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Anti-FPI Rally to Hit Jakarta on Tuesday
Anita Rachman | February 13, 2012

Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Syihab was barred from landing in Central Kalimantan amid protests by Dayak tribesman. (Antara Photo) Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Syihab was barred from landing in Central Kalimantan amid protests by Dayak tribesman. (Antara Photo)
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facepalm
6:07pm Feb 15, 2012

Go in peace Indonesia and reclaim what is rightfully yours, rid your country of the fanatical hardliners and criminal elite and restore faith and dignity in yourselves. The world is watching you and you are on the brink of major reform - do NOT give up, many are with you in spirit.

simsin
3:20pm Feb 14, 2012

I am not in Indonesia now and really hoped that I　can be there to show my disapproval for FPI. What I can do is to pray for good weather and no violence.

notreadeeyet
1:00pm Feb 14, 2012

What's that smell? Could it be CHANGE?

Ahhh I hope the winds of change are starting to blow in Indonesia to clear away [edit] like the FPI and its ilk!


blightyboy
12:42pm Feb 14, 2012

dizzy - good for you. I hope many others do the same. Let these thugs know that they are not wanted by the millions of decent people across Indonesia. Get rid of these hate mongers once and for all.

Next, the criminal elite.

dizzy
12:12pm Feb 14, 2012

I'm getting off from my office at 3pm to drive down to jammed Sudirman and join the anti-FPI rally. Afterwardds, I'm driving back to office to finish my work. I hate the FPI but all I do is talk and hate inside. Now is my chance to actually do something about it. It takes major effort from me to attend this, but freedom is not free in Indonesia. Where we fought the Dutch in the past, we are now fighting our very own people.


The protest against the arrival of Islamic Defenders Front members in Central Kalimantan has inspired a groundswell of similar sentiment in the capital, with one group planning a demonstration against the hardline group on Tuesday.

The group, calling themselves the Movement for an FPI-Free Indonesia, is hoping Jakarta citizens will join the 500 supporters expected to appear at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle at 4 p.m. to speak out against violence and intimidation carried out by hardline religious groups.

Tunggal Pawestri, a spokeswoman for the group, told the Jakarta Globe on Monday that supporters had been communicating via Facebook and Twitter intensively over the past two days.

“Yesterday [Sunday] we had our first meeting to arrange this action, 50 people showed up. All of us only communicated via social media,” Tunggal said.

She said that the group was merely trying to harness a constant undercurrent of dislike and anger with the FPI and their often thug-like tactics.

The FPI has been known to raid establishments that sell alcohol, nightclubs and food stalls that remain open during the fasting month of Ramadan, and red-light districts.

Inspiration, she said, came from the news that Dayaks in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, managed to stop a plane carrying FPI members from landing at the local airport.

On Saturday, hundreds of tribesmen stormed the Tjilik Riwut Airport to stop FPI members arriving for the opening of an FPI office.

“The civil society can do something. If Kalimantan can do it, Jakarta can also do it. We are rejecting violence committed by mass organizations,” she said.

Tuesday’s rally will be the first of many, Tunggal added.

She said the purpose of the rally would be to encourage people to speak their minds about the FPI.

“It [the rally] is also being held to offer a counter-opinion: that the FPI and other mass organizations who often use violence are preman [thugs].”

She said that the rallies would also be aimed at airing criticisms at other groups associated with violent vigilante behavior, such as the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR).