Rizieq Shihab, the controversial founder of the hardline Islamic Defender Front (FPI) may not have nearly the influence on this year's presidential campaigns as he did in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial race, given his current self-imposed exile from the country. But the headlines about, and official denunciations of, his latest accusation-laden speech show that many are still wary of the firebrand preacher's ability to influence conservative Muslim voters.
In a speech recorded in Mecca, where Rizieq has been living for nearly two years, and released via FPI's social media channels, the hardline leader once again launched a vitriolic and wide-ranging attack on President Joko Widodo and his administration. But the accusation in his speech that has garnered the most attention was Rizieq's claim that the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was actively pushing her subordinates within the Indonesian diplomatic corps of Saudi Arabia to support Jokowi.
"We regret that some time ago, the minister of foreign affairs came to Saudi Arabia, then held a meeting both at the Indonesian Embassy and at the Indonesian Consulate. The foreign minister, shamelessly and without hesitation, openly invited the staff and all workers at the Indonesian Embassy and The Indonesian Consulate General to work hard for the victory of candidate pair 01, Jokowi," Rizieq said in the video, which was released two days ago.
Rizieq claimed to have received reports about this from Indonesian citizens who worked at the embassy and consulate who felt as their independence and freedom had been taken away. He also said he had received reports about the heads of Indonesian polling stations in Saudi Arabia being contacted by elite members of Jokowi's camp and were offered bribes to sway the vote in the incumbent's favor.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Arrmanatha Nasir, was quick to counter-accuse Rizieq of lying about Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi with his unsubstantiated claims of electoral interference.
"It is not true at all. Minister Marsudi has always asked all representatives to remain unbiased," Nasir said yesterday during a press conference in Cikini as quoted by Detik.
The director of protections for Indonesian Citizens at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, referred to Rizieq's statements as "slander".
Rizieq's accusations are in-line with a narrative seemingly being propagated by many of Prabowo's supporters that the results of the April 17 election (which the majority of polls predict Prabowo will lose, badly) that will be tainted by fraud, with some in his camp claiming they'd take their vote fraud case up to the UN's International Court or down to the streets with "people power" in order to seek redress.
As the leader of the FPI, Rizieq played a pivotal role in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial race, acting as the figurehead of the Islamist protest movement that led to the downfall of former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. But after he fled to Saudi Arabia to avoid arrest in a scandalous pornography case here in Indonesia (a case which has since been dropped), he's seen FPI's political influence and that of similar organizations wane as Prabowo attempts to simultaneously court the hardliner vote while also denying he has any intention of establishing an Islamic caliphate government.