Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama says the city administration is amenable to working with all community groups, including hard-line ones, provided that they don't break the law.
Basuki said at City Hall on Friday that it was "OK with us" to work with such groups in addressing issues of concern to local communities, where the groups would have a better understanding of the problems and possible solutions. "But we can't work with groups that resort to violence, because that violates the law," he said.
He noted that even the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), notorious for its vigilante raids and acts of violence, had actually been of help to the Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) in cracking down on prostitution in the city.
Basuki declined to comment on a call by Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi on Thursday for regional leaders to embrace the FPI as a "national asset" and engage it in community-building efforts. The deputy governor said he feared any comments he gave would be taken out of context and give rise to more problems.
Basuki, a double minority because of his Christian faith and Chinese ethnicity, has frequently been the target of condemnation and protest by the FPI and other hard-line Islamic groups.
Most recently, he faced down a group of hard-line protesters, including FPI members, that had demanded that a female, Christian ward chief in South Jakarta be replaced because the mainly Muslim residents refused to acknowledge her. The protest fizzled out as the city stood its ground.
The FPI was also among the groups opposed to Basuki's efforts to clear the Tanah Abang market area of illegal roadside traders. Once again, the city prevailed, with traffic flow through the area now vastly improved.
However, the city has not won all its battles against the hard-liners. Shortly after his inauguration a year ago, Governor Joko Widodo promised to issue a decree revising the scope of duties of the deputy governor, whose portfolio has typically included the oversight of religious affairs.
The move was prompted by days of protest outside City Hall and the City Council in which the FPI said it refused to recognize Basuki's authority on Islamic matters because he was Christian.
The FPI chapter in Solo, the Central Java city where Joko served as mayor before his election victory in Jakarta, took a similar hard-line against the then-mayor's deputy, F.X. Hadi Rudyatmo, a Catholic.
The group said it would not accept his becoming mayor if Joko won the Jakarta poll. Hadi is today the mayor of Solo.