Jakarta -- Mass Organizations and the New Underworld...

Something that I picked up from the Jakarta Post. There are more groups than these floating around the streets and alleys of Jakarta, but these are the "biggies". There are a couple of other pieces that the Jakarta Post has run recently that are worthwhile reading for anyone that has an interest in learning about the other side of Jakarta. There is a piece on Jakarta's New Underworld and another piece on the Betawi Big Boys.

In any event, this is an excellent piece by Rendi A Witular and Andra Wisnu on prominent organizations in Jakarta.

I cut and paste it from the Jakarta Post.

Lutfi Hakim

Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR)

Leader: Lutfi Hakim (33)

Members: 300,000 in Greater Jakarta.

Membership requirement: Betawi (native Jakartan) and Muslim. For other ethnicities, must have lived in Jakarta for at least three years.

Funding: Donations from members and businesses.

Activities: Provides "unofficial" security services to companies engaged in entertainment businesses, property, construction projects and business centers. FBR members can also be seen guarding disputed property, providing debt-collection services and clearing out land. Its top brass also run small-scale printing business. The group is often used to provide political support for the Jakarta bureaucracy and certain Islamic parties, as evidenced when it condemned opponents of the controversial pornography bill.

History: Founded on July 29, 2001, the FBR was charged by its recently deceased chief patron Fadhloly El Muhir to create jobs for the Betawi ethnic group. However, it was mired in allegations of receiving backing from the military, the Jakarta administration and opponents of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid. The groups were used as proxies to deal with Gus Dur's grassroots Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) supporters from East Java, who threatened to flock to the capital to help keep Gus Dur in power. Lutfi denies the allegations, saying the FBR was set up merely to advocate for the revival of the long-marginalized Betawi.

Notes: In March 2003, seven members of the group were jailed for attacking the head of the Urban Poor Consortium (an NGO focusing on urban development issues), Wardah Hafidz, near the office of the National Commission for Human Rights. Lutfi strongly opposes the stigma.


Muhammad Rizieq

Islam Defenders Front (FPI)

Leader: Al-Habib Muhammad Rizieq bin Husein Syihab (71)

Members: Less than 10,000 in Greater Jakarta.

Membership requirement: Muslims who can read the Koran.

Funding: Mostly donations from members, business activities of the group's top brass.

Activities: Mostly an ideological and political movement claiming to uphold Islamic law, implemented in the field through crackdowns on nightclubs, brothels and gambling dens, and leading more often than not to clashes and violence. Their targets include roadside vendors who stay open during the fasting month of Ramadan. Chairman of the Jakarta Association of Tourism, Recreation and Entertainment Adrian Maulete claims the association regularly pays the FPI to not raid its members' clubs while operating.

History: Founded on Aug. 17, 1998, the FPI is a splinter group of the Pamswakarsa civil guard formed by the military to support the Habibie regime. Through promoting violence, the FPI has earned the respect of hard-line Muslims, but often become disdained by society at large.

Notes: The FPI's litany of violence includes a bloody attack on members of the Alliance for the Freedom of Religion and Faith (AKKBB) in the National Monument park, Central Jakarta, on June 1, 2008. Group leader Habib Rizieq was sentenced to 18 months in prison for inciting the violence. He was released this July. FPI secretary-general Sobri Lubis says the FPI remains a force to be reckoned with, despite the recent police crackdown on its leaders, adding it will continue to "wipe out immoral practices" no matter how long it takes. "We have nothing against the food or water these nightclubs offer, but if they start selling women, provide gambling venues or drugs, then we will have to stand against them."


Oding Djunaidi

Laskar Jayakarta (Jayakarta Warriors)

Leader: Adj. Sr. Comr. Susilowadi, aka Bang Ilo (47)

Members: 30,000 in Greater Jakarta.

Membership requirement: All-inclusive, preference to native Jakartans.

Funding: Mostly donations from members' and leaders' businesses.

Activities: Laskar Jayakarta assists Jakarta residents, especially of Betawi ethnicity, get jobs. Nurturing close ties with the police, the group provides unofficial security services primarily to nightclubs, retailers, hotels and boarding houses in the Tamansari district of West Jakarta. The district, which covers the vicinity of Jl. Mangga Besar, Jl. Hayam Wuruk, Jl. Gadjah Mada and the Glodok business center, is Jakarta's largest night entertainment center and accounts for 60 percent of the business. Laskar's top officials are former members of Pemuda Pancasila youth organization, the military's family forum (Forkabi) and the FBR.

History: As a newcomer in the industry, it was not until 2007 that Laskar Jayakarta became widely known, when it supported Comr. Gen. (ret) Adang Daradjatun, the former National Police deputy chief, in his 2007 bid to be Jakarta governor. Laskar split from the Betawi Community Union (PMB) in 2004.

Notes: The group's structure is loosely reminiscent of many of today's Jakarta-based groups. Laskar Jayakarta is a proxy nurtured by the police to help maintain order in Jakarta's night entertainment hub and prevent ethnic clashes. "Bang Ilo himself ordered us to control our members' behavior to keep in line with the law," says Oding, the head of the group's Tamansari branch in Central Jakarta.


Japto Soerjosoemarno

Pancasila Youth

Leader: Japto Soelistyo Soerjosoemarno (59)

Members: Less than 100,000 in Greater Jakarta.

Membership requirement: All ethnicities and religions.

Funding: Mostly donations from members, business activities of the group's top brass.

Activities: Security services and debt collection are the major income earner of the group, as well as land clearing for businesses.

History: Pancasila Youth was established on Oct. 28, 1959, by former legendary military commander Abdul Haris Nasution, with the sole aim of confronting the communist threat. However, after 1978, it evolved with the backing of the Soeharto regime and the Golkar Party, which used it to mobilize youth support during general elections. The Pancasila Youth was allegedly involved in the July 27, 1996, riot and the bloody sectarian violence in Ambon, Maluku, in 2000.

Notes: Along with the Soeharto downfall in 1998, Pancasila Youth lost its political and security clout, which finally led in late 2003 to Yorris Raweyai, its most influential figure and financier, falling out with Japto over the latter's decision to set up the Patriot Party, the political wing of the Pancasila Youth. Yorris remains with Golkar and became legislator for the party, while the Patriot Party failed to get any legislative seat. With funding, notably from Yorris, drying up, most of the group's members now moonlight with other mass organizations, including the FBR, the FPI and Laskar Jayakarta. According to Yorris, Pancasila Youth is now focusing on recruiting university students, intellectuals and the middle class to help keep the group afloat. Japto's youngest son, Jedidiah Shenazar, is being groomed to take over his father's work.


Jhon Kei

Eastern Indonesia factions

Leaders: Herkules (East Timor group), Jhon Kei (Kei Island group in Maluku), Rony Syauta and Umar Kei (Indonesian Mollucans Youth Union, or PMB) and Ongen Sangaji (Ambon group in Maluku).

Members: Each group is believed to have less than 1,000 members in Greater Jakarta, except the PMB, which has around 20,000.

Membership requirement: Exclusive to ethnicity.

Activities: Groups are engaged in intense rivalry with one another. In the case of the Maluku groups, not a single leader has united them. Both the East Timor and Maluku groups are competing to win orders for security services for disputed parties, business centers and properties. They are also the most efficient debt collectors employed by banks, financing companies and individuals, primarily through intimidation. They earn between 15 percent and 50 percent of the debt collected.

Notes: - Herkules has since 2006 lost his lucrative empire in the Tanah Abang business center to Betawi native Haji Lulung. Herkules followers still maitain a loose grip on several small pockets in the Kota area of North Jakarta. Herkules is now engaged in the coal business, and spends time mostly in Kalimantan and Sumatra.
- John Kei, a notorious gang leader, is serving a jail term in Surabaya for cutting the fingers of two of his cousins.
- Ongen Sangaji is now an executive with the Hanura Party, founded by former military commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto.
- Rony Syauta and Umar Kei are emerging as key players in the business. The group controls the largest Maluku group in East Jakarta. The PMB is now trying to unite all Maluku gangs, but to no avail thus far.


Haji Lulung

Haji Lulung group

Leader: Abraham Lunggana, aka Haji Lulung (48)

Members: More than 2,000 in Tanah Abang alone.

Membership requirement: Preference for native Jakartans. Other ethnic groups also welcome.

Funding: Companies under Haji Lulung, donations from outsourced workers.

Activities: Haji Lulung has a vast line of businesses, including security services, parking and waste management. Around 90 percent of such businesses in Tanah Abang, Southeast Asia's largest textile and garment distribution area, is organized by Haji Lulung. Through his newly established law firm, Haji Lulung & Associates, a debt-collection business is now in the pipeline. Haji Lulung's tentacles also take in security services for shopping centers in the vicinity of Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta, Senayan in South Jakarta, Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta, the Aldira shopping center in East Jakarta, Tarakan Hospital, Cengkareng Hospital, Fatmawati Hospital and the Bogor Mental Hospital.

History: Assisted primarily by law enforcers and the Jakarta administration, Haji Lulung's luck started to turn in 2000 when he supplied workers for the construction of the Metro bridge in the Tanah Abang shopping compound. His rise is also attributed to the need for opposition against former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in creating a proxy Betawi-based group to confront the threat of Gus Dur's incoming grass-roots supporters from East Java in 2001. Since then, without spilling much blood, Haji Lulung has gradually expelled the notorious godfather Herkules from Tanah Abang for good in 2006.

Notes: Haji Lulung is now a city councilor for the United Development Party (PPP).

Megawati and Young Leaders

Megawati has used the commemoration of the birth of Pancasila to call on young Indonesians to rise up as leaders and stake their claims to positions of political importance and power. Megawati has secured the nomination of the PDI-P even at this early stage. Therefore, the question is whether or not this is an indication that her running mate will be some one considerably younger?

It is not a matter of there being no young leaders but rather the young leaders wanting to become involved at the highest levels and then it is a matter of entrenched political interests cultivating the development of leaders or young leaders forcing the entrenched interests aside. I would go for the second option as this way the young leaders would start with a much cleaner slate.

I also wonder whether this is an indication that the PDI-P is going to allocate a proportion of slots on the various regional tickets to younger leaders. Once again with Megawati, the rhetoric is good but it is the reality that is lagging. It is one thing to call young leaders out but it is completely different scenario to provide these same young leaders with the room to gain the experience. The proof of the pudding is not in the baking but in the eating. Until these young leaders get to sit and eat the table then this is nothing more than sweet talk and lip service to the masses.

Maybe the PDI-P and Megawati can give substance to the Pancasila and restore this State ideology as a means of achieving the ideals that are contained within it!

Time will tell! (photo courtesy of Ricky Yudhistira / JP)

FPI -- Thugs in Robes

The Islamic Defenders Front (Front Pembela Islam / FPI) has been beefing up its credentials as thugs earlier this afternoon. In so doing it is providing the government all the necessary proof and evidence that this organization needs to be disbanded. The fact that it has been allowed to exist for as long as it has and be allowed to commit a long list of breaches of the law should be an embarrassment to a government that is trying to sell Indonesia as a peaceful and tolerant destination to spend your hard earned cash. Not only is it an embarrassment it is a joke and makes a mockery of not only Pancasila (today is the commemoration of the Five Principles philosophy as the State ideology).

It is being reported that earlier today at about 14.30 the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (Aliansi Kebangsaan untuk Kebebasan Berkeyakinan dan Beragama / AKKBB) was set upon by a couple of hundred thugs from the FPI at Monas (Soekarno's phallic ode to himself and his manhood -- photo by someone named Murbiyanto) close to the Gambir railway station. There are seven people seriously injured including Syafii Anwar (Director of ICIP) and Muhammad Guntur Romli (an activist from Liberal Islam Network) both of whom are being treated in RSPAD Gatot Subroto. The list of injured also includes Ahmad Suaedy (the Executive Director of the Wahid Institute).

The AKKBB were holding a rally at Monas to mark the birth of Pancasila on 1 June. This was to be marked with a joint prayer in recognition of diversity and tolerance among other things.

It is high time the government acted against thugs and others seeking to impose their will through violence and intimidation. Any failure to act is nothing more than condoning the violence and condoning the methods used to suppress free expression. If Indonesia is truly a tolerant country then now is the time for the government to step up to the plate by clearly and unequivocally stating that this thuggery perpetrated by the FPI or their supporters will not be tolerated and then prosecute anyone breaking the law to the full extent possible under the prevailing laws.

Unfortunately, I am not an optimist on this front. Indonesia has so much potential and there are so many of us who hope for her to achieve that potential. Yet, the government's record to date has been woeful. We have just commemorated 10 years of reformation but the truth be told, reformasi will never be fully achieved until their is justice. Justice not only for all of the victims of the New Order's excesses but for more recent excesses as well such as the killings at Trisakti / Semanggi and the violence of May 1998 and more recently the mud flow disaster at Sidoarjo.

I live with hope because for where there is no hope there is only death!

Merdeka!!!

Religious Freedom in Indonesia

Religious freedom in Indonesia or more specifically the lack of it is about to garner some attention at the United Nations Human Rights Council Plenary session currently underway in Geneva. I have written on religious freedom and intolerance in Indonesia previously so feel free to search through the blog to find these postings (if you're interested). However, it is clear that the issue of religious freedom is going to be an issue that at some point in time the Indonesian government is going to have to address. If for no other reason than maintaining social harmony or more specifically to be true to the national motto of "unity in diversity".

Simply, this concept of unity in diversity that is enshrined in the State ideology of 'Pancasila' or the Five Principles is not something that the Indonesian government seems to give much weight to. The first of these principles is the belief in a supreme God. Too bad for any animist tree or mountain or big stone worshippers. Unless of course you can characterize a tree as a supreme God -- good question! The first principle here seems to be tailor-made for the development and expansion of sects with slightly different sets of beliefs.

One of the bigger religious tolerance or intolerance issues to arise has been with regard to the Ahmadiyah sect. This is an Islamic sect that had slightly different interpretations regarding who was in fact the last prophet of Islam. Obviously, this is sure to be controversial but as the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) also determined in a fatwa it issued, ultimately heretical! The issue of the fatwa led to some outbursts of communal violence and attacks against sect members.

The issue here is whether or not the Indonesian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The simple answer here is that it does -- yes! Although arguments can be made that despite the guarantee there are no real protective mechanisms built into ensure that this freedom to practice one's faith is maintained in a practical sense. So, despite the probable repercussions of the action it must take, the State needs to come out and say that with all due respect to the MUI (usually translated as no respect at all) that Ahmadiyah and its followers have a constitutional right to practice their faith. However, and somewhat unfortunately, the government decided to accept the MUI interpretation and called in the attack dogs and put the sect under surveillance.

Heresy is a crime in Indonesia, at least in the sense that a creative interpretation of the Criminal Code provisions, Article 156(a) for example, would allow cases to be brought before courts where a different interpretation of the faith is developed and practiced.

Bottom line -- When will the government stand up and be counted on this argument is any one's guess. But the most likely scenario would be not before there was much more widespread violence involved and a real risk to the stability of the broader Indonesian community.

When it is all said and done Indonesia is still a country that burns textbooks that offer a different view of accepted national history, such as the 1965 coup attempt, so if you cannot face your past the ability to face your future is also in question! But, alas, this is a post for another time.