On 10 November 2020, radical cleric Mohammed Rizieq Shihab
returned to Indonesia after three years of self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia, as reported by Benar News on 11 November 2020. His organization, the Islamic Defenders Front ("˜Front Pembela Islam" - FPI), was soon after
banned by the government (Jakarta Post, 30 December 2020).
Thomas Muller, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "Rizieq"s return was celebrated by thousands of supporters - some say tens of thousands. This showed that his organization, FPI, continued to have the ability to mobilize large numbers of citizens; it also gave the authorities reason to
crack down hard on Rizieq, citing COVID-19 lockdown violations (Jakarta Post, 17 November 2020). However, the government ban on the Islamic Defenders Front could now back-fire and act as a
rallying call to unity for the various other radical Islamic groups (New Mandala, 7 January 2021). The FPI reacted to the ban by simply copying what other radical groups have done elsewhere; it heeded Rizieq"s advice to "˜Relax and just create a new vehicle" by now calling into life the
Islamic Unity Front, which bears the same acronym in Indonesian as the old organization, FPI (Jakarta Post, 4 January 2021). It remains to be seen whether Rizieq will have to stand trial or will be released. In any case, these sort of tensions are of no comfort to the country"s religious minorities. It may even feed the narrative that the government is hunting down pious Muslims."
