Violent Indonesia?

by Colson on Jun. 8, 2008, under indonesia, politics, religion

indonesia
Is it information or disorientation? Time after time reports about violence in Indonesia are in our newspapers. They never fail to blame intolerant Islamic minorities and the army.

Like today, after I started up my PC, I immediately read my provider’s message about a violent attack by FPI on AKKBB. Allegedly the militant Muslim organization did so because it presumed a demonstration held by AKKBB was in support of Islamic Ahmadiya, which is considered by them to be heretic, which to them seems to mean intolerable. The aggression, the report goes on, infuriated large parts of the population and politicians.

As usual the article also mentioned the assumption that FPI had support from within the army and police – because this is a pattern which has been recognized in earlier attacks by Islam militia’s whenever the military was suspected of benefiting from destabilizing the country.

So far so good. I can’t blame the media reporting the news. And unfortunately good news is no news. But two questions remain and bother me.

What is the exact background of the incidents? What do we need to know in this part of the world to get at least some grip on these phenomena in Indonesia?

What is the impact of the reported disturbances? Is it of local, national or global importance? And if it happens to be of worldwide dimensions, why?

The way Indonesia is in the news now more often than not is not clarifying but rather puzzling.

Follow up: Two days ago, June the 10th,  ‘Indonesia Breaking News‘ had an article (to be found here) with some background. It reports on the measures of the government (Ahmadiya has to stall its public appearances)  and  the  remaining dissatisfaction of the  Mujadeen Council, which threatens with Jihad and demands a total dismantlement of the sect.

It explains the theological causes of the conflict and the limitations of Indonesia’s constitutional freedom of religion – which apparently applies to six ‘official’ religions only and which in day to day life seems to mean that minority religions are dependent on the whims of those who claim to speak on behalf of  the overwhelming majority of mainstream Muslims.

Wavatar Finally Woken
Jun. 8, 2008

When it happens in Jakarta, it becomes a nationwide concern. Unfortunately, many times the news reports the incident like it’s all over the country. Luckily, and hopefully, FPI stays local and doesn’t spread its hatred to other provinces.

Wavatar Ari Tamat
Jun. 9, 2008

This is significant because it is the first time that the government has cracked down against the small but high-profile FPI group, which hitherto has acted with impunity. The immense public support for the action may be more of a sign that they are tired of these thugs, than that they support Ahmadiyah. Maybe only a small victory for religious tolerance in Indonesia, but a significant victory for law and order in Jakarta.

Wavatar mulia
Jun. 9, 2008

“What is the exact background of the incidents”

a guy in one of my mailing list told me that this is just a camouflage to distract people from fuel price increase incident.

and yes, Indonesia is like a puzzle. i believe earlier we were geographically set together. but over centuries, the earth quake shook the plate and change Indonesia to be the largest archipelagic country in the world.

so here we are now, a puzzle of 17670 island.

Wavatar sufehmi
Jun. 9, 2008

It may be impossible to find out the exact background of this incident. There are contradicting claims from all sides — FPI claiming to be provoked (its leader was photographed by Tempo trying to calm down his comrade), AKKBB claiming to be the victim which includes children (refuted by FPI, showing the children are theirs), Police official interviewed wondering why AKKBB changed their demonstration location, the alleged connection of FPI to generals and other high-ranking officials, AKKBB accusing gov’t and FPI of taking down Ahmadiyyah’s freedom of belief, which only refuted days later by bigger number of parties and clarified as a case of existing belief’s (islam) hijacking by Ahmadiyyahs (even NU rather dismissively said that Ahmadiyyah has never been Islam), and so on.

But it did happen at a rather convenient time, when the government was being criticized heavily for failing to keep the fuel price stable.

The impact seems echoed quite internationally, with US embassy also commented about it. But it was then pretty much told to “shut up & mind your own business” by several (irritated) parties. (seems like people are still unhappy about the NAMRU business)

So yeah, like many other cases, it’s not really clear. There are many angles to this incident.

Anyway – It’s always interesting around here (if you have a rather morbid definition of “interesting”)

Wavatar Ari Tamat
Jun. 10, 2008

Yes, Indonesians love a good cockfight.
I think the political squabbles between these different groups are less relevant internationally than the fact that the government showed its mettle and cracked down on a criminal “religious” gang which had some political support from conservatives. Another takeaway is that even though many Indonesian Muslims do not agree with the Ahmadi interpretation of their religion, they are getting tired of violent and radical groups.

Wavatar colson
Jun. 10, 2008

@:
Ladies & Gentlemen,

Thank you for all the additional information and interpretation. Indeed you provided me with the kind of background I was looking for. Ironically it confirms the wisdom of “the more you know, the better you know, you know nothing”.

Indonesia seems to be enigmatic in many ways. Which of course is not unlike most complex societies. And is one of the reasons to love it. For sure, on the face of it, the country is vast, complicated and sometimes totally incomprehensible to outsiders (and just hard to understand even for insiders I guess). I wonder for instance whether religion furthers social cohesion in the country or is it quite the opposite: is it centrifugal and disruptive? There’s not clearcut answer here either, I suppose.

If I were young, ambitious and studying political sciences however, the situation would make my choice of the thesis easy: “Why is it that specifically religion is at the focus of political conflicts in this modern developing country”?

Wavatar Mulia
Jun. 10, 2008

@Colson: lol. don’t forget to ask Karen Armstrong to be the supervisor. But i suspicious that the conclusion will be as simple as; Because it’s the nicest scapegoat and from time to time, we just need to blame on something. :p