Police Pledge to Protect Residents Against FPI Raids

July 04, 2011

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said provincial police across the country were preparing for vigilante raids in the lead-up to the holy month.

“All police forces have been coordinating together in order to prevent violent raids and clashes between the FPI and residents,” he told the Jakarta Globe late on Sunday. “We’re going to protect the residents since we all know the FPI's activities.”

He was referring to the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the country’s self-proclaimed morality police that on Sunday announced plans to raid nightclubs and crack down on vendors of porn videos.

Habib Salim, head of the Jakarta chapter of the FPI, said such actions were needed to “respect the holy month,” which starts on Aug. 1.

“We’re going to meet with the owners and customers of nightclubs and ask them to respect the holy month by not operating during Ramadan,” he said. The FPI had made “similar preparations” in recent years.

“We’re going to persuade them in a polite way. We’re going to sit down and talk to them.” He added that any nightclubs that refused to comply would be sent a series of warnings, after which the FPI would forcibly shut them down.

“If they’re naughty, the FPI and all Muslims are going to shut them down by force,” Salim said.

On Saturday, the group kicked off its annual morality drive by raiding vendors of porn videos in East Jakarta. “We destroyed all the seized DVDs in front of the vendors, to show them that such videos can damage a Muslim’s morals,” Salim said.

More raids would be forthcoming throughout the rest of July, he said.

“We won’t let anyone damage the holy month of Ramadan.”

The FPI chapter in Makassar, South Sulawesi, kicked off its own crackdown on Friday, visiting nightclubs in the city and warning owners to shutter their establishments a week before the start of Ramadan.

“We’re instructing the nightclub owners to respect the holy month of Ramadan by not operating,” Abdurrahman, an FPI leader, was quoted as saying by Antara.

“If there are any nightclubs still open during Ramadan, we shall pay them another visit.”
Last year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that the Islamic holy month should be free of violence, calling for harmony among the country’s various religious groups. “If there is any sign of violence, it should be prevented by police,” he said at the State Palace.

(also x the JG)