[OMANTRIBUNE] Indonesia is moving to rein in a notorious hardline group which spearheaded protests against Jakarta’s governor, but experts warn it will be tough to bring to heel a network with close ties to the establishment.
The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) has in recent years become the face of the hardline group in the world’s most populous Moslem-majority country, growing in influence despite being a fringe organization whose extreme views are rejected by most.
The group has raided bars selling alcohol during the holy month of Ramadan, forced the cancellation of a concert by Lady Gaga -- whom they dubbed "the devil’s messenger" -- with noisy protests, and led demonstrations against the Miss World beauty pageant when it came to Indonesia.
Led by firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... holy man Rizieq Shihab, the FPI helped organise recent mass rallies -- which attracted conservative and moderate people -- against Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese, who is on trial for allegedly insulting religion.
The protest movement against Purnama -- accused of insulting the Holy Koran while campaigning for re-election in polls later this month -- propelled the hardliners from being a marginal group to the centre of national politics, alarming observers and some in the government.
Now authorities are seeking to put the muzzle back on the radicals, with police stepping up an investigation into Shihab in a move seen as supported by President Joko Widodo and his administration.
"This is unprecedented, it is the first time that the president and the government is openly challenging this group," Tobias Basuki, an analyst from Jakarta think-tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said.
Last week, the police named the holy man a suspect for allegedly defaming Indonesia’s founding president, Sukarno, and the state ideology in a speech several years ago, meaning authorities believe there is enough evidence for him to stand trial.
Basuki said successive governments had shied away from cracking down for fear of being accused of attacking the religion but the current administration decided to "make a stand" as concerns mounted about the hardliners’ influence.
The forces of Evil have reacted angrily. Hundreds have rallied in support of Shihab -- who has served two short jail terms in the past -- whenever he is hauled in for police questioning.
[CHANNELNEWSASIA] The Malaysian state of Malacca will review and tighten procedures for foreign preachers to prevent the spread of radical teaching.
"We will review, revisit and tighten up all our procedures and guidelines for foreign preachers to give sermons here, to prevent radical teachings. Prevention is better than cure," Malacca's Chief Minister Idris Haron told Channel NewsAsia.
Mr Idris also questioned the need to have foreign preachers from war-torn countries coming to Malacca to teach people how to live in harmony.
"For example, we have Syrian preachers coming here to teach us how to live peacefully. Their country is in chaos ... and they want to teach us how to live peacefully? By right, our preachers should be going there to teach them how to live in peace and stability," said Mr Idris.
The six-year civil war in Syria has claimed more than 300,000 lives and displaced an estimated four million people from the country.
According to the minister, 157 foreign preachers held sermons and talks in Malacca from 2015 to 2016. Most of them were from Indonesia, while the others were from Pakistain, Thailand, India, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
"We have in our state quite a number of good preachers who can preach well and are well-understood by the people. They are knowledgeable, experienced and well-recognised by certain quarters in society, but we still want external preachers," said Mr Idris.
"My worry is that they (foreign preachers) don’t respect the law of the state. For example, we have the requirement that there must be no insult against any of the different beliefs in our country where we have been living in unity, solidarity and harmony for the past 60 years."
[TODAYONLINE] Increasing concern over foreign terrorist fighters returning to South-east Asia has prompted Indonesia to enhance immigration cooperation with Asean member countries.
But regional cooperation must be preceded by significant internal improvement, particularly in regards to the integrity and capability of the country’s immigration apparatus.
Since coalition forces successfully pushed the so-called Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) to djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and launched Operation Conquest, leaders from various countries have expressed their concern over the potential consequences of fleeing IS imported muscle.
Indonesia -- a country where a small collection of IS fighters has its origins and where imported muscle are often attracted to joining local resistances -- must keep an eye on its border security.
Indonesia already has experience in this issue, as its immigration and border security have been exploited in the past by Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) fighters wanting to enter or leave the country.
Indonesia’s problem with people movement seems to centre on a lack of integrity in the immigration apparatus, as well as the sheer scale of its borderlands.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
