Refleksi : Alangkah hebat kekuatan kaum garis keras!
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/is-this-statue-so-divisive-it-has-to-go-in-bekasi-yes/375787
May 19, 2010
Zaky Pawas, Ulma Haryanto & Arientha Primanita
The 'Tiga Mojang' statue of three women wearing traditional Sundanese clothing
at a housing complex in Bekasi. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
Is This Statue So Divisive it Has to Go? In Bekasi, Yes
The Bekasi municipal authorities, apparently bowing to pressure from hard-line
Muslim groups, have ordered the destruction of an imposing steel statue of
three women in a private residential development.
The 17-meter-tall statue, "Tiga Mojang" ("Three Girls"), by leading sculptor
Nyoman Nuarta, depicts three Sundanese women in traditional attire. It is also
known as the welcome statue of Bekasi's Harapan Indah residential complex.
"Bekasi Mayor Mochtar Mohammad has officially [told] the residential complex's
developer, PT Hasanah Damai Putra, to destroy the statue within 21 days,"
Bekasi Police Chief Sr. Comr. Imam Haryanto told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.
He said the decision was reached in a meeting of the municipal administration,
local ulemas and the property developer on Monday.
On Friday, about 1,000 members from 60 hard-line Islamic organizations
protested for hours at the site of the statue, and spray-painted it and covered
it with white cloth. The protesters, from the Islamic Defenders Front, (FPI),
the Bekasi Front Against Apostates, the Islamic Missionary Council (DDI) and
the Islamic Ummah Forum, claimed that the statue incorrectly represented the
communities in Bekasi.
The protest followed attacks in Bekasi this month on a Catholic school and the
forced closure of a church a month earlier.
"This was done to avoid conflict among the people of Bekasi and so that
security and some peace can be restored," Imam said.
Murhali Barda, head of FPI Bekasi, said the mayor was wrong if he thought the
people were only protesting the statue itself.
"That is not the main reason. The statue is illegal because it has no permit.
In any case, the people of Bekasi completely reject that statue. It portrays
the form of living beings, and that is forbidden," Murhali said.
Islam prohibits picturing human beings as this could be seen as an attempt at
copying God, and thus an act of transgression.
But a Bekasi administration spokesman, Endang Suharyadi, said: "The statue does
not possess an IMB [permit to be built]. It must come down. If after the time
limit developers do not demolish it, the administration will. There has been no
move so far from the developers to get a permit for this.
"Yes, I agree, there has been pressure from local communities to bring it down.
[But] in fact, one of the requirements for a permit to be issued is to secure
approval from locals that the structure can be built."
Sociologist Ganda Upaya, from the University of Indonesia, said the incident
showed that these groups were trying to force their brand of values. "That is
why in a pluralistic society like ours, respecting differences has to be taught
and reminded over and over again," he said.
The artist, Nuarta, has several public works on show in Jakarta, including the
grandiose statue of Arjuna's chariot at the southwest entrance to the National
Monument park.
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