By: Asep Sunandar ) *
The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), is one of the mass organizations that often exists and gets the spotlight from various media, not because of their preaching, but because of their actions which they consider heroic by making trouble.
Like the story of Rahmat, a former FPI member who had ignored his mother’s message not to join the organization led by Habib Rieziq.
Despite being warned by his mother, Rahmat Fuji remained ignorant and ignored the mother’s advice. He was one of 11 suspects for incitement and obstructing and making trouble at religious meetings on the 93rd anniversary of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) held in Tebingtinggi City.
The 28-year-old youth admitted, initially came to the location of the Tabliq Akbar and Tausyiah events held by NU at the invitation of FPI administrators in the whatsapp group. But after arriving at the location, one of his colleagues said that the program insulted the Apostle and the Tawhid flag, so he and others reacted to the event’s dissolution.
But when asked by the committee, the insult delivered by the committee, Rahmat claimed not to know and not see it. He only knows because there are friends who convey this.
After he was behind bars, the man who did not graduate from junior high school admitted that the action to dissolve the NU program was political because it had a shirt with the name of a Muslim monastery in place of the president.
In 2013 in Kendal, Central Java, around 50 FPI members sought to raid areas believed to allow prostitution. While running away from the area to avoid angry mobs because they damaged business sites, one of their vehicles crashed into a couple on a motorcycle and killed a pregnant woman and injured her husband.
Shortly after the incident, Nahdlatul Ulama made a petition online to demand the dissolution of FPI, and had obtained more than 41,000 signatures.
But lately the ‘Stop FPI Permit’ petition has penetrated more than 269 thousand more signatures. This is because FPI is considered radical and supports Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) which is considered not pro-Pancasila.
In addition to signing online, netizens also provided various comments. Among them were negative in the FPI which was considered often troubling the community because it often held sweeping and vigilante acts.
Even now Habib Rizieq is not in Indonesia, the reason he is not
returning to Indonesia was confusing. Some say because they avoid legal cases that ensnare them, some say they are criminalized.
However, the Head of the Ulama GNPF Yusuf Muhammad Martak revealed a surprising fact regarding Habib Rizieq’s return to Indonesia. He said that Habib Rizieq was banned by the government of Saudi Arabia.
The leaders of the FPI organization were living in Saudi Arabia after facing a number of legal cases in Indonesia, including cases of alleged dissemination of pornographic content. Whereas before the Indonesian government had invited Rizieq Shihab to go home, moreover some of the cases he faced had been stopped, including the alleged cases of the spread of pornography and the desecration of the Pancasila.
Regarding FPI licensing, the government certainly does not need to hesitate to not extend FPI’s operational permits. In this case the government needs to be firm in acting because it is not the criminalization of religion and Islamic phobia.
Previously, the late KH Abdurahman Wahid (Gus Dur) had expressed his frustration with the police who seemed to silence various acts of violence carried out by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) group.
At that time Abdurrahman was upset when he heard reports of at least 12 people from the mass of the Religious and Freedom Alliance (AKKBB) being injured when they were attacked by dozens of people wearing FPI attributes at the Jakarta National Monument (Monas).
In addition, FPI members also became the perpetrators of the hoax dissemination, where FPI members with the initials SAA, initially intended to provide balanced information through a video that was distributed regarding the riot demonstration at the Constitutional Court. But unfortunately the video was not checked again by it so that it contained information on the hoax. The video also circulated on social media to whatsapp group.
In this series of stories, the question will certainly arise, what is FPI’s contribution to the State if its operational permit is extended.
) * The author is a social media activist
