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In Alabama 1955, an African-American lady by the name of Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to make room for a white passenger. Her act of defiance was seen as a violation of a racial segregation policy on the public transportation system and Parks was suddenly arrested. Parks was found guilty by the court, but her civil disobedience sparked the awareness of the African-American people. Her action triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the cornerstones in America Civil Rights Movement, which Martin Luther King Jr. himself got involved in.
In Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, last week, the locals showed their own act of defiance by rejecting the presence of Front Pembela Islam (FPI) in their city. The people of Palangkaraya believe violence, which the FPI advocates, is intolerable and they found FPI’s presence in their city as a threat to society. The residents were successful in ousting the FPI, as the FPI officers who were about to establish the organization’s branch in Palangkaraya fled without stepping off their plane. The rejection in Palangkaraya has inspired many to follow their footsteps and a protest rally at the HI traffic circle in Jakarta on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14) was fueled by a spirit similar to the one in Palangkaraya.
Like Rosa Parks’ act of defiance in Alabama, the rejection of the FPI in Palangkaraya was not the first of its kind. There were Elizabeth Jennings and Claudette Corvin who preceded Parks. There were also some protests against intolerance and violence before yesterday’s protest, most notably the AKKBB (Aliansi Kebangsaan Untuk Kebebasan Beragama dan Berkeyakinan) rally in 2008, which ironically ended violently after men in white robes showed up and disrupted the peaceful protest.
What happened in Palangkaraya is actually interesting because for the first time, there has been a successful large scale protest against an organization that earned its notoriety because of its violent philosophy. You may have heard of how some housewives in Medan, North Sumatra, showed their disgust towards the FPI by damaging the car owned by its regional officer last year. You also may have lost the count of how many times intellectuals and public figures said enough to sectarian violence, not to mention how many times the authorities promised that they wouldn’t tolerate aggressive behavior and public indecency, although their actions showed the contrary.
Everybody has said that they’re fed up with the unlawful behavior of such organizations, but nothing had been done publicly to declare a war against violence and intolerance until the citizens of Palangkaraya stood up and their voices reached the people of Jakarta. Driven by the same spirit and anger caused by the government’s leniency towards violence, I joined the protest rally at the HI traffic circle. It was a peaceful event as the protesters unfurled banners and posters while chanting, “Indonesia Damai! Tanpa FPI! Tanpa Kekerasan” (“Peace in Indonesia! Without FPI! Without Violence!”). Such a shame that police couldn’t guarantee the safety of the protesters if anything bad happened, such as a sudden disruption by the aforementioned Islamic militants.
After merely 20 minutes, the police shepherded the peaceful protesters from HI traffic circle to the area in front of Plaza Indonesia for safety reasons. What a bucket of nonsense because what’s the purpose of the police’s being there if not to prevent harm to the rally attendants? When scuffles broke out after a couple intruders tried to grab and threw punches at the protesters, the police did little to restore the situation.
What concerns me is how this movement is being seen as targeting a certain religion when, in fact, it’s far from it. It’s violence that these protesters are against to and violent behavior is not the monopoly of a single organization. You can see how other organizations, whether they be based on religion, ethnicity, or Pancasila (what an irony!), advocate violence instead of dialogue. The saddest part of all is how the authorities turn a blind eye when it comes to dealing with these ruffians. As has been true in many cases, the authorities and the police are absent-minded, giving these culprits space to breathe and grow. Surely nothing good can be expected when one of these organizations threatens to overthrow the government live on national TV and the government does nothing about it.
That’s why concerned citizens in Jakarta gathered to make themselves heard, while hoping their concerns don’t fall on deaf ears. I don’t think the hundreds of people who gathered at the HI traffic circle were the only concerned members of society. There are plenty who have yet to be awaken.
The people in Palangkaraya have demonstrated how it is done and I believe their voices will echo through the nation.
