Islamic Hard-Liners A Threat to the Nation

Religious tolerance and freedom is the fundamental pillar of our society. The nation’s founding ideology, Pancasila, is centered around the freedom to worship and to believe in one’s God.

It is against this backdrop that recent developments in Bekasi are profoundly disturbing. Over the past few months, hard-line Islamic groups have sought to impose their will on the residents and dictate what is acceptable and what is not.

Now, several Islamic organizations in Bekasi have recommended that every mosque in the city form a militant unit and that local Muslims prepare for the possibility of “war” against what they perceive to be the Christianization of the city. A new group calling itself Bekasi Islamic Presidium, formed at the close of the two-day Bekasi Islamic Congress at the Al-Azhar Mosque on Sunday, said these militant units were important to “guard Bekasi Muslims” against conversion to Christianity. The presidium is also expected to forward several recommendations to the Bekasi administration to create policies that are compliant with Shariah law.

These developments and recommendations should be looked into seriously and weighed with great care. There is a growing perception that Muslim hard-liners who shout loudly are not challenged, irrespective of the damage they cause in communities that do not share their views, as long as they are not visible from the metropolitan center of Jakarta. Most recently this has been seen in Bogor, in the Koja protests, and now in Bekasi. However, if left unattended, these simmering religious tensions have the potential to erupt into an open conflict with far reaching repercussions.

Talk of open war and the formation of local militant units is dangerous. We only need to recall the bloodbath in Poso and Maluku where thousands of people lost their lives and homes in religious conflict between 1999 and 2000 to understand how quickly the fire spreads once lit, and how difficult it is to extinguish.

We are encouraged by a statement from the Bekasi chapter of the Islamic Defender’s Front (FPI) saying they would seek a dialogue with the city’s Christian community. We hope a truly open and rational dialogue takes place so a middle path can be found.

It is also imperative that the authorities move quickly to restore peace and harmony in Bekasi. We cannot afford another religious conflict in our midst after working so hard this past decade to promote Indonesia as a tolerant and moderate country.

If laws have been broken, those responsible must be brought to justice. Religious leaders must calm their followers and preach tolerance. No one group should be allowed to take the law into their own hands.

Bekasi is a litmus test of how the new Indonesia deals with such age old fissures in our society. It will test our legal and religious establishments to the full and it will test the local government’s ability to maintain the public peace. This is one test the country and the government cannot afford to fail.