Several thousand protesters led by hardline Islamist groups held a rally on Friday outside Indonesia's parliament to protest against what they called a growing threat from communism in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.
Rows of police stood behind barbed wire with water cannons at the ready, but the rally was peaceful and the number of protesters far smaller than the estimated tens of thousands expected by organisers and police.
Some protesters prayed and unfurled banners rejecting communism and also a government decree targeting large organisations that was used to disband the Islamist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia.
"The country is giving space to communists and their activities," said one protester, Mohamad Khairudin, 42, who had travelled from Surabaya, the country's second largest city.
"Members of parliament have communist sympathies. And at the same time they are limiting space for Islamic organisations and criminalising ulama (scholars)."
Khairudin said he tended to believe reports on social media that President Joko Widodo was the son of communists and was not a Muslim, but did not provide any evidence of this or of a rise in communism.
Widodo has denied having any communist ties.
Communism remains an emotive issue in Indonesia and the protest took place on the eve of the 52nd anniversary of the murder of six army generals and a young lieutenant by rebel armed forces personnel, which prompted the retaliatory slaughter of at least 500,000 alleged communists.
The massacres ushered in more than 30 years of authoritarian rule under Suharto, the former general who led the communist purge.
Indonesia's Communist Party (PKI), once one of the world's largest, remains outlawed, however, and there appears to be little evidence of a Marxist ideology taking hold in Indonesia.
Just 12 percent of respondents to a September survey of 1,220 Indonesians believed the party was making a comeback now.
Analysts and government advisers said the fomenting of a "red scare" was aimed at Indonesia's reformist president Widodo, who has previously been falsely accused of being the descendant of communists.
"We support parliament in ridding itself of PKI," Slamet Maarif, one of the rally organisers told the crowd, accusing the government of oppressive measures and of creating a gulf between the state and Islam with a decree banning some organisations.
Friday's rally has been organised by hardline Islamist groups, such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
The FPI led huge rallies last year that successfully demanded the jailing for blasphemy of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian who was Jakarta's governor at the time.
Reuters
Fri Sep 29 2017
An Islamist group member holds a poster during an anti-communist protest outside parliament building in Jakarta on Sept 29, 2017. - REUTERS
'Saya akan beri keputusan dalam masa singkat' - Anwar
Ketua-ketua cabang di Sabah telah memberikan pandangan dan keputusan akan dipertimbang dalam masa terdekat.
Wanita usung mayat bapa saudara ke bank demi tanda tangan dokumen pinjaman wang
Erika memberitahu pekerja bank bahawa bapa saudaranya mahu melakukan pinjaman sebanyak 17,000 reais (RM15,523).
Sambutan Aidilfitri MADANI 2024 peringkat kebangsaan dirai di Sabah hari ini
Majlis itu membuka tirai dan menerima kunjungan orang ramai seawal pukul 10.30 pagi hingga 3 petang.
Air Sungai Pasir keruh, LRA Wangsa Maju dihenti tugas sementara
Langkah kawalan itu bagaimanapun tidak menyebabkan gangguan penyaluran air mentah ke LRA Wangsa Maju.
AWANI Pagi: Perang Israel-Iran: Perang alaf baharu?
Diskusi 8.30 pagi Sabtu bersama Jumaat bersama Pakar Hubungan Antarabangsa, Prof Dr. Ahmad Marthada Mohamed mengenai kemungkinan lebih buruk boleh dijangkakan di rantau Asia Barat selepas Israel bertindak melancarkan peluru berpandu dan membedil bandar Isfahan di Iran semalam.
Buang dua ekor itik kerana bimbang nasib malang
Siok Hui meletakkan kedua-dua itik itu dalam sebuah kotak sebelum ditinggalkan di Hutan Simpan Bukit Timah ketika kejadian pada 2020.
Piala FA Inggeris: Status Erling Haaland masih tanda tanya
Pep Guardiola mendedahkan bahawa pemain berusia 23 tahun itu meminta untuk dikeluarkan tanpa memberi alasan yang kukuh.
Anwar hadir selesai kemelut MPN Sabah
Beliau mempengerusikan perjumpaan tersebut yang dipercayai bagi menyelesaikan kemelut politik PKR di negeri ini.
Piala Asia B-23: Vietnam intai peluang benam Malaysia, layak ke suku akhir
Vietnam mencari peluang untuk memastikan slot ke suku akhir Piala Asia B23 apabila berdepan Malaysia malam ini.
AWANI Pagi: Berita tumpuan & menarik di astroawani.com [20 April 2024]
AWANI Pagi bersama Geegee Ahmad & Azib Zikry membincangkan keperluan pengenalan Skim Kemalangan Bukan Bencana Kerja (SKBBK) di mana Presiden Kongres Kesatuan Sekerja Malaysia (MTUC), Mohd Effendy Abdul Ghani akan menekankan bahawa langkah proaktif itu adalah untuk melindungi hak-hak pekerja khususnya apabila melibatkan kemalangan jalan raya di luar waktu bekerja.