Refleksi : Mengapa baru sekarang PDIP bersuara, tetapi bagaimanapun seperti
kata orang seberang laut : "better late than never". Bagimana SBY mau membatasi
terhadap kaum radikal, kalau beliau adalah pendukung mereka? Unruk jelasnya
lihat video footage ini: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlwaKAycFYY
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/pdi-p-calls-on-president-to-take-firm-action-against-radical-islamic-groups/382699
June 26, 2010
Anita Rachman & Ulma Haryanto
Members of the hardline Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), pictured here in a file
photo, forced the cancellation of a House of Representatives-led meeting on
free health care in East Java because they thought, mistakenly, that it was
being led by the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). (AFP Photo/Romeo
Gacad)
PDI-P Calls on President to Take Firm Action Against Radical Islamic Groups
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle lawmakers on Friday demanded the
president take action against hard-line Islamic groups, after a meeting between
legislators and local residents was disrupted by militants in Banyuwangi, East
Java.
PDI-P lawmakers Ribka Tjiptaning Proletariati, the chairwoman of House of
Representatives Commission IX, overseeing health issues, and commission member
Rieke Dyah Ayu Pitaloka called the meeting to discuss health care legislation
with constituents.
Rieke told the Jakarta Globe that 10 to 15 people from the Islamic Ummah Forum,
most likely encouraged by the local branch of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI),
came to the meeting at a restaurant in Pakis village, Banyuwangi, to demand
that the gathering be broken up. They claimed the meeting was a reunion of
former Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members.
"When they first came in they didn't do anything, but once reporters came they
got excited, shouting 'Allahu Akbar' [God is great'] and disrupting the
meeting," Rieke said.
Some of the constituents had relatives who once were affiliated with the PKI,
she said, but that had nothing to do with the meeting.
"We were discussing a social welfare bill that says anyone can be treated in
hospital. We were engaged in activities that are protected by the
Constitution," Rieke said. "This is just thuggery in the guise of religion."
The PKI was effectively wiped out following a failed 1965 coup attempt against
the Sukarno government. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed nationwide
in a pogrom against the party, which is still banned to this day.
Ribka, who authored the book "Aku Bangga Jadi Anak PKI" ("I Am Proud to Be a
PKI Child") in 2002 about her father, said she was used to acts of
intimidation.
"This only shows our country has yet to become democratic. There are still
people out there who seem not to like my personal background," she said as
quoted by state news agency Antara .
Rieke said hard-line groups like the FPI acted like "moral police," and that
the health care meeting was just one example of myriad human rights violations
perpetrated by such groups.
"The president has not done anything about this," she said. "The president has
barely reacted to any riots [instigated by these groups]."
The secretary general of the FPI, however, said his group was not behind the
incident.
"There were maybe one or two members of the FPI who joined the demonstration,
but the demonstration itself was not on behalf of our organization," Ahmad
Shabri Lubis told the Globe on Friday.
He made it clear, however, that he condoned the disruption of the event.
It was "the local people who rejected the un-Islamic PKI," Ahmad said.
"Furthermore, the activity did not have any permit. The FPI is not involved and
we knew nothing about it."
PDI-P lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari said the party was seeking ways to curb the
influence of hard-line groups that tried to impose their will on society.
"We have tried several times to find ways to dissolve these kinds of groups,
but the Ministry of Home Affairs says it can't do anything because the groups
aren't registered with it," she said. "I think the president should directly
respond to this issue, because he has been quiet on this for too long."
Related articles
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1:09 PM 25/06/2010
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