Hard-Line Strain of Islam Gains Ground in Indonesia, World’s Largest Muslim Country
Rally against Christian governor of Jakarta draws estimated 100,000 people
An aerial view of a protest Friday called by hard-line Muslim groups against Jakarta's incumbent governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian running in the upcoming election. PHOTO: REUTERS
JAKARTA, Indonesia—The biggest street protest in years shook this sprawling capital on Friday in a stark display of the more conservative, militant strain of Islam taking hold in the world’s largest Muslim country.
Police said an estimated 100,000 people turned out for a rally called by hard-line Muslim groups against the capital’s Christian governor, whom they accuse of having committed blasphemy.
The protest was peaceful during the day but scuffles broke out after nightfall. Younger protesters threw plastic bottles and rocks at police and struck their riot shields with sticks. Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse them. A local news portal said that two police trucks were set afire near the presidential palace.
Turnout was lower than some organizers had predicted, after the nation’s largest Muslim organizations this week discouraged their members from attending.
President Joko Widodo had met with other political leaders amid calls for calm, but critics say he has been too slow since taking office in 2014 to respond to worsening tension for fear of being labeled anti-Muslim.
In a recent interview, Mr. Widodo said religious and political leaders had a responsibility to “cool temperatures down,” and he vowed to protect minorities.
“We are one of the most tolerant countries in the world,’’ Mr. Widodo told The Wall Street Journal. “My government won't tolerate any discrimination.”
The Jakarta governor’s election in February is building into a test.
“Religiosity is rising, especially among the middle class,” said Yon Machmudi, an Islamic politics expert at the University of Indonesia. “A sense of identification is increasing.’’
Indonesian Muslim demonstrators, holding banners that read ‘put Ahok in jail’ march towards the presidential palace in Jakarta Friday during a protest against Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, over an alleged blasphemy. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Protesters were taking aim at Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok, who is the most prominent politician among the country’s often-persecuted, ethnic Chinese minority. He was elected deputy governor in 2012 and elevated to the top job in 2014 after his boss, Mr. Widodo, was elected president.
Some hard-liners had tried to block his ascent then, saying Muslims shouldn’t be ruled by a “kafir,” or nonbeliever.
The blunt-spoken Mr. Purnama, 50 years old, also has irritated many with a brash, get-things-done manner that conflicts with Javanese traditions of polite compromise.
Mr. Purnama, now running for re-election amid high approval ratings, angered the groups again by citing a verse of the Quran in a public address in late September. He has apologized and said he would cooperate with a police investigation, but has since been the target of protests.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla met a group of protest leaders and said afterward that police would pursue a blasphemy case against Mr. Purnama. Local media cited Mr. Purnama as saying he would meet with investigators Monday. The maximum penalty for blasphemy is five years imprisonment.
Scattered outbreaks of violence were reported as small groups dispersed into neighborhoods, including in North Jakarta, where they looted a minimart. About a hundred police officers guarded the complex where Mr. Purnama resides.
Shortly after midnight, Mr. Widodo appeared on television, saying that legal action concerning Mr. Purnama would be swift and transparent, and asked protesters to return home. He also said he deplored the violence that took place after the rally and that “political actors” had taken advantage of the situation. He didn’t elaborate.
Nearly 90% of Indonesia’s 250 million people are Muslim.
The Southeast Asian nation—some 18,000 islands straddling the Pacific and Indian oceans—has a long tradition of moderate Islam in a culture influenced earlier by Hinduism and Buddhism.
But the tenor has changed in recent years. Head scarves for women, once rare, are now widely worn and Islamic schools are expanding.
An effort to outlaw cohabitation and sex between unmarried people fizzled in 2013 but has returned this year, with proponents asking the Supreme Court for a constitutional prohibition.
Religious hard-liners staged antigay rallies early this year, and the government threatened to block websites it says promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lifestyles. Netflix ran into trouble with Indonesia’s state-owned telecom provider in part because of complaints over some content.
A movement to ban alcohol is gaining steam and sales have been banned from convenience stores. Travel to Mecca for the minor pilgrimage of umrah, once a relatively uncommon undertaking for middle-class Indonesians, is newly popular.
Security experts say the rising conservatism paves the way for potential violence, pointing to some religious hard-liners who have rebranded themselves as cells of Islamic State.
In January, Indonesia suffered its first Islamic State-linked attack, with militants receiving funding from the terrorist group via a Syria-based Indonesian who once studied with a hard-line group in central Java. There have been sporadic attacks since then, including one last month where an Islamic State sympathizer stabbed three police officers.
“What we’ve seen in the last 18 months to two years is increasing crossover from organizations that started out ‘nonviolent but hard-line’ to organizations which are now committed to using violence,” said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.
Still, Islamic parties have done poorly in elections since the downfall of longtime dictator Suharto in 1998. Indonesia has been one of the most stable democracies in the region after overcoming a wave of terrorism and sectarianism in the early 2000s.
Many of those at Friday’s protest had ridden for hours on trains and buses from other parts of Java island. They gathered at the Istiqlal mosque, the country’s largest, before marching toward the presidential palace.
A 27-year-old from Pemalang in central Java said that while Mr. Purnama isn’t his governor, he was seeking justice for Islam. Asked about comments from extremists about killing Mr. Purnama, he said: “It is an expression of how upset we are.”
Security forces took up positions behind barbed wire around nearby government offices. Authorities said around 20,000 police and military personnel were on duty. There were no immediate reports of violence.
Streets in the famously congested city of 10 million people were relatively devoid of traffic as many workers stayed home. Many shops and offices closed.
—Joko Hariyanto contributed to this article
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