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Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
Academic at the Australian National University (ANU), Professor Greg Fealy called the president Jokowi, behind the diversity slogan that is often echoed, it turns out that it has acted repressively against Islamist group in the last four years.
According to Greg, anti-Islamist policies in Indonesia have eroded human rights and undermined democracy. That view gets strong opposition from Deputy Minister of Religion Zainut Tauhid Sa’adi.
Greg expressed his thoughts in an article titled ‘Jokowi Repressive Pluralism’ that was published in the East Asia Forum on September 27, 2020. This article is the excerpt from Greg’s article titled ‘Jokowi in the COVID-19 Era: Repressive Pluralism, Dynasticism and the Over-Bearing State ‘to be published in the Indonesian Economic Studies Bulletin.
The term Islamist group used by Greg in his article refers to Muslims who seek to make Islamic law and values the basis of social and state life. This Islamist group is made up of a variety of organizations, ranging from official parties that fight in elections to jihadist groups that fight through violent means.
Greg included PKS in an Islamist group that fought for Islamic values through democratic (electoral) channels. According to Greg, even though they have fought in the arena of democracy for decades, there are still some members of the PKS who have become victims of the apparatus’s repression during the Jokowi era.
According to him, Jokowi’s policy of repression was carried out in various ways. One of them is the discipline of the Public Function of the State (ASN).
In this context, Greg said there were still officials, professors and academics who were suspected of being on a “watch list” by the security forces because they were affiliated with Islamic groups.
They will receive warnings from their superiors about religious activities or political organizations in which they participate outside the office. They are asked to leave the activity or are threatened with having their career stopped.
A similar mode of repression occurs in state-owned companies and private companies. Greg said some Islamists have been removed from strategic positions or denied promotion. Many ministries use selection in the recruitment process to select those who are considered to have Islamist views.
 Officials from the Jakarta provincial government (PNS) attend Pancasila’s birth day ceremony in Monas Silang, Jakarta, on June 1, 2019 (CNN Indonesia / Hesti Rika) |
Greg estimated that tens of thousands of Islamists were the targets of the Jokowi administration’s crackdown. Few had any explanation for the “mistake” they had made.
The purpose of this crackdown, according to Greg, is for Islamists to let go or stop expressing their views in the public sphere. Greg said Jokowi’s crackdown policy could please several neighboring countries, including Australia. However, he reminded neighboring countries to be aware of this policy because it could erode human rights, weaken democracy and unleash the counter-resistance of Islamist groups.
The trigger for Jokowi’s anti-Islamic policy
Greg said that the anti-Islamist policies followed by the Jokowi government were influenced by the coalition party circles.
Most of the coalition parties, especially the PDI Perjuangan (PDIP), see Islamism as a potential threat to Indonesia’s tradition of religious neutrality. Islamism is also considered to threaten the openness of society (social inclusion).
They see Islamists as having the potential to destroy harmony because the group proposes Islamic law in the life of society and the state. This view is contrary to the fundamentals of the state.
According to Greg, this suspicious view of the Islamist group is linked not only to Jokowi’s coalition party, but also to Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama and his political partner PKB, which entered the Jokowi coalition carriage.
 PBNU President KH Said Aqil Siroj. The UN is said to have a suspicious view of Islamist groups in Indonesia. (CNN Indonesia / Hesti Rika) |
The wave of massive protests for the Defense of Islam in 2016-2017 has further confirmed the Jokowi government’s belief in the dangers of Islamism.
The Defend Islam Action was a wave of demonstrations attended by hundreds of thousands of Muslims, sparked by the statement of then-DKI Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama alias Ahok, who was seen as having insulted Islam.
This action put Ahok in prison. He also lost to his opponent in the main regional elections in Jakarta.
Reflecting on the Defending Islam Action, Greg said, there were several ministers in Jokowi’s cabinet who believed that the Islamist group, if not contained, would become stronger and more difficult to control in the future.
Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Zainut Tauhid Sa’adi denied the arguments in Greg’s article. Zainut assessed that the Jokowi administration has so far fully supported the activities of all religious communities in Indonesia.
“The government fully supports all forms of religious activities that lead to strengthening the understanding, practice and appreciation of religious values. Not only Islam, but all religions,” Zainut said yesterday.
Zainut also showed the condition of harmony among religious believers in Indonesia that the government claims to continue to care for, maintain and improve.
It revealed the survey results for the Balitbang Ministry of Religion-Education and Training from 2015-2019. He said the survey showed that the average number of the religious harmony index in Indonesia was above 70.
According to Zainut, the Indonesian government upholds the values of pluralism. Not even muzzle him.
“This index shows that the condition of religious harmony in Indonesia is good, and that is what the government and society continue to maintain,” he said.
 The mass held a congregational prayer amid Islamic Defense Action 212 a few years ago. (CNN Indonesia / Andry Novelino) |
However, Zainut said Indonesia and other countries faced the challenge of infiltration by various transnational understandings such as liberalization and secularization. The infiltration of these values, he said, has the potential to destroy the structure of Indonesian society that is considered religious.
To avoid this, Zainut said the government was trying to strengthen religious tolerance and restraint.
“So they are not Islamists. What we are mitigating and anticipating is the development of an understanding with three characters, namely anti-Pancasila and NKRI, extremists and anarchists to disregard human values and intolerance, caught up in claims of truth and group fanaticism, “he said.
Unlike Zainut, PA 212 President Slamet Ma’arif agrees with the arguments presented by Greg in his article.
Slamet declared that the Jokowi government was carrying out a “bamboo cutting policy” against Muslims.
The political application of dividing the bamboo is to embrace an Islamic Islamic group. On the other hand, many Islamic groups under the Jokowi administration have suffered discrimination, persecution and intimidation.
“The license was even revoked,” Slamet said.
Slamet himself did not specify which Islamic groups the government had revoked their licenses from. He only said that the Jokowi regime was anti-critical, especially critical of Islamic groups.
“It is as if this regime suffers from Islamophobia,” Slamet said.
(rzr / wis)
[Gambas:Video CNN]
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