GAMKI Reports JK to Police Over Lecture at UGM
The Central Executive Board of the Indonesian Christian Youth Movement (DPP GAMKI) and several other organisations have reported Indonesia’s 10th and 12th Vice President, Jusuf Kalla, following his statements during a lecture at Gadjah Mada University Mosque.
DPP GAMKI, together with various Christian institutions and other community organisations, assessed JK’s statements in the lecture as generating controversy.
In their statement, DPP GAMKI quoted JK’s controversial remarks, which touched on conflicts in Poso and Ambon in the early 2000s. They took issue with JK’s use of the phrase ‘syahid’ (martyrdom) in relation to religion-tinged conflicts, including those in Poso and Ambon.
In response, GAMKI, along with the Advisory Council of the Indonesian Christian Community Assembly (MUKI), the Indonesian Pastors Association (API), the Pluralism Community Struggle Movement, DPP Si Pitung, and DPP Horas Bangso Batak, decided to report JK to the police.
“Herewith, we, comprising various Christian institutions and civil society organisations, will report Mr Jusuf Kalla to the Indonesian Police,” said GAMKI Central Executive Board Chairman Sahat Sinurat in his statement on Sunday (12/4).
Sahat stated that they also strongly condemned JK’s statements, which they viewed as hurting the feelings of the Christian community and causing unrest in society.
Sahat emphasised that Christianity does not teach killing people of different faiths to enter paradise. On the contrary, he added, Christianity teaches loving fellow humans, even enemies.
JK’s Response
In response, JK’s spokesperson, Husain Abdullah, stated that DPP GAMKI and the reporting organisations should delve into the full context of JK’s speech at UGM on 5 March 2026.
He also urged them to consult living peace figures regarding the sociological facts of both conflicting parties at the time, both in Poso and Ambon, who used religious jargon or symbols.
“JK was present to reconcile by first correcting the views they used as a basis for killing each other. That no religion permits its followers to kill one another. Not to gain paradise but rather to enter hell,” said Husain via a short message on Sunday (12/4) night.
The Poso conflict in Central Sulawesi occurred around 1998-2001. The communal riots were often seen as religiously tinged. However, the root causes were cited as economic disparities, local political rivalries, and the impact of transmigration programmes that altered the region’s demographics.
In 2001, JK, then Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare in President Megawati Soekarnoputri’s cabinet, led the mediation process in Malino, South Sulawesi. As a Sulawesi figure, JK successfully pushed for the Malino I Declaration after gathering conflicting Islamic and Christian leaders to agree on peace.
Meanwhile, the Ambon conflict was a communal riot that began from an individual dispute and quickly escalated into a religion-tinged storm in Maluku province around 1999 to 2002.
JK, at the time Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare, then gathered Islamic and Christian leaders from Ambon for mediation in Malino. The result was the peace agreement or Malino II Declaration on 12 February 2002.