Luar biasa, bahkan Myanmar juga bilang bigots. Indonesia sekarang terkenal
diseluruh dunia sebagai .... bigots.
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Bigots exploit Jakarta governor’s blunder
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- By Roger Mitton | Thursday, 08 December 2016
Tweet Share2This is a sad tale, but before delving into it let me brighten your
day by relating a nugget of information that may bring solace to those who fear
the ravages of time.Indonesians join a mass protest against allegedly
blasphemous remarks made by Jakarta’s governor on December 2. Photo: EPASorting
through newspaper clippings about regional affairs and other matters, my
interest was piqued by a story about research done by scientists at the Smell
and Taste Institute of Chicago.According to their studies, the scent of a
grapefruit on a middle-aged woman can make her seem as much as six years
younger to a man. Broccoli and spearmint had no such effect.Like most research,
the results provoke more questions than they answer. For instance, why
middle-aged? Does the grapefruit allure not work on young chicks, or more
mature, but still attractive, golden girls?And where do you spread the scent of
a grapefruit, or more bizarrely, broccoli, on a 40-something lady? The mind
boggles.But it does remind us once again of how sex-related issues from the
scent of a grapefruit to the sight of a woman straddling a motorbike can affect
social and religious interactions.It is happening now in Indonesia, where, as
in Myanmar, seemingly trivial actions and words can lead to a rising tide of
faith-based sectarianism that threatens the stability of a formerly tolerant
nation.The hardline mullahs and monks in both countries lead their flock down
the same self-destructive path: first by betraying the peace and harmony their
creed espouses and then by using their religion for political gain.In
Indonesia, it has resulted in angry protests outside the Myanmar embassy and
caused the cancellation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s planned visit to Jakarta last
week.These are relatively small matters and simply reflect how Myanmar has
become the black sheep of ASEAN because of the repressive way its minority
Muslim community continues to be treated.That said, next year, when ASEAN marks
its 50th anniversary, they may become big matters and cause Myanmar – and its
foreign minister, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi – severe embarrassment at the
half-centennary summit.Indeed, there are likely to be moves to suspend Myanmar
from the group, just as Cambodia’s accession was blocked for a year in 1997,
and as Myanmar was obliged to relinquish hosting the group’s 2006 summit.More
portentously, the deteriorating situation may lead to Myanmar emulating
Thailand and restoring a military-led regime for several years until a
semblance of racial and religious harmony can be restored.While this is deeply
saddening, an even more worrying situation is unfolding in Indonesia, where
religious fanatics continue to protest, often violently, against the governor
of Jakarta.His name is Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and he is a Chinese-Indonesian,
who, with strong support from Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, is
running for re-election as governor of the country’s capital city.In
Muslim-majority Indonesia, he is the first Chinese Christian to hold the post
of governor – the nation’s most powerful provincial position and one that
Jokowi held before becoming president.Until two months ago, Basuki, 50, who is
known to all by his nickname “Ahok”, was viewed as an overwhelming favourite to
win another term in the February 15 election.City residents praise him for
cracking down on lazy and corrupt officials, launching a citywide anti-litter
drive, boosting education and healthcare for the poor and accelerating
infrastructure projects.Then came the blunder when Ahok said his opponents were
misusing a verse in the Koran, the Islamic holy book, to claim that it was
unIslamic for Muslims to elect a non-Muslim as their leader.A local radical
group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), seized on Ahok’s reference to the
Koran and accused him – an “infidel” in their view – of blasphemy, which is
punishable by up to five years in jail in Indonesia.Ahok has apologised,
several times, as well he should. He is a blunt speaker, but he ought to have
known that for a Chinese non-Muslim, any mention of the Quran would prove
combustible.Demonstrations duly followed, led by the massed ranks of the FPI’s
doltish sycophants, many of them chanting, “Hang Ahok, hang the traitor,” and,
“Cut off a hand and foot and deport him.”Initially, the protests were derided
as a crude attempt by Ahok’s rivals, knowing they could not beat him on his
performance record, to destroy him on ethnic and religious grounds.And given
that he is from a “double-minority” – a Christian and an ethnic Chinese – those
grounds resonated with many Muslims and the protests grew and Ahok’s poll
numbers began to slide.On December 2, an anti-Ahok rally drew an estimated
200,000 people and brought central Jakarta to a standstill. A pro-Ahok rally
two days later was noisy, but drew only about 30,000.So the portents do not
look good for Ahok, although there is still time for him to get his campaign
back on track and for the FPI’s bigotry to burn itself out.However, if he does
lose, the knives will come out for Jokowi, who has been his strongest backer
and who personifies his nation’s desire to replace old-style, military-linked
politicians with newer, cleaner civilians.Right now, there is no immediate
threat to Jokowi, who is only two years into a six-year term, and most
Indonesians appear to support his over-arching goal of bringing ethnic and
religious harmony to his vast nation.If he can succeed, it will provide a
valuable lesson for Myanmar, a kind of metaphoric “light from heaven” to stop
this country taking the wrong road to Damascus and ending up like present-day
Syria.
