals threaten Yogyakarta interfaith event

Jakarta Post - December 15, 2015

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Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – Threats from a radical group have disrupted plans by an interfaith community to hold an event celebrating the births of both Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ with the aim of presenting a peaceful message from the two figures.

The event, Peace Reflection, to commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad, locally known as Maulid, and Christmas, was organized by the Indonesian Young Interfaith Peacemaker Community (YIPC).

The event was supposed to be held in Indonesia's Islamic Teacher Institution (PIRI) building in Yogyakarta on Dec. 19.

Ibnu Ghulam Tufail said on Monday that there had been threats from a radical group called the Islamic People's Forum (FUI). "I heard about the threats from people at the PIRI foundation who lent their space to us," he said.

The threats caused PIRI to withdraw their permit for the community to use the space. Still, YIPC did not cancel the event and is currently looking for a new venue for Dec. 19.

Ibnu said that the community did not mean to combine two religious celebrations, Maulid Nabi and Christmas. "We only want to reflect on the teachings from these two religious figures, such as peace, tolerance and love," he said.

Maulid Nabi and Christmas fall on Dec. 24 and 25 this year. Ibnu explained that the event organizers would play short films including Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ biographies, scriptural reasoning, singing and Sholawat (prayers and praises to Prophet Muhammad).

He said that YPCI did not ask for a event permit from local police because it was not a big event, with only 100 people invited.

Commander of the Yogyakarta FUI troops, Muhammad Fuad, said that the group would disband the event if YPCI proceeded with their plan. "We will shut the event down because combining Maulid Nabi and Christmas is against aqidah [Islamic teachings]," he said.

Fuad claimed to have support from the Yogyakarta Police and mayor. Asgor Ali, spokesman for PIRI said that several police officers came to the office and informed him of the potential threat from FUI troops. The threats were posted through Muhhamad Fuad's Facebook account.

PIRI then told the organizer not to hold the event in their building as it was the same day that students would receive their study reports.

Asgor said that he did not think police intended to guard the event and instead asked for all parties to maintain safety and public order.

Cmr. Wahyu Dwi Nugroho, an officer at the Yogyakarta Police, said that the event organizer should have applied for a permit for the event as it was a religious gathering that invited people from outside of Yogyakarta.

He said that the threats from the FUI were only a plan and urged the organizers to stay safe if they proceeded with the event.

Elga Sarapung, director of the Institute for Interfaith Dialogue in Indonesia, regretted the intolerance that was overlooked by the police. She said that such a disruption to the planned event violated the Constitution.

"Yogyakarta mayor and religious leaders are ignoring intolerance [happening in Yogyakarta], she said, calling for support from large Islamic groups like Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah.

Yogyakarta has seen a rising numbers of intolerant acts in recent years. Pluralism center the Wahid Institute named Yogyakarta Indonesia's second most intolerant city after Bogor last year. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/15/radicals-threaten-yogyakarta-interfaith-event.html.