Beware of Provocations of Prohibited Organizations Ahead of Christmas and New Year
Towards Christmas and New Year (Nataru), security is something that must be maintained together. Therefore, the public is asked to be aware of the maneuvers of Intolerant Ormas that seek to incite the public to do sweeps ahead of Christmas and New Year (Nataru).
The banned mass organization that has been disbanded, the Islamic Defenders Front is known to be one of the groups that always carries out sweeping. This sweeping action often happened in previous years, especially before Nataru.
KH Ma’ruf Amin, who at that time was still the Chair of the MUI (Indonesian Ulema Council) in 2016, had regretted the sweeping actions carried out by the FPI (Islamic Defenders Front) in a number of malls and shopping centers in Surabaya. This action was carried out by FPI to appeal to mall management not to force Muslim employees to wear Christmas attributes
Ma’ruf Amin deeply regrets this, there should be no need for FPI to take this action, just report it. Therefore, Ma’ruf emphasized that the action taken by FPI did not need to be carried out. According to him, if you find any coercion to wear Christmas attributes, it is enough to report it. There is no need for such actions. The report can then be submitted to the competent authority, namely the Police.
Ma’ruf also asked the police to take precautions against the potential for similar sweeping actions. Ma’ruf also appealed to employers not to force their employees to use Christmas attributes.
Sweeping before Christmas should not be done, all parties must respect each other so as not to create social conflict. Disagreement on something is legal, but that doesn’t mean it’s the basis for sweeping.
The Governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, previously asked all parties to be able to maintain the situation ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations. He said that it was the responsibility of all parties to be able to maintain the situation. He said that so far, the reports he had received from the Kapolda and the Commander of Kodam III/Siliwangi confirmed that the West Java situation was conducive.
We must understand that tolerance has been the breath of Indonesia for many years, of course sweeping actions from any mass organizations that have an impact on disrupting religious celebrations are not justified.
Sweeping that is carried out arrogantly not only disturbs order, but can also be charged with criminal articles. Indonesian society should be more mature and there should be no bar bar when religious people other than their own group are worshiping.
On a different occasion, President Joko Widodo also reminded all levels of society not to conduct sweeping during religious celebrations.
In Indonesia, our constitution guarantees that it is clear and unequivocal that our constitution allows Indonesian people to embrace their respective religions and beliefs. Previously, Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas had appealed to Christians to celebrate Christmas with simplicity.
He hopes that the joy of Christmas will accompany Christians and be able to raise the spirit to create a life of peace and harmony. Gus Yaqut said that the most important thing about celebrating Christmas is the awareness of Christians to get closer to the Almighty as the giver of life.
In essence, Christmas is a momentum for Christians to increase awareness that the gift of salvation has been given by God to mankind. This needs to be reflected through acts of kindness, simplicity, concern for the weak and love for others.
Yaqut also hopes for religious leaders and Christians to become pioneers of unifying the nation and become government partners in solving various problems in order to realize a better Indonesia.
Previously, the former Chief of the Metro Jaya Police, Inspector General of Police Gatot Eddy Pranomo threatened to impose criminal penalties on Ormas that carried out sweeping during Christmas and New Year celebrations. According to Gatot, sweeping is an act that violates the law because it creates insecurity for others, and creates intolerance in religious life.
It is fitting that differences regarding the use of attributes or the pronunciation of Merry Christmas, should be returned to the individuals of each religion.
Every citizen has the right to express his opinion, but if there are different things, of course it will not be resolved with an attitude of anger. So that the sweeping carried out by Ormas is not justified, because it is the authority of the security forces.
Muhamad Yasin, Author is a contributor to the Pertiwi Institute
