By: Abdul Yahya)*
The community firmly rejects the 212 Reunion which is no longer relevant to be implemented. The event will only trigger the third wave of Covid-19 along with the new variant of the Corona virus.
The 212 Reunion event apparently received a rejection from Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) activist Muhammad Guntur Romli. He firmly rejects the 212 reunion in public. As a resident of Jakarta, he refuses if the 212 reunion is held in a public place. However, he did not admit that he would object if the 212 reunion was held at the private residence of Anies Baswedan as the Governor of DKI Jakarta.
Meanwhile the Alumni Brotherhood (PA) 212 said that the 212 Reunion would be centered at the Horse Statue, Central Jakarta, attended by millions of people. However, the plan forced PA 212 retainers to bite their fingers because the Polda Metro Jaya had not given permission for crowds.
Commissioner E. Zulpan as Head of Public Relations Division of Polda Metro Jaya said the permit had not been granted because the committee had not met the administrative requirements. One of them is a recommendation from the Covid-19 Task Force, because the pandemic is not over yet.
In addition, there was also a question about the plan to hold a 212 reunion at the Az Zikra Sentul Mosque, Bogor Regency because with all considerations. The general chairman of PP Pemuda Muhammadiyah Sunanto or who is familiarly called Cak Nanto responded.
He said that related to the 212 alumni action, according to him, it was legal, because everyone has the right to have a voice. However, Cak Nanto also said that there were factors that took precedence over the health of Muslims, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, which had not yet ended.
On the other hand, the West Java Regional Police have also not received a permit application from PA 212 who wants to hold a 212 Reunion at the Az-Zikra Mosque, Sentul, Bogor Regency. West Java Police Public Relations Officer, Erdi Adrimulan Chaniago, said the West Java Police were still waiting for confirmation regarding the location of the 212 Reunion. Is it true that it will be held at the Az Zikra Mosque or not?
On a different occasion, this reunion also received a rejection from the Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Regional Representatives Council, Sultan B. Najamudin, who asked the Muslim alumni of the 212 action to cancel their intention to hold a reunion on December 2.
This was conveyed by the Sultan considering that in the world there is an increase in the number of daily positive cases and an explosion of new variants of the Omicron type of covid-19 in several countries.
He said that Indonesian Muslims must be pioneers and role models for other people in all preventive efforts and the nation’s socio-economic recovery from the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic which is still mutating.
The Sultan also said that the level of crowds for the 212 action, which amounted to millions of participants, was of course not feasible to be implemented at this time.
Don’t underestimate the spread of Covid-19. There should not be a 212 cluster, because it will harm many parties, especially those who are struggling to reduce the number of transmissions.
The Sultan also reminded that Muslims in Indonesia should not be easily provoked and must have awareness in practicing Islam properly, not just following the wishes of some people who like to take advantage of the political power of the people.
As Muslims who have concern for their fellow ummah, of course we must weigh the benefits and harms if the 212 reunion is held, lest the 212 reunion be held just because of mere political lust.
We also cannot close our eyes that in South Africa a new variant of Covid-19 has emerged. Epidemiologist from Griffifth University of Australia Dicky Budiman said that the new variant of Omicron has been touted to be 5 times more infectious than the original coronavirus, namely SARS-Cov-2 which was first discovered in Wuhan, China in 2019.
The variant known as B.1.1.529 is most likely to have a high rate of transmission and is capable of degrading antibodies from natural infection and vaccination.
PA 212 should be aware that those who reject it are not only scientists, but also activists from religious organizations, so that efforts to hold a 212 reunion in the midst of a pandemic will only harm themselves.
)* The author is a contributor to Pertiwi Institute
