Wants To Lock ‘Blasphemers’ Up – Yet He’s A ‘Moderate?’

I remember when I used to see Abdullah Gymnastiar on TV…

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• ….a man who came across as an engaging sort, a Muslim cleric quite different, very different, from the unpleasant hate-preachers like Sobri Lubis of the FPI, the self-styled ‘Islam Defenders Front…’

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Sobri Lubis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7RLCXNdKF4  –

….infamous for his ( still on video) exhortation to a mob of rabid savages to ‘kill, kill, kill’ the peaceful Ahmadiyah minority.

A.A. Gym, as he was known, had what you might call home-spun charm, and had a huge following of adoring housewives. That rather collapsed about a dozen years ago when he went Arab, by which, I mean polygamous.

I say ‘went Arab’ because most Indonesians really do abhor the practice.

They think it’s backward and sexist – and who can disagree, since what could be more sexist than allowing men to have multiple spouses, while women are limited to one?.

So we didn’t get to see so much of Gym’s smiling face, until nearly two years ago, when who should pop up as ‘a proponent of the 212 rally.’ 

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/06/15/212-supporter-delivers-idul-fitri-sermon-in-istiqlal.html

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Ahok

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The Jakarta Post this week gives us a fairly neutral, arguably timid, description of ‘212’ –a religiously-driven mass protest staged in December 2016 demanding the prosecution of then-Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’

I would have defined it rather more harshly as a gang of Islamist fanatics.

The outlandish anti-Ahok campaign held numerous ‘marches’ – actually shuffles – which brought out all manner of backward bigots onto the streets of Jakarta

The protesters, most of whom were men dressed in white Muslim attire, were heard yelling, “We want a Muslim governor,” “Burn Ahok!” and “Kafir!”   http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/10/14/thousands-hard-liners-march-against-ahok.htm

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Their goal, the jailing of Ahok for ‘blasphemy’ – and some wanted a lot worse for Ahok than mere jail-time..like Habib Rizieq, ‘grand imam’ of the FPI.

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“We encourage the government to process the death penalty for Ahok as soon as possible,” said Rizieq.  http://www.suara.com/news/2016/10/14/134313/

…yes, their goal, when achieved, did horrific damage to Indonesia’s reputation as a pluralist democracy. Decent people of all creeds all over the world were shocked.

One can only view those who instigated ‘212’ as intolerant sectarian extremists who should be excluded from any role in respectable public life, held at arms-length by responsible public figures.

But today?

Gymnastiar was preaching, not in any back-street zealot hang-out but in Jakarta’s grandest mosque, the Istiqlal, the splendid edifice to which visiting foreign leaders are taken by government high-ups..

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…and where on this highest of Islamic holy days the congregants included both Jakarta’s Governor and Indonesia’s Vice-President Jusuf Kalla.

How do preachers at the Istiqlal get selected?

No idea. I imagine there’s a management committee, with some degree of autonomy, which is nevertheless sensitive to what and whom is acceptable in today’s Indonesia.

You’d think anyone associated with ‘212’ would be a definite ‘no-no.’ You’d hope that anyone advocating prison for the bizarre ‘offence’ of ‘blasphemy’ would be kept well away from the pulpit.

But you’d be SO WRONG!

And here’s the sting in the tail!

That same Gymnastiar’s name-

“was included on the Religious Affairs Ministry’s list of 200 Islamic preachers that are deemed moderate, which was issued last month.”

And that, to those of us who love Indonesia and think religious liberty needs to be defended against Islamist intolerance, is a very depressing statement to ponder as the Idul Fitri festivities go on across the archipelago.