By: Aulia Hawa)
Based on experience, Reunion 212 is believed to be a political get-together. The public also firmly rejected the action because it was irrelevant and triggered the third wave of Covid-19.
Although it has been repeatedly voiced that the 212 reunion is not a political event, the 2018 212 reunion actually shows that one party from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) calls on all mass actions not to vote for a presidential candidate who is supported by a religious blasphemy party. Awit Mashuri as Chair of the 212 Reunion Organizing Committee said the event did not have a political element, but a means for national unity and integrity.
Previously, the General Chairman of Muhammadiyah Youth, Sunanto, said that the substance of the 212 movement should be maintained, so that the 212 reunion should be filled with worship activities and away from practical politics. At the 212 Reunion in 2018, orations related to the 2019 change of president continued to flare up, instead of maintaining ukhuwah, but the political impression actually damaged the dignity of the movement.
The event was exacerbated by the oration of Bahar bin Smith, who eventually went to prison for using harsh words by calling Jokowi a sissy. We need to know that the protests that were launched in 2016 not only caused the downfall of a popular minority figure in Indonesian politics but also resulted in new sectarian strife across the country with the largest Muslim population in the world.
The FPI mass organization was also noted to have played a role in spearheading the movement against Ahok. Until finally Ahok managed to get into prison. Since then, cases of religious intolerance in Indonesia recorded by the Setara Institute have increased, reaching 270 cases last year, up from 177 cases in 2014.
LSI senior researcher Burhanudin Muhtadi, said that one of the causes of the decline of democracy in Indonesia is civil liberties. One measure is that regardless of religious, social and ethnic background, everyone should have the same opportunity to become a public official or exercise the right to worship, believe and express.
Burhanudin said a survey on intolerance involving Muslim and non-Muslim respondents. There were six questions asked, four related to political intolerance and the other two about cultural religious intolerance.
These questions include whether or not you object to non-Muslims becoming president, vice president, governor, mayor or regent. The same question was also asked to non-Muslim respondents. Questions related to social religious intolerance, for example, regarding permits to build houses of worship for Muslims or non-Muslims, religious celebrations in your area of residence.
The results obtained are. The majority of Muslims, 54%, do not mind if non-Muslims hold religious events in the surrounding area. However, most of the Muslim population, 52 percent, objected to non-Muslims building houses of worship around their homes.
Burhanudin also added that 52 percent of Muslims also objected to non-Muslims becoming mayors, regents or governors. As many as 55 percent of Muslims also objected to non-Muslims becoming vice president. The rejection turned out to be even greater when the position in question was president, where 59 percent of Muslims objected to non-Muslims becoming president.
Muslim scholar Alwi Shihab said a number of political elites in the 212 reunion movement at that time tried to mobilize the middle and lower class economic communities to overthrow the government in similar ways used by organizations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir in Syria.
One of the strategies used is to attract religious leaders, including habibs, to convince the public that the movement is based on Islamic teachings and values.
The government does need criticism as a counterbalance, but that does not mean that the movement, which is planned to involve millions of Muslims, is used as a tool to curse and swear at the government, it is certainly not useful at all.
Of course, it is unfortunate if the 212 reunion event is littered with campaigns for certain political interests. It is not surprising that the annual event had something to do with the political agenda, where at that time several of the 212 reunion committee members were members of the successful team of the presidential and vice presidential candidates at that time.
The 212 Reunion event should be canceled because it is still in the pandemic period which has the potential to create new clusters of Covid-19 and is suspected to be used by certain parties for political and group interests.
)* The author is a contributor to the Nusa Bangsa Institute
