Jakarta – Hundreds of residents of Tulungagung district in East Java rallied on Wednesday to protest the establishment of a local chapter of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front, a thuggish vigilante organization better known as the FPI.
"The people of Tulungagung don't want radicalism, which might pose a threat to peace in Tulungagung," Maliki Nusantara, an organizer of the rally, told the state-run Antara news agency.
The protesters, under the banner of the Tulungagung People's Alliance for Love and Peace, marched from the local council office to the police headquarters and asked that the organization be prevented from spreading its intolerant wings to Tulungagung.
Both the Tulungagung Representatives Council (DPRD Tulungagung) and the police refused, however, to prevent the FPI from opening the new chapter. The local offshoot will be officially opened on Oct. 28.
"The DPRD has no authority to ban the establishment of a certain organization, in this case the FPI, because it has been stipulated by the law," DPRD Tulungagung speaker Supriono said. "Neither the legislature nor the executive can ban them – it is written in the regulations."
Adj. Sr. Comr. Bastoni, chief of Tulungagung Police, confirmed that he had no grounds to bar the FPI without evidence of the group breaking the law. "If they start performing anarchy, radicalism, violating the law and hampering police work, we will take strict action," Bastoni said.
Anarchy, radicalism, breaking the law and making life difficult for the police are, however, all activities that are close to the collective heart of a mob that hit headlines most recently for a riot in Jakarta that badly wounded several police officers.
The organization is also well known for causing trouble during the fasting month of Ramadan – raiding or "sweeping" establishments that sell alcohol and bullying local populations to submit to Islamic law in a multi-faith country whose legal system does not submit to Islamic law.
Maliki said the FPI would not receive a warm welcome if its members attempted to conduct any sweeping operations in Tulungagung. "We will do it before they do it – we will sweep FPI members or anyone else who causes trouble here," Maliki said.
Nurkholis, the acting head of FPI Tulungagung, said the organization had long been misunderstood. "They rejected us because they don't know my vision and mission in establishing the FPI in Tulungagung," he said. "If only they knew, they would support us, not reject us."
Nurkholis said that his men would only trespass on business premises if the police ignored their letters asking that establishments in violation of Islamic law be closed. "If they ignore our letters three times, the FPI will move," he said.
The FPI has been allowed to continue to operate with free rein in several parts of Indonesia despite incident after incident in which it has proved itself to be violent and extremist to the core.
The group made an international name for itself and embarrassed Indonesia's reputation for religious tolerance when it issued death threats to pop star Lady Gaga, who was due to play a concert in Jakarta which was cancelled as a result.
Last year a woman was killed by FPI members fleeing a local community in Kendal, Central Java. In October, hundreds of racist FPI members rioted outside the city government building to protest the inauguration of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Chinese Protestant, to governor of the city.
Tulungagung district chief Sahri Mulyo supported the local protest, saying that the existence of the group was not conducive to harmony in the community.
"I suggest there should be no FPI declaration here," Sahri said, as quoted by news portal Merdeka.com earlier this month. "Tulungagung is peaceful and I want to keep it that way," he said. "Or even more peaceful."
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/e-java-residents-protest-hard-line-fpi-sets-tulungagung/