Seeking excuses?
Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has cited security
concerns in Jakarta to cancel this week’s visit to Australia. Duncan
Graham has doubts.
As political sport the Friday 4 November Jakarta demo was
generally a crowd pleaser, though the off-field ending was bad. Hours after the
6 pm whistle and with most supporters in their divine white heading home, the
hoon minority torched police cars before being teargassed. One man died apparently from an asthma attack,
a dozen hospitalised.
Tut-tutting Australians should remember the 2004 Redfern and
2005 Cronulla race riots.
With estimates of 150,000 (1.5 per cent of Jakarta’s
population) on the streets stoked by firebrands claiming the Deity needs
protection from real or imagined insults, the protest against Christian
Governor Basuki ‘Ahok’ Purnama could have been far worse.
No gunfire, no bombs and only one shop looted. If correct all credit to the religious and
civil authorities – particularly the police who used sex to cool conflict.
Prominently placed officers in jilbab (headscarves) showed the cops weren’t faithless. The tactic was less spiritual than carnal. Indonesian policewomen get picked more for beauty
than brawn.
The distraction worked with ogling lads taking breaks from
fist-thrusting for selfies with the girls in green. During the first round New York Times correspondent Joe Cochrane tweeted:
‘I think ‘political stunt’ is more accurate.
Vast majority of protestors paid teenagers, and not even from Jakarta. No
voters.More. Impact on Ahok close to zero. A mere sideshow’.
Jokowi was inspecting an airport project while the march was
underway. So why use it as an excuse to duck his trip Down Under? His minders may have feared exposure to West
Papua independence protestors – but that was always possible.
More likely is that he just changed his mind –he’s well
known for no-shows. For all the warm
words about relationships in the interviews before departure he’s no
internationalist. The timing was ridiculous coinciding with the US election
pushing positive publicity off page and screen.
Friday’s demo was billed as the Islam Defenders’ Front (FPI)
grand final spectacular. They promised mayhem
but couldn’t deliver.
Their antics are becoming tiresome. Disruptions beyond traffic snarls and flooding
are no longer tolerable. They claim
holiness but are just pseudo-religious thugs.
Apart from Ahok few have dared challenge the FPI’s
legitimacy, which explains their hate. Unfortunately Jokowi’s cancellation gives them
status that on current information they don’t deserve.
Columnist Julia Suryakusuma has likened FPI followers to
plane passengers preferring an incompetent Muslim pilot than a qualified
Christian even as disaster looms.
Posters at the demo demanding Ahok’s death were
exceptional. Most wanted him charged
with blasphemy which may well happen. There was nothing against Jokowi who
retains widespread support.
Gubernatorial elections will be held in February. A need to
stay at home then might make sense – but not now.
Ahok is smart, tough, loose-tongued, an effective reformer -
but hobbled by his Protestant faith and Chinese ethnicity. His main threat is
former Education Minister Anies Baswedan, an Islamic intellectual supported by
retired General Prabowo Subianto’s Gerindra
(Greater Indonesia) Party.
The President and Ahok are PDI-P (Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle) mates from when Jokowi was governor and Ahok his sidekick.
Jokowi’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has his
son Agus Harimurti, 38, in the three-way contest to run the capital.
Commentators give the colourless US educated Army major no chance.
Jakarta shenanigans aren’t yet in the Trump-Clinton septic swamp
but they are getting smelly. Religion was a cert to smear – the only question
was how.
Ahok helped by commenting on a Koranic verse said to
prohibit Muslims being led by a kafir (unbeliever). He allegedly used the word dibohongi (lied) giving the FPI a hook
to hang an insulter of the Holy Book.
If jailed for blasphemy he’ll be out of the race, so all may
not be as it seems on the surface.
In his post match analysis Jokowi praised daytime discipline
but condemned faceless ‘political actors’ manipulating the after-hours brawl. This is a timeworn standard like ‘Canberra
mandarins’ in Australian politics.
During the demo in 30 degree heat FPI organisers who’d
bussed in outsiders handed out thousands of drinks and snacks – but wouldn’t
name the donors. SBY reacted furiously to suggestions his Democratic Party
was the bankroller.
Three days before kick-off Jokowi went to see Prabowo at
his ‘residential retreat’ aka ‘spacious ranch’ in Bogor south of Jakarta.
For those unfamiliar with Indonesian culture the president knocking
on his former rival’s gate was bewildering, but to Javanese it made sense. Maintaining harmony and staying polite are
essential virtues; Jokowi sought support to hose down possible violence at the
demo and lost no votes by taking the initiative.
When Prabowo’s father-in-law Soeharto ran the nation for 32
years, SARA (suku, agama, ras, antar
golongan) rules gagged comment on ethnicity, religion and race.
Democratic reforms uncorked the bottle letting the FPI harass
liberals, homosexual law reformers, feminists and anyone who thinks outside
their narrow focus.
Prabowo supported calls for calm: “We are a plural country with many tribes,
religions and races,” he said. “If we have problems, let’s solve them
peacefully”.
Jokowi also got backing from the
Indonesia Scholars’ Council (MUI) and the two main Islamic organisations, Nahdlatul
Ulama and Muhammadiyah “to maintain unity and guard against
those who want to divide the country”.
These meetings helped frame the demo not as a xenophobic rant
(though much was) but as democratic expression.
The media tag of Indonesia as the world’s most populous
Islamic nation suggests faith rules. However the Republic is not an Islamic
state. Secular parties like the PDIP regularly trounce faith-based contestants.
The biggest flag at the demo was a sportsfield-sized red and
white. The country is stable, the leader loved. Cabinet is under control,
Parliament passive and the police more professional. So what’s to fear with a quick call on the neighbours? Doesn’t he like us?
Or maybe he reckons we're just not important enough
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First published in New Mandala 8 November 2016
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