As reported by New Mandala on 18 June 2021, a recent poll shows that the government"s December 2020 policy of banning the Islamic Defenders" Front (FPI) is enjoying surprisingly broad
support. According to Associated Press reporting on 24 June 2021, a court in Jakarta has
sentenced the FPI leader to four years further imprisonment for concealing evidence about his health status.
World Watch Research (WWR) analyst Thomas Muller explains: "Although the survey did not have a particularly broad response base, the majority of respondents who were aware of the ban agreed with it. However, a significant minority of 28% - 35% disagreed -‚ this not only included Muslims holding radical views, but also other people who consider an outright ban as the wrong reaction in terms of civil rights. It was surprising that 75% of the under 25 year-olds supported the ban. Survey questions about "˜liking" or "˜disliking" having members of a minority religion as neighbors have been asked before (as discussed in
WWR"s Full Country Dossier on Indonesia, pp. 27-28), but this most recent poll also asked about liking or disliking having an FPI member as a neighbor. The result: 24% of respondents answered that they would not want to live next-door to FPI members. In comparison, the figure for not wanting to live next-door to Christians or people from the Chinese community was 18% in both cases."
Thomas Muller adds: "But this is not the only poll showing mixed results. According to Indonesia"s State Intelligence Agency,
85% of all millennials in the country have been exposed to radicalism - mainly on social media (SCMP, 23 June 2021). And the fact that a recent regulation banning state schools from forcing pupils to wear religious attire was struck down by the Supreme Court, may also indicate that the Court is becoming more conservative. Meanwhile, the government is trying to reduce Islamist sentiment among civil servants. According to official estimates, of the 4.3 million civil servants in Indonesia, at least 800,000 have been influenced by radical Islam. To combat this, the government has now introduced an
anti-extremism test as part of the selection procedure (UCA News, 17 June 2021). While there is always the risk that such a measure could be misused for political reasons (e.g. to target political rivals), the numbers show that something needs to be done about the growing radicalism, and not just for protecting Indonesia"s religious minorities."
