Fachrizal Halim

The recent violent attack of Islam Defenders Front (FPI) on activists from the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) was an outcome of the ambiguous position of the government in protecting the freedom of religion as guaranteed by the constitution. The hesitation of the government to protect the right of the Ahmadiyya in their self-identification as Muslims and its lack of commitment for law enforcement intensified the FPI’s campaign against tolerance.

The logic is that when the lack of law enforcement meets a strong religious group with tribal logic, the latter will manifest itself as a punitive apparatus, whose source of legitimation was already filled up from a self-defined religious duty. This is the reason why since a decade ago we have been unable to ban organizations using the banner of Islam such as FPI.

Due to its escalation of violence, it is no doubt that FPI must be disbanded. The character of this organization is incompatible with the fundamental character of a modern state and in itself represents a blatant attack to Islamic ethics which highly values diversity and freedom of faith.

One should reflect on how FPI and other hard-liner organizations developed and continued their campaign. Ten years ago, scholars and political commentators were confident in saying that the radical groups in Indonesia constitute only as a small minority. The argument was followed with self-assurance that as long as the moderate Muslims are still the majority, the radicals would never get a chance to control religious and political discourse. While this analysis was not entirely wrong, it obviously failed to anticipate the growth of the radical groups by exploiting the lack of law enforcement and manipulating religious issues.

It is exactly from the combination of these two factors that FPI gained and continue to gain their supporters. While Islam is used as their banner, it is unfortunate that their commitment to Islam was only in the political level, not a spiritual and moral one. Islam is interpreted as social prestige or honour in society rather than an ethical teaching. Such an interpretation represents more of a veneration of the tribal tradition of pre Islamic Arabia, rather than as the universal message of Islam as was addressed by the Qur’an and the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad.

There are some characteristics that show how FPI operates in the logics of the tribal system of pre Islamic Arabian tradition. The logic of tribal system is the logic of a society without central authority. It defines a society in a simple form between the member of a clan and one who is outside of it. In this logic, every stranger or individual who is not part of the tribe may become an enemy. This logic also allows no cooperation and no toleration for differences.

The pre Islamic tribal community was also a group of people who idealized qualities such as hot-bloodedness, lordliness, and excessive in defending honour. They do not recognize the modern values of equality and diversity. When the honour of the tribe seems to be molested, it needs to be defended, even at the cost of social justice.

Given the fact that FPI members interpret Islam as their sacred identity, in addition to their glorification of Arabic tradition and symbols and their praise for the leadership of the habaib class, one can hardly deny the fact that FPI is an organization which runs under the tribal logic of pre Islamic Arabian society. Their lack of respect toward the existing law, easily loose temper, considering patienc as symbol of weakness, their inability to respect difference are other characters of the pre Islamic tribal mindset.

What seems ironic in this case is that Islam was born fifteenth centuries ago out of this tribal mentality. If one need to look back, the whole mission of the Prophet Muhammad was to abolish these fundamental characters of the ignorant of Arabian society completely, and to replace them once for all by the spirit of hilm, a quality character associated with patience, forbearance, leniency, and understanding. It is also the quality that was associated with the personality of Abraham, Isaac, Job, Jethro the father in law of Moses, and Jesus. Although the Qur’an does not mention the term hilm, it explicitly reveals the quality character in the text “The [true] servants of the Beneficent are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace!” (25:63).

The continuous refusal FPI members to value diversity and their adherence to violence in solving what they see as a molestation of the honor of Islam as in the case of the Ahmadiyya, is a strong evidence that FPI as an organization is incompatible in a modern democratic society. The leadership of FPI which emphasizes on the personal charisma of a habib, instead of on the authority of knowledge does not offer a progressive promise for the benefit of our society as a whole.

The government must ban FPI because it is a disadvantageous to the culture of religious tolerance in Indonesia. If such an organization is allowed exist, not only the government would lose its credibility, but also our home-grown construction of freedom and democracy would be ruined as well. The cost of tolerating this organization is much greater than that of disbanding it and bringing its members who committed violence in the front of the judge.

Fachrizal Halim is a Ph.D candidate at McGill University Montreal. He published many articles and are teaching Arabic at the Institute of Islamic Studies of McGill University.