“Campakkan demokrasi, tegakkan khilafah (Abandon democracy, establish a caliphate) shrilled a certain Rahmat L. Labib. Where was this? Deepest darkest Iran? Saudi Arabia?
No! Curiously this treacherous shrilling occurred in “democratic” Indonesia which is even more curious considering how recent cases of the fairly mundane act of raising a non Indonesian flag in Papua and elsewhere cost the flag bearers ten years behind bars. To be fair no one has ever accused the Indonesian Government of being rational, just or even nominally coherent.
Who was this group calling for the abandonment of the principles on which Indonesia was founded? None other than Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI). HTI is an organisation of dangerous malcontents banned in many countries and under investigation in dozens more. It is stunning they are not banned in Indonesia but this is a government for some reason very lenient to extremists as long as serve a purpose in the short term. Sadly the media’s coverage of such groups is nothing short of pathetic if not cowardly.
At the most recent gathering at Bung Karno Stadium (by Hizbut Tahrir), the organisers claimed 100,000 people which the media duly reported (even more laughable was the 130,000 some of the more loony tune news outlets reported). Well we were there and can report that even by counting stray cats, you would be struggling to reach 15,000 people despite the free buses and lunches handed out. To be fair the amount of traffic chaos and rubbish left behind was worthy of 100,000 people. Obviously the establishment of Caliphate does not include simple things like consideration for others and not treating your home nation like a giant waste pit.
100,000 people of Caliphate demonstrate their commitment to the place they live. USE A BIN PEOPLE
Still on the media it is amazing that organisations like HTI are never actually exposed by the media for what they really stand for particularly for a diverse country like Indonesia. Their own constitution would force the breakup of Indonesia as a nation.
“Hizb ut-Tahrir’s draft constitution for its unified Islamic state, claims any non-Muslims living in the state may not serve in any of the ruling offices, such as the position of caliph, nor vote for these officials, as these positions require those who fulfil them to believe in the system. Muslims also have “the right to participate in the election of the Khaleefah [head of state] and in giving him the pledge (ba’iah). Non-Muslims have no right in this regard.” However non-Muslims may voice “complaints in respect to unjust acts performed by the rulers or the misapplication of Islam upon them.”
So essentially the nitwits expect that the Bali, the Dayaks of Kalimantan, Papuans, Christians and the millions of other non muslims that go to make up Indonesia may not serve in any ruling office in Indonesia? They expect these proud people would accept such nonsense? The arrogance and stupidity of the proposal is beyond words and yet Media never call such nonsense to account.
Such groups rely on ignorance to promote themselves and the media should charge itself with dragging such nonsense into the light of day their support and staking such claims through the heart.
You cannot blame the average person from swallowing this garbage, particularly if you are poor rice farmer who has long since lost his land to pay debts and lives in essential slave bondage to absentee landlords The promise of fair and just society, with happiness for all must sound an enticing dream. An inept and self serving government and a robber baron dominated democracy has spectacularly failed to improve lives of millions of Indonesians and like the communist party of the sixties its easy to sell the dream of a better life to the landless poor. Unfortunately, the dream would be a Hizbut Tahrir sponsored blood stained nightmare in reality.
Honest, there is 100,000 of us :-). More rubbish than people
Related articles
- Khilafah Conference in #Jakarta, #Indonesia arranged by Hizb ut-Tahrir. More than 130.000 attended! Allahu akbar! (haromayaunited.wordpress.com)
- Bad Timing: American Students Visit Surabaya on Religious Pluralism Tour (thejakartaglobe.com)
OIGAL on the STUMP 