Petition circulated against JIL's eviction

Petition circulated against JIL's eviction

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An aggressive attempt by Muslim hard-liners to evict the Liberal
Islam Network (JIL) from the Utan Kayu area in East Jakarta has
received a major blow as local residents have begun to show
support for the group there.

Utan Kayu community unit head Syamsul Alam said on Monday he
believed that most local residents were not opposed to the
presence of JIL.

As of Monday, nearly 100 people have signed a petition in
support of the group in the understanding that it does not teach
a deviant form of Islam, he added.

Syamsul said the petition had been circulating since Friday
night and people could sign it until the end of the month.

JIL activist Nong Darol Mahmada gave a similar assurance --
after his group met recently with Utan Kayu residents -- that
they would not evict JIL as demanded by Muslim hard-liners mostly
from the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).

"I believe members of the local community will respond
positively and support us, because they have no objections to our
way of thinking," Nong told The Jakarta Post.

"We have nowhere to go. But we have the documents to legally
stay here and we pay tax. So, what reason can the (hard-liners)
give for our eviction," he added.

Nong said that if the FPI was uncomfortable with JIL's
religious interpretations then it was best to meet and talk face-
to-face.

JIL has been branded by the FPI and other hard-line groups as
a deviant organization for spreading liberalism, pluralism and
secularism in the country.

The hard-line groups increased their opposition to JIL after
the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued in July a much-
criticized decree outlawing liberalism, pluralism and secularism.

Last month, FPI supporters had reportedly planned to attack
the JIL office, but changed their minds due to the building's
tight police security.

The hard-line groups later sought the support of cleric Ustadz
Tandjung, who heads the Al-Muslimun mosque in Utan Kayu, to stop
JIL's activities.

They even warned the liberal group to leave the area before
this year's Muslim fasting month, which starts on Oct. 5.

Apart from JIL, the extremists also targeted Radio 68H, which
is headquarter in the same compound as the liberal group.

The hard-liners demanded that the private radio station stop
airing a weekly talk show that discusses issues on Islam and
pluralism, otherwise they too would have to leave Utan Kayu.

The management of Radio 68H, however, said they would continue
airing the program, which often features noted moderate Muslim
scholars, including former Muhammadiyah leader Ahmad Syafii
Maarif and Musthofa Bisri of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

In addition to JIL and Radio 68H, two other institutions
Galeri Lontar and the Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of
Information (ISAI) -- both also headquartered in the Utan Kayu
Community complex -- were also on the FPI's "eviction list".

JIL was founded in 2001 by young Muslim thinkers Ulil Absar
Abdalla, Hamid Basyaib, Abdul Muqsith Ghazali, Novriantoni,
Guntur Romli, Lanny Octaviany, Burhanuddin and Annick HT. They
are mostly activists of the NU and Muhammadiyah.