No. 41/VIII/June 10-16, 2008 Cover Story Tragedy on Pancasila Day
Police arrested leaders and members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) who assaulted the Freedom of Religion Alliance. Backers of the FPI prevented the government from taking a firm stance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ON Monday last week, all the top government officials responsible for political and security affairs gathered for a meeting. Among them were Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal & Security Affairs, Widodo Adi Sutjipto, Indonesian Military Commander in Chief, General Djoko Santoso, National Police Chief, General Sutanto and State Intelligence Agency Chairman, Syamsir Siregar. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had personally requested their attendance. Near sundown, the President arrived at the office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal & Security Affairs. Yudhoyono once worked there when he himself was minister during the Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri administrations-both times resigning from his position. "The President wants to make sure that all of his orders are carried out immediately," said Andi Mallarangeng, presidential spokesman, regarding the site of the meeting. The sheer brutality of the FPI Laskar was the main topic of discussion that night. The laskar, the military wing of the FPI, led by Rizieq Shihab, assaulted a group from the National Alliance for the Freedom of Religion and Faith (AKKBB), which had come out a day earlier at the grounds of the National Monument, to commemorate the anniversary of Pancasila, the state ideology. Over a dozen people ended up in hospital as a result of the attack by laskar members. The President had already strongly denounced the brutal acts on the afternoon before the meeting. He even called for the perpetrators to be processed according to the law. "Give the appropriate legal punishments," the head of state told reporters at the Presidential Palace. "The state should deal with this violence." After the President opened the meeting, General Sutanto made his presentation. He explained the chronology, movements of the demonstrators and attackers, marching permits and strength of security personnel. Then it was time for Justice & Human Rights Minister Andi Mattalata and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji to speak. According to Andi, the President then asked the police to ensure that no more violence takes place near historical sites or state monuments, including the Palace and the National Monument. He again ordered the National Police Chief to deal with the perpetrators who assaulted the AKK. l l l EARLY Wednesday morning, two days after the meeting on Merdeka Barat, hundreds of police officers arrived at the Jakarta Police Headquarters. By dawn, they were standing neatly in formation. Central Jakarta Police Chief, Senior Commissioner Heru Winarko, led the mustering of the officers. Their mission that morning: arrest suspects at FPI headquarters, located in the vicinity of Petamburan, Central Jakarta. Jakarta Police Chief, Inspector-General Adang Firman, issued the FPI an ultimatum to turn over the 10 people wanted by the police before the midnight deadline on Tuesday. Munarman, commander of the FPI's laskar, was on the wanted list. If the deadline passed without result, the police were prepared to move in. Members and sympathizers from the FPI responded by setting up barricades. According to one police officer who was involved, the Wednesday morning operation involved over 1,000 personnel, consisting of intelligence people, detectives, riot police, the Mobile Brigade and even the Traffic Police. Reserve forces were also put on standby, ready to move on orders from police headquarters. Idris Priyatna, head of Jakarta's Tanah Abang district, said that notice of the operation was given at midnight on Tuesday. He said that this was the first operation of this sort to be conducted in his area. Police were prepared for the worst, namely a clash with FPI supporters. Undercover detectives dressed as thugs wore orange ribbons on their left arms to make them identifiable. "Fifty of our men have been inside since last night, so that everything will go according to plan," said a senior police officer before the police arrived in large numbers. He used a digital camera to take pictures along Jalan Petamburan III, where the FPI headquarters is located. At 6:30am, riot police members advanced down the alleyways. Over a dozen youths in laskar uniforms were on guard, carrying bamboo sticks. Some of them clacked bamboo tubes, warning residents to be ready. Panic ensued. Apparently, word had gotten around that a mob from the Garda Bangsa, the security unit of the National Awakening Party (PKB), was to arrive. In the end, the morning's drama died down. Police had no trouble entering the FPI complex. Some of the group's activists were frisked, others were put on police trucks. Rizieq Shihab, 43, went along with them and was recently named a suspect for inciting violence and disorder, as well as hiding a suspect, laskar commander Munarman. Munarman, a former Chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, was a star last week. The police listed him as a fugitive. They saw that during his disappearance he acted much like Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He sent a video statement and emails to the mass media from his hideout. On Saturday morning last week, a cellular phone text message began circulating that said Munarman had died in a rubber tree forest in Batujajar, West Java. Police denied that there was any truth to the message. To prevent Munarman from fleeing the country, the Directorate of Immigration at the Justice & Human Rights Department put him on the list of people banned from traveling abroad. l l l THE assault on the FPI headquarters was the climax of a promise once made by the government. Two years ago, Yudhoyono promised to straighten out groups perpetrating violent acts in the name of religion. The President made that promise while receiving administrators of the Indonesian National Student Movement. The FPI and the Betawi Rempug Forum (BRF) were singled out. The President's warning was made during the feud between the FPI and former President Abdurrahman Wahid. This quarrel began during an inter-faith dialog in Purwakarta, West Java. Abdurrahman, who attended as a speaker, charged that a number of generals were backing Islamic organizations behind the Anti-Pornography and Porno-action Bill. FPI supporters were angered and forced Gus Dur, who is Chairman of the PKB Syura Council to leave. The BRF has been in the spotlight ever since they attacked members of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) in the courtyard of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) in 2002. At that time, UPC members were asking Komnas HAM to pressure the Jakarta government to cancel the forcible eviction of the city's poor residents. BRF members are also often asked to help protect disputed land. Once in a while, they square off against officers conducting evictions. This happened when some land was being repossessed in the Billy & Moon housing complex in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta. About 100 members of the BRF and the Betawi Sons and Daughters Communication Forum faced off against 300 Public Peace and Order officers. The promise to keep such groups in line never happened. Each weekend, convoys of motorcycles could be spotted on Jakarta streets. The drivers were dressed in white outfits, rarely wore helmets, and carried flags raised high overhead. Although their numbers are starting to decline, they continue to raid nightclubs. These exploits have made the FPI popular. According to research done by the Indonesia Survey Institute (LSI) at the end of last year, the group's popularity increased from 37 percent in 2005 to 41 percent over the next two years. However, this popularity did not have any correlation with approval ratings. According to respondents chosen at random in the provinces, only 13 percent agreed with FPI's "campaign" method. This percentage has remained stable over the years. According to a Tempo source, the government went easy on them because of certain powers behind the FPI or other groups. "They were Yudhoyono's colleagues, our colleagues, before he became President," said a retired officer who was active in the intelligence community in 1998. The retired officer said that support from people behind the scenes goes back a long way. Ten years ago, when the Armed Forces and the Police were hurting due to the downfall of the New Order regime, some high-ranking officers supported the formation of groups such as FPI as pressure groups. The source mentioned that these people included a colonel with the initials AD and an activist who was close with the B.J. Habibie administration. The same source said that the activist and a brigadier-general once met with Jakarta Police Chief, Major-General Nugroho Djajoesman to discuss "raising support" for the FPI in mid-1998. Nugroho denied this when he was asked to confirm about this. "That activist is indeed my friend," he said, "but I never spoke about the FPI. Now people are making all sorts of random accusations." On various occasions, Rizieq denied being close to a number of generals. He asked his accusers to prove their claims. "If there is no evidence, it means they are just talking trash," he once said. In fact, public pressure could be seen in the Pam Swakarsa group. Major-General Kivlan Zen, former Chief of Staff of the Army Strategic Reserve Command, said that he was asked by General Wiranto, who at that time was Commander of the Armed Forces, to gather a crowd of supporters to secure the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in order to confirm Habibie. Kivlan, in his book, Conflict and Integration in the Indonesian Army, said he mobilized 30,000 people from November 6 to 13, 1998. As a reward, Wiranto promised him a new position. "That crowd helping with the security during the special session of the MPR raised the morale of the soldiers," he wrote in his book. However, following the book's publication in 2004, Wiranto refuted Kivlan's story. Yudhoyono seems to be trying to change the image that the government is unable to stand up to paramilitary groups. According to Andi Mallarangeng, Yudhoyono emphasized that the law must be enforced. The President said that violent acts committed by a single group disparage the country's good name. "Don't tarnish the reputation of the entire Indonesian people with deeds and acts of a small group," he said.
