Front Pembela Islam Raids

News on a recent mini epidemic of raids by the Islamic Defenders Front, FPI, Front Pembela Islam.

On the 20th of May in the town of Pamekasan, in Madura, East Java, one of the Front's few strong areas in that province, members conducted raids on a number of night spots and some roadside stalls which were thought to be selling alcohol. One hotel was also targeted and the owner of the establishment was instructed not to allow the …

Comment by Aluang Anak Bayang: … Arab-wannabes and islamised Pris gone wrong. They are …

Islamic Defenders Front

The Islamic Defenders Front plan to help guard churches at Christmas.

In a bizarre move the notorious FPI, or Islamic Defenders Front, long known as tormentors of restaurant, pub, brothel, and disco owners, staff, and patrons, has announced they will help the Jakarta police in guarding churches on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The police had assigned about 17000 officers for the …

Comment by Ramster: … group. Since the Islamic Defenders Front dislikes the …

FPI, Komando Laskar Islam & Munarman

Arrests of dozens of Front Pembela Islam and Komando Laskar Islam members in Jakarta, and forced closures of FPI branches in central and eastern Java.

FPI - Jakarta

On 4th June 58 members of the Front Pembela Islam (FPI, Islam Defenders Front) were arrested at FPI headquarters in central Jakarta. The leader of Komando Laskar Islam [KLI], the sub-group of the FPI said to be responsible for the Monas …

Comment by la la la: Islam is the only religion which allows …

Representative Democracy & Islam

Fatkhuri says there is no disharmony between Islam and democracy, theoretical or practical.

An Account of Islamic World and Indonesian Democracy in Practice

Introduction

There has been an endless debate over last decade not only among Muslims scholars but also western scholars in relation to Islam and democracy.

In general, this scholarly discourse is concerned with theological cornerstones as well as ideological …

Comment by hendra i somantri: … US. I think Islam is not in contrary with Democracy …

Islam Lunak

Merambatnya Islam lunak di Indonesia menurut pemerhati mancanegara.

Dalam nada yang sama dengan liputan " Vespa Girls (Gadis-gadis Vespa)" di majalah Time 2007, kini majalah The Economist yang berpendapat kalau Indonesia adalah tempat dimana "'Islam lunak' sedang menjalar". Laporan tersebut dimulai:

"Apakah Indonesia, negeri dengan masyarakat Muslim paling besar, sedang mengalami Islamisasi …

Comment by peace: Sepertinya Islam lunak lebih masuk akal dan justru …

Hardline Islam

Competing views about the current strength of hardline Islam in the country.

On 9th June Ali Maschan Moesa, the head of the East Java branch of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said that today there were a great number of hardline Islamic groups in East Java which sought to establish an Islamic state or caliphate. He said this was disappointing and re-iterated NU's committment to Pancasila as the national ideology.

Ali Maschan Moesa

He …

Comment by Abul: … hardline Islam is in a “cooling down” …

Anti Islam Video

Police are hunting down the makers of an anti Islam video.

In Batu, Malang, East Java, a recording was apparently made using a handycam and then copied onto VCD format by a Christian student group called Lembaga Pelayanan Mahasiswa Indonesia (LPMI) at the Hotel Asida between 17-20 December 2006 which is said to contain scenes which insult Islam in some uncertain way.

The Lembaga Pelayanan Mahasiswa Indonesia (LPMI) describes itself …

Comment by Aufar Bahri: … true essence of Islam. However, when the Qur’an is …

Islam is Bad for Tourism

… culture. While Bali held on to its Hindu heritage, and thrived, Lombok abandoned it in favour of Islam, and did not prosper, in terms of the travel industry at any rate.

Ternate and Tidore, in the Moluccas, near the island of Halmahera, have not succeeded at all in the tourism area, says Luthfi, while Lombok's limited success can be put down to its proximity to Bali - it has merely taken the "overflow" from the Island of the Gods and cannot take any credit for having done so.

Foreign …

Comment by Teng: … and practice islam in Holland, then it is to build a …

Mystical Islam in Medan

The Babur Ridho religious school in Medan, north Sumatra, is accused of deviant, mystical, Islamic teachings. The Indonesian Ulema Council, always vigilant against anything that smells of heresy, is investigating.

The Babur Ridho pesantren attracted a large mob of local residents demanding that it close, after accusations surfaced that some its practices and teachings were not within the mainstream of Islam. The police, as always saying that they sought to avoid violence, sealed …

Battle of the Islam Movies

The battle of the Islam movies, Ayat-Ayat Cinta and Fitna, and which gives a better picture of Islam.

True Islam - Love

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono watched the Islamic soap-opera-romance movie Ayat-Ayat Cinta on 28th March and said he was moved to tears several times.

Tearful.

He said the film was a good example of how Indonesians should struggle to show the true face of Islam to …

Comment by dewaratugedeanom: … in the name of Islam? Islam has enough imams, …

Mencintai Islam

Apa Islam itu dan mengapa orang-orang "mencintai"-nya.

Dalam sebuah pembicaraan mengenai Alfarini Endani, barangkali sebagai pembelaan dari 'awan' persoalan poligami yang sering memberundung Islam dan dari sulitnya masalah ini untuk dihadapi perempuan Muslim dimanapun, Agnes mengatakan :

I LOVE ISLAM!!!!!

Mencintai agama? Seorang Kristen mungkin mengatakan "I love God" atau "I …

Rise of Islam

The West always tries to destroy Islam in Indonesia.

Professor Dr H Muslim Nasution, MA, a lecturer at Jakarta State Islamic University (UIN), in a discussion at Medan, February 1st, on the future of Islam, said that currently there were two regions that had the capability to lead the world Islamic community into the future, they being:

the Indian sub-continent
South-east Asia, comprising Malaysia, Thailand, …

Comment by Mach Jabber: … version of Islam whenever he gets the chance. …

Pelarangan Sekte-sekte Islam

Perdebatan untuk melarang sekte-sekte Islam seperti Ahmadiyah.

Setelah melarang beredarnya sekte Al-Qidayah Al-Islamiyah baru-baru ini, beberapa pihak masyarakat tengah berupaya agar Ahmadiyah, aliran Islam lain yang telah lama didirikan, untuk mendapat perlakuan yang sama.

Dilarangnya Ahmadiyah

Para pemerintah atau lembaga-lembaganya saat ini sedang menimbang pelarangan atas aliran Ahmadiyah, bersama dengan …

Comment by Taufic Amirullah: … agama saya yaitu islam. sekarang saya sudah memiliki …

Islam & Pork

Pig and pork eating issues in the news in Sumatra.

In early June 2007 a housekeeper in Medan, called Risma, who comes from Palembang, reported her boss Andi (50) to the police for forcing her to eat some pork meat.

The case excited some passions in Medan, easily understandable for those who have noticed the visceral disgust and loathing that many Muslims have whenever pork appears in …

Comment by Endan: … and rejected by Islamic teachings. You need to learn …

Learning Islam

Indonesian Muslims still have some way to go in learning Islam.

The minister of religion, Maftuh Basyuni said on 4th August that Islam did not teach violence or radicalism, and radicalism could not be allowed to flourish Indonesia because most people were opposed to it and it had no basis in the Quran. He advised people to not only read the Quran a lot but to learn it and understand it.

Maftuh Basyuni, jealous obsession.

Muslims must …

Comment by Barry prima: … hussein is of islam. Javanese Kejawen is an …

Transnational Islam

… Ulama continues to feel under threat, from politicians, other Muslim groups, and transnational Islamic movements.

Nahdlatul Ulama leader Hasyim Muzadi said on 22nd July that all sections of his organisation, the largest Muslim body in the country, must be on alert against the continual attacks upon it. Speaking to a gathering of 1400 people in Madiun, East Java, he said:

The interference which NU is suffering these days emanates from other Islamic religious groups and from …

Comment by Tomaculum: … why do you hate Islam so much?

Islam & Terrorism

Islam has no relationship to terrorism.

Australian ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said on 23rd July that the various acts of terrorism around the world in recent times had nothing to do with Islam. He told Antara reporters: antara

I can't see any relationship between Islam and terrorism.

He said he had learned this after having lived in Indonesia for some time.

I …

Comment by Dream: … dari golongan Islam sendiri, beberapa ormas menuntut …

Militant Islam

Islamic preachers are increasingly teaching a hardline, militant Islam.

The head of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Hasyim Muzadi, said in Indramayu, West Java, on 31st May that since the post Suharto "reformasi" era Islamic clerics in Indonesia were increasingly likely to preach a "hard" type of Islam that was influenced by the culture of violence overseas, like in the middle east. Such hardline …

Comment by Julita: … successfully than Islam. Thanks Mr. Hasym, we all …

Feminism and Islam

Feminism is not suitable for Indonesian women.

Eny Dwiningsih, a professor at the Islam State University in Jakarta (UIJ), said in a seminar called "Developing Intellectual Interest in Womens' Issues" at the North Sumatra University in Medan on 18th May that Islam rejected feminism.

Feminism was dangerous to Islam because it was infused with the spirit of secularism, opposed to sharia law, and based on false assumptions, she said.

The secularised capitalist nations of …

Comment by Julita: … of feminism & Islam: The life of Aishah is proof …

Anti Islam Website

An anti Islam website run by a Christian political party.

Dozens of people from the "Forum Remaja Islam" (FRI), Islamic Youth Forum, descended on the offices of the Partai Damai Sejahtera (PDS), Prosperous Peace Party, on 11th May in Solo, Central Java, to complain about the existence of a PDS website which insulted Islam, specifically by casting aspersions on the character of Muhammad bin …

Comment by Cukurungan: … understood: 1. Islam is NOT the religion of peace. …

Islam Beliefs

The followers of "True Islam" are urged to return to true Islam.

An official of the Department of Religion in Lebak has strongly advised the "True Islam" ("Islam Sejati") group in the district of Cileles, Lebak, Banten, western Java, to return to the orthodox fold of Islam. Idris Jumroni says:

The teachings of Islam Sejati are not based on the fundamentals of Islam as set out in the Quran and the hadiths. …

Comment by Dimp: … a new branch of Islam, “Honestly True and Real” …

Shia Islam

Pressure on Shia Islamic groups in Indonesia is growing.

On 10th April in Sampang, Madura island, East Java, the home of a Shiite cleric was attacked by a mob of more than 100 people. The attackers carried sharp weapons and attempted to enter the cleric's home but were prevented from doing so by police. No-one was hurt. metrotv

Still in East Java, but on the mainland, on 20th April thousands of …

Comment by Faiq Doole: … Indonesia In to Islam (specially West Java ) Is that …

Secular Islam

The "Secular Islam" movement.

In St. Petersburg, Florida, USA in March 2007 a group of secular minded Muslims held a summit in which a declaration was signed stating that there is now:

a great struggle, not between the West and Islam, but between the free and the unfree.

and

There is a noble future for Islam as a personal faith, not a political doctrine.

Some well known names who put …

Comment by cokk: … now, is only in Islam. as the other two religion …

Islam is for Arabs

Two Javanese men fall foul of the law for saying Islam is an unwanted Arab import.

In the town of Pasuruan, East Java two men, Rohim or Rochamim and Toyib were taken to the police station by angry local residents on 10th April because of Rochamim's dangerous ideas about religion, to which Toyib had become a follower.

Rochamim says that Islam is an Arab religion and has nothing to do with Java or Indonesia and that those Javanese …

Comment by Sunshine: … guys don’t need Islam or any other religion for that …

Islam and Chinese

The distance between Indonesian Chinese people and Islam.

Julia Suryakusuma wrote in the Jakarta Post recently:

The Chinese in Indonesia are usually Buddhist, Christian or Confucian. In fact, the actual number of Muslim Chinese is not known, but there are not many.

And then:

The Religious Affairs Ministry has in the past made strenuous efforts to squelch academic research on the Chinese contribution to Islam in Indonesia. This …

Comment by barry prima: … to the fold of islam before you die,i can bet my life …

Lembaga Dakwah Islam

The Lembaga Dakwah Islam Indonesia (LDII) is battling to avoid the heretic label.

The Council of Muslim Clerics, (Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI)), has in the past viewed some practises of the LDII, the Indonesian Islamic Propagation League, a hardline group in the past linked to the Indonesian Islamic State movement, (Negara Islam Indonesia (NII)), as being "exclusivist" and therefore unacceptable.

The …

True Islam

An Islamic scholar explains about true and false Islam.

In recent months in the areas of Belawan and Marelan, Medan, North Sumatra, a number of disturbances have occured due to the presence of mosques and religious schools thought by some to be practising a deviant or heretical version of Islam.

21st December 2006, hundreds of people protest outside the Sattariyah complex in Belawan. …

Comment by Mach Jabber: … his demand. Islam, they say. Now they claim to know …

Australian Islam

Australian government approved Islam as a way to counter extremist teachings.

The university courses, which are meant to train future Australian imams, will take a look at Islam from an "international perspective".

The Australian government is spending $6 million on the program and the courses will be available from next year.

Abdullah Seed, a Melbourne University professor who trained at the Islamic University …

I Love Islam

What Islam is and why people love it.

In the discussion on Alfarini Eridani Agnes says, likely as a self-defensive reflex against the "cloud" which Islam may have been put under by the polygamy issue, always a difficult issue for Muslim women to deal with:

I LOVE ISLAM!!!!!

Loving a religion? A certain type of Christian might say "I love God" or "I love Jesus" but "I love …

Comment by Ash: I love Islam because I feel free with Islam. …

Asian Islam

On national and ethnic differences in Islam, normative and lived Islam.

Robert W. Hefner discusses the differences between Asian, both South and South East, and Middle Eastern Islam. spero There is "normative Islam", that which is based on scripture, there are no significant differences here between Asian and Arab or middle eastern Islam. Then there is Islam as a lived culture, or way of life, there are differences …

Comment by Tuan: … saying that Islam in SE Asia is different from …

Downer on Islam

Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer on Islam.

Alexander Downer.

There is often a tendency among Indonesian Muslims to view the attitude towards Islam of Anglophone countries such as Australia, United States, and United Kingdom as being fundamentally hostile, however this is rarely the case. In a speech on Nov. 27th to the Council of Australian Jewry Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer re-iterates the …

Enemies of Islam

Faith can overcome the enemies of Islam, says a preacher in Bogor.

Muslim cleric Ahmad Degel delivered some old time religion at his Idul Fitri sermon at the Bogor Botanical Gardens on the 24th, saying that faith was a powerful weapon indeed against the enemies of Islam, the countries of the West, because it put God in the Muslims' corner:

Besides sophisticated weapons, faith is the most powerful armour against the …

Comment by Czeslaw: … as the latest Islamic prophet, El-Bab, which means …

Terrorism, Poverty & Islam

Poverty is the cause of terrorism, says a former Muhammadiyah chairman, not Islam.

Professor Ahmad Syafii Maarif, former Muhammadiyah chairman, speaking at an interfaith gathering, the "Simposium Antarbudaya dan Antaragama", held under the auspices of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, or Organisasi Kerjasama Ekonomi Asia Pasifik, in Yogyakarta on the 5th said that terrorism, in all its forms, is an enemy of all countries in the world, not just …

Comment by Ismail: … desire to defend Islam and its prophet at all cost is …

Strange Islam

Hasyim Muzadi warns the Islamic faithful to be on guard against weird religious teachings.

Speaking in Medan on the 20th, the chairman of the PBNU, or Nahdlatul Ulama, said that strange religious teachings could lead to unease and unrest in society. Hasyim Muzadi made note of the case of Yusman Roy in Malang, East Java, a man who was convicted of blasphemy because he led Islamic prayers in two languages, …

Comment by A Free Thinking Liberal: … terrorism is Islamic teaching. Osama must be …

The Crusades & Liberal Islam

The "Jaringan Islam Emansipatoris", or Emancipatory Islamic Network, write about the Crusades and get it all wrong.

The Crusades, they say, starting off on the right historical foot, were begun under the reign of Pope Urban II in 1095 and were meant to recover the holy places of Christianity, above all Jerusalem, for the Christian world. Across the Eastern Mediterranean military operations were …

Comment by S. Strauch: … people who villify Islam; they are not here to have an …

Darul Islam Arrests in Malaysia

… general of police, said authorities arrested 12 men belonging to a group calling itself Darul Islam based in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state on Borneo. Some reports state that ten of the twelve men are Indonesians, while others claim only two or three of them are Indonesian.

With these arrests, police have paralyzed Sabah's Darul Islam underground militant network, which cooperated with Indonesian militants.

Bakri said.

The arrests were first reported by The Star newspaper on …

Front Penyelamat Tangerang

The Front Penyelamat Tangerang, or Tangerang Saviors Front (FPT), attacked a complex of shops thought to be dens of sin.

Tempo reports that the Front, numbering about 150 men, converged on the Lipo Karawaci commercial area and attempted to close a number of clubs there believed to be places of alcohol drinking and prostitution.

Led by one Tubagus Mahdi the FPT demanded that the clubs be …

Apostasy in Islam

Gus Dur, Abdurrahman Wahid, writes on the question of apostasy in Islam.

Traditionally apostasy has been punishable by death in Islam, the most recent almost-case of this being that of Abdul Rahman in Afghanistan. Gus Dur writes in FrontPage magazine on why he thinks that Islam does not, in fact, permit the execution or murder of those who choose to leave the religion. Frustratingly, as Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch has pointed out Wahid does not …

Comment by Anonymous_aloy: … Indonesia. Front Page Magazine have their own view …

South East Asian Islam

Two leading Islamic intellectual figures discuss sharia, and the nature of Islam in south east Asia as compared to the middle eastern form. They raised interesting points but failed to logically carry through their arguments or look too deeply into the issue.

The rector of the State Islamic University in Jakarta, Professor Azyumardi Azra, warned political parties not to rely on the issue of Islamic …

Tony Blair & Moderate Islam

Tony Blair was only prepared to meet with "moderate" Islamic leaders in Indonesia, perhaps preferring to avert his eyes and ears from those who aren't counted in this category.

Blair met with Azyumardi Azra, the rector of the State Islamic University, and Din Syamsuddin, leader of the country's second largest Muslim group Muhammadiyah, among a couple of other moderates. Both men told Blair that the presence of western troops in Iraq was the …

The Purity of Islam

… themselves whatever they like but also the rights of the majority Muslims to protect the purity of Islam. If its purity was not guarded then ordinary Muslims would become confused and led astray, he said.

He said that the matter of Ahmadiyah could be viewed from three angles, the theological, the question of whether they constitute a distinct religion, and the legal side.

From the point of view of theology, or aqidah, the sect was clearly at odds with mainstream Islam, and this was the …

The Clash of Christianity & Islam

At a news conference in Jakarta the chairman of Muhammadiyah, which is a modernist Islamic social group with about 25 million members, Din Syamsuddin, said that religious harmony was difficult in Indonesia because Christianity and Islam were by nature proselytising faiths and naturally collided with each other.

Looking to protect his turf Syamsuddin said:

The idea of dissemination is crucial and Islam and Christianity are both expansionist. If we give them a free …

Comment by PerempuanRantau: … (Christian and Islam), I never have a problem within …

Khawariji Islam

… in terrorism.

The emergence of the Khawariji sect represented the first splitting of Islam, in the 7th century, under one Dhul-Khuwaysarah. It is from the Khawariji sect that the idea of a Sixth Pillar of Islam emanates, instead of five, the sixth pillar being jihad, or holy struggle/war.
In contrast to its radical cousin, the Salafist sect, Khawarijism holds that excommunication can occur with almost no restrictions. The excommunicated are the unbelievers or infidels, on …

Indonesian Democracy and Islam

… painted canvas.

One might assume from analysis of the picture that there is something about Islam and its associated culture that is eternally problematic, hostile to democracy and freedom. A more intrepid student might venture into the pages of the Quran, the hadiths, and the writings of Islamic holy men and scholars throughout the centuries, and there find confirmation for this view, confirmation of which exists in ample supply. Not so Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune who, in …

Comment by Country man: … comments about islam ! believe you were commenting to …

Good and Evil in Islam

Good and Evil in Islam.

This is an excerpt from a very good post by IoshkaFutz:
It is in response to this post by CuteCoot.
Surely God created, among all other things, Islam. Was that not done as an act of love? What does your own living conscience say of God’s revelation through Mohammad? What could be God’s purpose in this? If God was not revealed through Mohammad, what was? What else is …

Comment by Chess Openings Guru: … believe that the Islamic faith is truth either, but that …

Moral Virtue Vigilantes

The Front Pembela Islam are back in action, raiding places and publicly shaming sinners.

Although in early June some FPI branches in East Java were, it seemed at the time ( FPI, Komando Laskar Islam & Munarman ), forced to close, the Lamongan branch of the Front Pembela Islam/Islam Defenders Front has bounced back, with on 23rd June an adulterous couple suffering from the religious zeal of …

Ahmadiyah (Nearly) Banned

… was over and now they could be charged with deliberately and systematically blaspheming against Islam.

He asked people not to use violence against Ahmadiyah followers and any Ahmadiyah members who agreed to repent should be allowed to claim their property. inilah

Show of Strength

The Forum Umat Islam (FUI) plans to hold a "long march" in Jakarta, "Apel Sejuta Umat", on 20th April, from the Istiqlal mosque to the Presidential Palace, in order to convince the government to ban …

Comment by Rene Wadlow: … the Ahmadiyyat Islamic movement in Pakistan. Now, …

Soft Islamization

The experts say soft Islam is sweeping the country, not hard Islam.

In a similar vein to Time's " Vespa Girls " story of 2007 the Economist says Indonesia is a place where "Where 'soft Islam' is on the march" economist The story begins:

Is Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country, undergoing creeping Islamisation?

Some examples of Islamic extremism, such as attacks on the Ahmadiyah …

Comment by agam: … in fact, islamist has reach an alarming rate of …

Erwin Arnada

… of Bali (although not all Balinese were pleased ) after its Jakarta office was attacked by the Islam Defenders Front, Front Pembela Islam (FPI).

Erwin Arnada, happy early but not now.

A complaint was filed against the magazine's editor, Erwin Arnada, and his trial for publishing indecent material began on 7th December. He faces up to three years imprisonment if convicted.

The man whose complaint to police led to the prosecution of Arnada was Baharuzaman, the co-chairman of the …

Comment by Dragonwall: … Hotel right in front of the Bunderan HI. Those people …

Freedom of Religion Report

… and mass Muslim organizations rejected the Ahmadiyya [ Ahmadiyah, various] interpretation of Islam resulting in the discrimination and abuse of its followers. Religiously-motivated violence and vigilante acts in Maluku and North Maluku declined significantly, although, as in past years, Central Sulawesi experienced sporadic bombings, shootings, and other violence despite efforts to restore security and promote reconciliation. Government officials worked with Muslim and Christian …

Freedom To Demonstrate Law

… in recent times were shown in a film. Events shown in the film included the attack by the Islam Defenders Front on the office of Playboy magazine, politically motivated violence in Tuban in East Java, the 3rd May workers march on the DPR, and attacks on Ahmadiyah people in Lombok.

Pluralism on the Wane

… the higher rate of support among the 1,200 respondents in all 33 provinces for such groups as the Front Pembela Islam ( Islam Defenders Front ) and the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (Indonesia Mujahidin Council), which are often perceived as radical, than for the more moderate Jaringan Islam Liberal (Liberal Islam Network).

The greatest enmity, according to the study, is focused on those formerly imprisoned as communists. This is a disturbing reminder that the mystery of the 1965 putsch, …

Love Thy Neighbour

… Ulama (NU), 59.1% were favourable to the Ulema Council (MUI), while 16.9% were admirers of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).

August 27th, 2006.

The pdf of this survey has become available.

87.6% of respondents were Muslim, 10.4% Christian, 1.5% Hindu, 0.5% Buddhist. 39.8% Javanese, 14% Sundanese, 3.4% Malay, 3.9% Madurese, 3.7% Minang, 3.8% Bugis, 2.2% Betawi, 29.8% other.

Questions:

Are you bothered or not bothered if you live next to people who are...? …

Comment by DiN: … an example of what Islam could be, is fading away. How …

Morality Law for Depok

… say sharia is not on the agenda for the national capital.

In Depok this week several Islamic groups urged the Depok Legislative Council to immediately deliberate and pass an anti-prostitution and liquor bill, modeled on that of nearby Tangerang city. The debating of the Raperda Pelacuran dan Raperda Minuman Beralkohol has been made a priority of the current session of the Depok parliament and will likely be shortly passed into law.

We will give whatever support is …

Comment by Orang Waras: Pardon me, but no Islamic countries with Sharia advance …

Ban Playboy

… including children, and it was not enclosed in plastic.

He said he supported the actions of the Islamic Defenders Front, Front Pembela Islam (FPI), in reporting to the police the editor of Playboy and various models who have appeared in the three editions of the magazine (see Krisdayanti & Playboy, Playboy the Third, Joanna Alexandra & Fla Priscilla, Andara Early ).

The authorities should not doubt that they can be charged with spreading pornography.
(Aparat jangan …

Comment by Marco: … sitting in front of their computers and rubbing …

Krisdayanti & Playboy

The legal manouverings of the Islamic Defenders Front become even more bizarre as famous singer Krisdayanti is reported to the police for appearing in an advertisment in the third edition of Playboy.

Krisdayanti's person appeared in the magazine in the form of an advertisement for Bonia watches, on page 5. She, along with various companies that had placed adverts in the magazine, were reported to the police yesterday …

Comment by Rahimah R: … sad to find the Front Pembela Islam organisation stands …

Israel & Lebanon

… groups, such as Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS), Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN), Persatuan Umat Islam (PUI), and Hizbut Tahrir, marched in Jakarta, gathering around the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, to demonstrate against Israel's attack on Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Also in attendance was the leader of the FPI, Islamic Defenders Front, Ustad Jafar Sidik. The Palestinian cause has aroused similar outpourings of Islamic solidarity in recent months.

Rally for Palestine. …

Comment by Hassan: … with God in Islam.

Playboy the Third & FPI Case

As the third edition of Indonesian Playboy comes out two men from the Islamic Defenders Front, FPI, go on trial for an instance of their earlier battle with the magazine.

Two of the men from the Front Pembela Islam (FPI), Zainal alias Ali Zaenal, and Agus Irawan alias Ustaz Agus ( picture ), arrested for taking part in a violent attack on the offices of Playboy on 12th April, while it was located in Jakarta, went on trial last week. Faced with five years …

Comment by agnostic: … of choice but Islam does not, if we are to believe …

Joanna Alexandra & Fla Priscilla

… Fla Priscilla were both reported to the police today by members of a hardline Muslim group, the Front Pembela Islam (FPI), Islamic Defenders Front, says Detik.

We reported the [publishers of the] second edition of Playboy and the models who posed in it. The editor we also reported.
(Kami melaporkan penerbitan Playboy II dan model-modelnya yang berpose di sini. Redaksinya juga kami laporkan.)

said the FPI's lawyer, Jauhari Mubarak. He said they were reported under criminal code …

Habib Riziq Beats a Retreat

Islamic Defenders Front, FPI, chairman Habib Riziq cancels plans to attend an event due to fear of being attacked.

Habib Riziq had planned to visit an Islamic boarding school in Demak, central Java, but there were rumours that his way to the school would be blocked by certain people hostile to the Front. Said the Islamic hard man:

The cancellation was done to ensure a calm atmosphere …

Comment by Rockstar: ‘Islamic Defenders Front, FPI, chairman …

Gus Dur, Blasphemer

Ex-president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has been reported to the police for insulting Islam.

Gus Dur had previously stated that the Muslim holy book, the Quran, contained "pornographic" content, in that it dealt frankly with some sexual issues. Now, yesterday, as part of an ongoing feud (see Inter Religious Harmony and FPI, Garda Bangsa, & Gus Dur ), conservative and hardline Muslim clerics reported the matter to the police, as they are entitled to under Indonesian …

Comment by Anatoilet: … to talk sh*t about islam. He should have known better not …

Islamic State Fears

There are some who fear that an Indonesian Islamic state is imminent.

Speaking to a discussion on pluralism hosted by the Wahid Institute, a group set up to promote religious tolerance by former president Abudurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, institute executive director Ahmad Suaedy said Indonesia was very close to becoming an Islamic state.

He said that Indonesia will turn into a Islamic state if the government does nothing to counter …

Comment by Dragonwall: … 14th century when Islam was the major civilization on …

Radical Groups

… ministers held a meeting to discuss the handling of radical groups, presumably groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front, Betawi Brotherhood Forum, and others. Led by Widodo A.S, the Security minister, it was also attended by TNI chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto, police chief General Sutanto, and Internal Affairs minister M. Ma'ruf, among others, says kompas Kompas.

Widodo said mediaindo afterwards:

The legal appartus, the police, prosecutors, and attorneys, will take firm but fair …

Governor Sutiyoso Speaketh

… Media Indonesia, plan to hold a meeting with the leaders of some controversial groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front and the various Betawi "forum" associations, on July 1st.

Governor Sutiyoso says he is more than willing to attend the meeting and, according to the Jakarta Post,

This problem has clearly been tormenting the public, but there will always be differences between people. What is to become of this nation if violence results from differences of opinion?

However, …

Banning of the FPI

The police are likely to take the question of banning the Islamic Defenders Front, FPI, to the parliament.

On Monday in the west Java city of Cirebon several hundred Gus Dur loyalists, members of the NU (Nahdlatul Ulama), demonstrated over the Purwakarta incident of a few days previously, and demanded that the authorities disband the Front Pembela Islam (FPI), as well as the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) and the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia …

Comment by Nutz_Nice: … mngatasnamakn ISLAM)’s head. Cuz theirs aren’t …

FPI, Garda Bangsa, & Gus Dur

Pressure on the government and police to disband the FPI, Islamic Defenders Front is growing as the FPI and parts of the Nahdlatul Ulama are engaged in a running battle.

Hundreds of supporters of Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid rallied on Friday to demand the government disband the militant Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), or the Front Pembela Islam, which disrupted an appearance by the former president at an interfaith meeting a few days ago. Gus …

Debate on Morality Bill

… Antipornografi dan Pornoaksi (RUU APP)" was organised and attended by members of the following Islamic groups:

Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Persatuan Islam (Persis), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), Al Irsyad, Ikatan Da'i Indonesia (IKADI), Forum Betawi Rempug (FBR), Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS), Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia (DDII), Front Pembela Islam (FPI), and the Badan Kontak Majelis Taklim (BKMT).

Muslims rally in Jakarta. …

Preparatory Committee for the Application of Islamic Laws

… is bound up in the role of a group called the Preparatory Committee for the Application of Islamic Laws.

The Komite Persiapan Penegakan Sya-riat Islam was formed during the South Sulawesi Muslim Community Congress six years ago. This Congress elected one Abdul Azis Kahar Muzakkar, who is a member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) in Jakarta, as the head of the Committee. This man has a firebrand radical lineage, being the son of Kahar Muzakkar, a leader of the …

Religious Freedom Report

… the past year, including murders, bombings, and mob violence. In some of these regions, militant Islamist groups appear to operate with relative impunity. Moderate Muslim leaders and members of religious minorities face pressure, intimidation, or sometimes violence from protestors organized by extremist groups, government officials, or members of the police and military. In addition, the government continues to restrict the construction and expansion of places of worship. Because of these …

Depok PKS Leadership

The city of Depok near Jakarta has been led by the Islamist PKS, Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera), for 100 days now. Their record in this time is coming under increasing attack.

Media Indonesia claims that the political elite and leaders of Muslim organisations in Depok are distinctly unimpressed with the leadership of the PKS duo of Nurmahmudi Ismail and Yuyun Wirasaputra, mayor and vice mayor respectively.

Depok …

Islamic Mob Rule

… Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, as well as from NGO's and academia.

Speakers said Islamic hardliners were increasingly gaining sway over mainstream society, as they took advantage of an administration in Jakarta disoriented by newfound democracy and human rights issues. Weak government, combined with ineffective law enforcement, has allowed mobs to take the law into their own hands with no intervention by the state, the activists said in a joint statement.

They pointed to …

Fill in the Questionnaire

… coordinator of the Anti-Apostasy Movement was among those arrested, along with activists from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and other fruitcake groups. Mukmin said, before being arrested:

We just want to give out questionnaires containing five questions to survey their opinions about the publication of the cartoons, about the stigma put on Muslims as terrorists, and about whether the media should be punished for publishing the cartoons.

If they support the cartoons, we will have no …

Constitutional Court President on Sharia

… In practice, there are sharia banks, marital laws or ancestral laws that are derived from Islamic law. But because they are already part of the national law, they no longer belong to Islamic law. The same process applies to money laundering laws or international conventions that we have ratified. Once we adopt them, they are an integral part of our legal system. Adoption of foreign laws, as well as traditional laws, depends much on their benefits to us.

Problems arise, however, …

Youth Political & Religious Affiliation

… might be heading in the country.

Friendster member who gives her affiliation as "sekarang ISLAM,,,besok ISLAM,,,,dan selamanya akan tetap ISLAM" (now Islam, tomorrow Islam, forever it will be Islam).

One of the ways that Friendster allows you to search for potential chums is by affiliation, where you can see what social, sporting, political, and religious associations the Friendster members claim to belong to or support. Restricting our search to country=Indonesia we can input …

Comment by Omar: … religiosity is a front for many of them while they …

Indonesian Newspaper Website Cartoons

… of the cartoons on the Rakyat Merdeka site came to the attention of the ever-vigilant Laskar Front Pembela Islam, or Islamic Defenders Front, who staged a protest in front of the newspaper's office and extracted an apology from the newspaper's editor.

The Jakarta police force are apparently also taking an interest in the matter and have declared they will investigate to ajudge whether the newspaper has violated the blasphemy law, recently employed in the case of Lia Eden.

In …

Protests at Danish Embassy, Jakarta

Protests at Danish Embassy, Jakarta over the Muhammad cartoon matter.

Our old friends the Islamic Defenders Front, who keep popping up, here and here, have shown what they are made of, thuggery and violence, by attempting to trash the Danish Embassy over the Prophet Muhammad Cartoons matter.

The Danish Embassy in Jakarta is on the 25th floor of a high-rise building so the men from the Front had to content themselves with creating mayhem, throwing chairs and smashing things, …

Islam vs Liberal Democracy

Perseus on Francis Fukuyama and whether Islamism will derail Indonesia's new democracy.

In a recent article, writing in reaction to Russia's recent "clobbering" of Georgia, the noted American political theorist Francis Fukuyama, best known for his work The End of History, tells us smh that

US dominance is slipping.

and the

Russian and Chinese model of authoritarianism and modernisation offers a clear …

Comment by Oigal: … serious about the Islam thing where you L?..thats too …

Radical Islam & Women

Maria Anshor of the Fatayat Nahdlatul Ulama says radical Islamic groups in Indonesia are an insignificant minority but that they threaten womens' rights.

Speaking at a conference in Helsinki, Finland, entitled Religion, Fundamentalism, and Gender under the auspices of an organisation called the International Peace Bureau (IPB), Maria Ulfah Anshor, a senior figure in the womens' wing of the NU, said that the activities of the radical …

Comment by Ulf: … world, not only in Islamic cultures. The reason why this …

Chinese Muslims

… Abdul Karim aka Oei Tjen Hien/Tjeng Hien (Haji Abdurkarim), a man from Padang who converted to Islam in 1929 and was thereafter active in Muhammadiyah and Masyumi. The mosque is run by his son, Ali Karim Oei, who claims that in Jakarta City ethnic Chinese make up about 20% of the 8 million population, and of these he estimates that 5% are Muslim.

Abdul Karim Oei Tjeng Hien.

One reason there is uncertainty over the number of Chinese Muslims, says Ali, is because such people are …

Comment by Aluang Anak Bayang: … the bule is of islam) doesn’t really care if it was …

Old Traditions & Customs

Ross worries that the next target of Islamic fanatics will be old Javanese figures and traditions.

Goddess Versus Fanatics?

We were travelling up Jalan Hayam Wuruk towards North Jakarta on a kopaja, when I spotted a street artist’s display, which included a fine painting of Nyai Loro Kidul, the Goddess of the South Seas.

Nyai Loro Kidul

I praised it to my companion, then the perfectly normal-looking man …

Comment by Barry prima: … Kidul converted to Islam? Pretty much everything I have …