FPI Rabble-Rouser Could Face 8 Years as Police Eye Mob’s Financial Backers

The Jakarta Globe, Oct 09, 2014


Jakarta. The senior leader of the Islamic Defenders Front who allegedly organized last Friday’s riot outside the City Council could face a cumulative eight years in prison on three different charges as police said they would expand the investigation to reveal who financed the violent rally.

Habib Novel Bamu’min handed himself in to a Jakarta Police station on Wednesday following five days on the run from the authorities. Police wanted to question Habib in connection with his role in the organized riot outside the Central Jakarta building to protest the elevation of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian and ethnically Chinese Indonesian, to governor of the capital.

“We have decided to detain him,” Jakarta Police’s head of general crime, Sr. Comr. Heru Pranoto, told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

Habib Novel, a leading figure in the hard-line Islamic group, was charged with Articles 160, 170 and 214 in the criminal code, which deal with incitement of violence, assault and obstruction of justice.

“He could face detention of between five to eight years,” Heru said.

At least 16 officers were treated for injuries after some 1,000 members of the FPI attempted to break through police lines and enter the premises of the City Council on Friday.

Habib is one of 22 suspects named by police over the riot. Four of the 22 are under the age of 18 and will be processed as minors, police said.

Basuki has responded to the violence by saying it was time for the group to be disbanded, even as other politicians have gone on the record to say the FPI should be engaged with, as they were representative of a voice — however unpleasant — of the Indonesian electorate.

The acting governor will be mindful of previous false dawns over the group’s ability to continue to operate. The FPI was on its final warning in 2013 when a raid on establishments in Central Java serving alcohol during Ramadan led to the death of a woman. The FPI was not disbanded despite an unambiguous pledge that their number was up by Coordinating Minister for Legal, Political and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto.

Police in Jakarta have, however, indicated that they are looking into who was funding the FPI. Police said they will be looking at who paid for the buses to bring in FPI members from West Java cities, such as Tasik Malaya, to join Friday’s protests. The existence of high-level politicians pulling the strings and filling the purse of the FPI has so far been only the subject of rumor.

“Later the investigation will be developed to find out why [rioters] were brought in from outside Jakarta and we will investigate who masterminded and who sponsored the demonstration,” Rikwanto said.



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