Plot to exploit Muslim protest foiled

Police say detained eight people

JAKARTA, Dec 2, (Agencies): Indonesian police on Friday said they had detained eight people before dawn, thwarting a plot hatched to take advantage of a demonstration by tens of thousands of Muslims and lead an uprising against President Joko Widodo’s government.

The detentions followed weeks of tension, during which Widodo said “political actors” had fanned violence at a Nov 4 protest and the country’s police chief warned that “certain groups” might try to occupy parliament during Friday’s rally.

The group had been under surveillance for at least three weeks, and the move against it came hours before the start of a rally in central Jakarta to protest against the city’s governor, a Christian accused of insulting the Quran.

Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar described the plan as attempted subversion of Widodo’s government, which has strong support from the military.

“The suspicion is that among other things there was a link to plans to attempt subversion, and to take advantage of conditions today,” Amar said.

“They had another agenda aside from prayers.”

A sea of white-clad protesters surged around Jakarta’s National Monument on Friday morning. Police estimated their number at about 150,000, many having come from towns and cities across the island of Java. They chanted and carried banners demanding that the city’s governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, be jailed.

Purnama is being investigated over comments about his opponents’ use of the Quran during political campaigning. He denies wrongdoing, but has apologised for the remarks.

Police on Thursday handed a dossier on their investigation of his comments to prosecutors, who are expected to take the case of alleged blasphemy to court in coming weeks.

Purnama, a long-time ally of Widodo, is running for re-election in February against two Muslim candidates.

The contest for the governorship has sent political tension soaring, with rumours of plots to undermine Widodo and scupper his chances of winning a second term in 2019.

Police spokesman Rikwanto said altogether

reasons, has sheltered in his party’s headquarters for months to avoid the authorities.

His situation contrasts with that of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who faces a two-year prison term and new charges and is barred from returning from self-imposed exile. The pardon could deepen a rift between the two opposition leaders and their supporters, 10 people were detained between 3 am and 6 am Eight were being investigated under the conspiracy and treason provisions of the criminal code, and the other two for hate speech.

“They are being accused of subversion,” said Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a lawyer for two of the eight.

He said the group included Rachmawati Sukarnoputri, a politician and sister of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri. Their father was independent Indonesia’s first president.

The group also included rock musician Ahmad Dhani and retired army general Kivlan Zen, who had both supported one of Widodo’s rivals for the presidency in 2014, the lawyer said. Dhani faced public criticism in 2014, when he appeared wearing a German Nazi-like uniform in a music video while campaigning for his candidate.

March

Rachmawati and Dhani had called on Thursday for protesters to march towards parliament, media reported.

“These are people who are known to have grudges against anyone in government,” said Jakarta-based political analyst Wimar Witoelar. “These are small, insignificant people, but it’s a big crowd and a small spark could start up a large fire.”

Widodo addressed the rally after Friday prayers and praised what had been a peaceful protest. Then, under rainy skies, the crowd started to disperse, with some chanting directed against Purnama.

Purnama is popular with many for pushing through tough reforms to modernise a capital congested with traffic.

But opinion polls have shown him slipping into second place in the race for re-election as governor, a position Widodo himself used as a stepping-stone to the presidency.

Leading the field now is Agus Yudhoyono, the 38-year-old Harvard-educated son of Widodo’s immediate predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

A Nov 4 protest against Ahok, the first ethnic Chinese to be Jakarta governor and the first Christian in half a century, attracted about 100,000 people. After nightfall, it turned violent, with one

weakening their unity ahead of the polls. Sam Rainsy has long been Hun Sen’s most formidable critic, but some leading opposition members have already criticized him for failing to return from abroad to challenge the prime minister.

The two opposition figures are rivals as well as allies, and Hun Sen has a history of death and dozens injured. Police wanted Friday’s protest to disperse in the early afternoon following prayers.

Lisnawati Djohar, a resident of West Sumatra’s Padang city, said she flew to Jakarta with a dozen friends for the protest.

“I’ve been called to defend Islam,” she said. “As a Muslim, I feel guilty if I refuse a demand to defend my religion. I believe Ahok insulted the holy Quran and it’s hurt us.”

Rizieq Syihab, leader of the Islamic Defenders Front, a vigilante group that helped organize the demonstrations, gave a fiery speech to the protest in which he asserted Indonesia would be peaceful if there was no blasphemy and other problems such as gays.

Speaking on the main stage at the national monument, National Police chief Gen Tito Karnavian called for the protesters to support the legal process in the blasphemy case.

The accusation of blasphemy has animated the political opponents of Ahok and Jokowi, including hard-liners who have used the issue to seize a national stage for their extreme agenda, which includes the imposition of Shariah law in a secular nation.

Ahok’s blasphemy case took a step forward Thursday when it was formally accepted for trial. The offense is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Police say Ahok can’t leave the country during the case. However, hard-line Muslim groups continue to demand his arrest.

In a bid to prevent violence at Friday’s rally, authorities and Islamic leaders agreed to restrict it to the park and end the event in the early afternoon.

Purnama is due to face trial and could be jailed for up to five years if found guilty of breaking Indonesia’s tough blasphemy laws.

The controversy started in September when the governor accused his opponents of fooling the electorate by misusing a Quranic verse to persuade voters not to support him in governorship elections.

Purnama’s opponents said the verse forbids Muslims from choosing nonMuslims as leaders.

using a carrot-and-stick approach to successfully divide his opponents.

Those he has managed to co-opt usually find themselves marginalized, and those that resist operate under constant threat of retaliation, lately in the courts, but sometimes physical, as two opposition lawmakers found out last year when they were badly beaten by a pro-government mob outside Parliament. (AP)

‘Threat of extremist attack higher’:

A Singapore minister said on Friday the threat of an extremist attack was higher now than earlier this year as hardline Islamists are increasingly pushing their agenda in neighbouring Indonesia.

Law and Home Affairs Minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, speaking to the Foreign Correspondents Association in Singapore, did not specify whether the threat had increased just in the city state or in Southeast Asia generally.

But he made specific reference to last year’s events in Indonesia, where authorities were on high alert and made several arrests but could not stop an attack.

His comments came as tens of thousands of Muslims poured into central Jakarta on Friday to protest against the city’s governor, a Christian accused of insulting the Koran.

“The threat if anything, I think, has increased, compared to last year and earlier this year,” said Shanmugam.

“We see an increasing tempo in terms of the news that is coming out of Indonesia... So I will take the news coming out of Indonesia very seriously. We are in close touch with them,” he said. (RTRS)