Bayu Marhaenjati – Jakarta Police named three members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) as suspects on Friday for vandalizing the Home Affairs Ministry during a demonstration last month against a plan to revise an alcohol sales bylaw.
Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said the suspects from the group known as FPI had not been detained but are required to report to police twice a week.
"They are not detained because they are cooperative. They are only required to report. The investigation still continues because the dossiers need to be completed and we are almost ready to submit them to the prosecutor's office," he said.
The three suspects, identified as M.S.Y., 27; F., 45; and M.S., 30, are charged with violating articles of the Criminal Code relating to destruction of property and vandalism. Aside from questioning the suspects, police have also seized several pieces of evidence, including stones and iron bars.
"The evidence that we seized includes the remainder of the building's signage that was vandalized by the protestors, there were 28 letters. We have a broken spotlight, stones, iron bars and a video recording," Rikwanto said.
Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said on Wednesday that the hard-line group had been given a warning, its second, because of the incident. If the group is given a third warning, it would see its license suspended.
FPI's Jakarta branch chairman, Habib Salim bin Umar Alatas, admitted that the three suspects were FPI members and said they should be processed according to the law, even if it meant they were found guilty.
"FPI is not an institution immune to the law. We respect regulations and the state laws. We never run away from the legal process. So, if our members broke the law, go ahead and process them accordingly. We support the legal process," he said.
Asked about mounting calls in recent days for the disbandment of the organization, Salim said he is unconcerned.
"We're not bothered. We don't give it a thought.... Before we make our move, we are asked by the public to clean places where people commit sins," he told reporters at the Jakarta Police office on Friday.
"The FPI does not just go there. We send letters to the subdistrict, neighborhood heads, mayors, governors, police district office head, police head of precincts, regional police heads and even to the police headquarters to notify them.
"If you call it anarchy, there are many political parties in the regions that burn their posts, district heads' houses and more. How come there are no calls to disband them? What's going on?" he asked.
He added that he often reminded his members during Koran recitals how to act according to the law.
"When the FPI holds recitals, speakers like Rizieq [Shihab, an FPI leader], myself and others often inform them of what they would face, based on the law or religion, if they vandalize, attack or steal. We explain everything, so that no one violates the government's regulations," he said.
In a meeting with Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali on Friday, Rizieq said members of his organization had abandoned violence. "Violence is no longer our method. We have abandoned it," he was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara.
The National Police said they had recorded a total of 34 cases of violence involving the FPI in various parts of the country in 2010 and 2011.